Helsinki-headquartered venture capital firm Lifeline Ventures has recently closed a substantial early-stage fund of €150 million. This fund aims to provide ongoing support to emerging companies that have the potential to become leaders in their respective industries and is willing to make initial investments ranging from €150,000 to €2 million. Lifeline Ventures has a strong track record of being the first investor in many successful Finnish technology companies, including well-known unicorns like Wolt, Supercell, and ŌURA. The new fund, which is one of the largest ever raised in Finland, stays true to Lifeline Ventures’ strategy of focusing on early-stage investments and nurturing startups from their early days until they reach their full potential.
For over 14 years, Lifeline Ventures has proven to have the unique ability to identify unicorn potential from the very early stages. The team has invested in companies like Supercell, Wolt, Oura, ICEYE, Aiven, and Applifier in the pre-seed stage. With the new fund, Lifeline Ventures continues on its successful path in backing future success stories and founders at a very early stage.
“We have always kept and will continue to keep our focus purely on supporting early-stage entrepreneurs. Through this focus, we’ve worked to gain unique trust among the very best founders – and founders to be. Our humble hope was to be the first investor in every significant startup that comes from Finland, and we’ve been happy to see it succeed many times. With the new fund, we are continuing this work supporting a new generation of entrepreneurs in Finland”, says Timo Ahopelto, Founding Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
The Nordic region has grown steadily into one of the most successful startup regions globally. The Nordic region is number one in Europe by venture capital invested per capita, and roughly 15% of European unicorns come from the Nordics.
“Finland produces two to four unicorn potential startups each year. We have put an extraordinary effort to truly be part of the growth and development of the Finnish startup ecosystem. We’re now seeing the results of the long-term hard work the entire ecosystem here has done. With the ecosystem growing, startups are becoming a crucial part of the future Finnish economy and growth. This presents an exciting opportunity for startups but also for the entire Nordic region economy,” Ahopelto says.
With the new fund, the Lifeline Ventures team continues to be an integral actor in attracting international capital to the Nordic region by continuing co-investments with the top global funds.
“Having access to global capital markets is an integral factor of our model. We are looking forward to continuing collaboration with the most relevant international funds and growing the next Nordic success stories with them,” Ahopelto continues.
On top of launching the new fund and continuing to support early-stage companies, Lifeline Ventures has launched Entrepreneur in Residence and Next-Gen Investor initiatives with the goal of growing and supporting future investors and founders in-house.
“We believe that both entrepreneurship and investing are best learned by doing. Our programs enable those interested in starting a company or an investor’s career to test ideas and build the necessary skills as part of the Lifeline team. Our goal is to lower the entry barrier for young talent from different backgrounds entering the industry,” Ahopelto tells.
One of the first Entrenepeurs in Residence at Lifeline Ventures is Pauliina Meskanen. Pauliina is building a deep-tech climate startup and supports Lifeline Ventures’s portfolio companies in climate tech. Prior to joining Lifeline, Pauliina was an investor in two VC funds and run a climate tech consultancy helping commercialize energy innovations.
“With the help of the Lifeline team, I have been able to fully focus on validating my startup ideas in battery circularity and industrial decarbonization. The Entrepreneur in Residence program not only provided me with financial support but also valuable advice and guidance that has significantly helped to build my startup in a challenging field,” Meskanen says.
Going forward, Lifeline is looking to support more next-generation founders and investors as part of their team.
