Voima Ventures, a Helsinki and Stockholm-based early-stage investor specializing in science-based startups, has announced the launch of its exciting new science challenge, Velocity. Targeted at pre-seed and seed-stage science-based startups in the Nordic and Baltic regions, this initiative aims to accelerate innovation and support groundbreaking projects in the fields of green transformation, life sciences, health technologies, and disruptive industry technologies.
Velocity represents a significant opportunity for startups with university or research lab backgrounds to receive mentoring, feedback, and evaluation from science and growth company experts, as well as co-investors from Voima Ventures. The challenge will select 30 companies to participate in an online session where they will receive expert guidance on commercializing their ideas and expand their investor networks. Additionally, they will receive valuable mentoring and insights to further their projects. From this pool, the top 8 teams will advance to a final round, where they will compete for the coveted €1 million investment.
“Harnessing the power of science-driven entrepreneurship is the quickest way to tackle urgent global problems, and thus we need more ways to accelerate science-based innovation. We want to challenge research teams to build scalable solutions for urgent issues and look forward to supporting the best ideas, helping them scale,” says Inka Mero, Founding Partner of Voima Ventures.
The final jury consists of top-tier investors and industry experts: Co-founder and co-CEO of Paebbl Marta Sjögren, Managing Director of Angelini Ventures Tanja Dowe, entrepreneur and deep-tech investor Nicklas Bergman, Co-founder of Quantagonia, professor Sabina Jeschke, and Co-founder and CEO of Algorithmiq, professor Sabrina Maniscalco. The winning team will receive a €1 million investment in a convertible note, and Voima Ventures actively supports the winner with mentorship in developing and growing the business for the years to come.
“We are thrilled to have gathered an extraordinary jury of investment and industry experts to evaluate and support the participating teams, particularly those focused on innovations for people, the planet, and industries. Our goal is to offer an exceptional opportunity to those with ideas that have the potential to create significant societal impact and drive positive change in the world, allowing them to gain more resources for building their ideas into businesses,” Mero says.
Voima Ventures has a strong track record of investing in high-growth science-based solutions, being an early investor in successful companies like Solar Foods, Dispelix, and Eniferbio. Unlike many VC funds with small or specific allocations for deep tech, Voima Ventures is the only Nordic VC focusing purely on science-based and deep tech startups. In June, Voima Ventures announced its third fund of €90 million to continue supporting groundbreaking Nordic and Baltic science-based startups.
“Science-based innovation is a crucial driver of new economic growth and a way to build European technology sovereignty. As we move forward, we believe that technology and science-based companies will form the backbone of the Nordic and Baltic regions’ economic growth and talent attraction. To get there, we urgently need collaboration and support from all corners of society and diverse ways to support people who are building these solutions from early on,” Inka Mero says. “We’re committed to developing and nurturing a world-class ecosystem in the Nordic and Baltic regions, unlocking their immense potential to emerge as a global epicenter for science-based deep technology.”
