Reaktor, a Finnish IT company, is now moving to becoming a hands-on seed investor in Finland. Reaktor solves IT and software needs for large customers like Elisa (telecom), Rovio (one of the leading gaming companies in the world) and many other big names in Finland. The company has been rated the best place to work for four years in Finland, and was once rated as the best place to work in Europe.
The investment arm is named POLTE, which means sort of a “burning intensity” in Finnish. Oskari Kettunen, the head of the POLTE project, defines this as the next step in Reaktor’s evolution. Through investing they will be able to use their company’s talent to work ground-up with startups. Startup founders will be able to concentrate on their core product, while they help with financial and product assistance.
Right now through POLTE, Reaktor is ready to invest seed funding from €50 00 to €1 million into an undetermined amount of companies. On top of the funding, POLTE gives startups access to their 200 professionals who can help with developing, branding, service conceptualizing and so on. They aren’t focusing on any specific segments, but they are going to focus their investments regionally.
One nice thing about POLTE is that they will make decisions fast. They suggest you first call or email them to explain your team and business idea, and then set up a meeting for a proper pitch presentation. After a maximum of one week after the pitch, they will let you know their decision.
That sounds crazy fast if they’re investing a maximum of €1 million, but Oskari Kettunen, the leader of the POLTE program, explains that when they hear the pitches, they know what they need to see.
“We believe in keeping it really open and pragmatic and simple. We want to meet these companies and we don’t want to drag this process along because we know there will be a lot of noes, and the ifs and maybes are a burden on the founders. So let’s do it open and honest and under a common understanding.”
So far, POLTE has already invested money and expertise into three companies: VALO, FUSION, and RBN. POLTE seems to be in favor of caps lock.
POLTE will be officially announced at Slush, you can talk to them there, or find more details on their website when it opens up.
