We are seeing a massive flow of Chinese money into Finnish startup ecosystem. First we’ve got an announcement from business accelerator COMB+ and the Beijing Institute of Collaborative Innovation (BICI). They created a new Artificial Intelligence Fund with a target size of €65 million. The fund will focus on international technology startups entering the Chinese market.
Comb+ has already helped some companies from Finland to do that. For example, Finnish acoustic company Flexound was able to open a sales channel in China in only three weeks.
But that’s not it. We’ve got the news from San Francisco agency about Ascend Capital Partners, that invested just as much as 24 million euros in four early-stage startups from Finland.
Ascend has invested in 2 healthcare imaging companies – a Tampere-based Grundium OY, that builds a portable digital microscope scanner, and Helsinki-based Fimmic OY, which uses deep learning AI technology to provide diagnostic support for researchers and healthcare professionals in image analysis. Besides that, Ascend also invested in 2 Finnish companies from the automotive sector. The first one is Canatu OY from Helsinki, which develops and manufactures 3D formable and stretchable films and touch sensors for cars, and Oulu-based TactoTek OY, which produces Injection Molded Structural Electronics, a technology that can be used in car overhead panels with LED lighting and seamless touch controls.
