15 Finnish VCs Actively Funding Startups in 2026

Last updated: April 2026

TL;DR: Finland's 15 most active VCs span pre-seed through growth across deep tech (Voima Fund III: EUR 100M+, Maki Fund III: EUR 100M), B2B SaaS (OpenOcean Fund IV: EUR 130M target, Vendep Capital), gaming (Play Ventures Fund III: $140M), and generalist early-stage (Lifeline Fund VI: EUR 400M, Icebreaker Fund III: EUR 120M). Tesi deployed EUR 425M in 2025 as Finland's consolidated state co-investor. FiBAN Super Angels invested EUR 46M in 2025 (up 46% YoY). Organise your materials in a Peony data room with page-level analytics, NDA gates, and AI auto-indexing.

I built Peony to help founders share deal materials securely, and I regularly see how Finnish startups structure their fundraising data rooms. Finland punches well above its weight: world-class deep-tech research infrastructure, a tight founder community, public co-investment through Tesi and Business Finland, and specialist VCs across gaming, science, SaaS, and climate.

This guide does three things for you:

1. shows how to shortlist fast,
2. gives concise, source-backed profiles of 15 active Finnish VCs plus Finland's angel ecosystem,
3. closes with five pitch tips tuned to the local market.

How to Pick the Right Finnish Investor

• Map investor to motion.

  • Pre-seed company builders: Icebreaker.vc (up to EUR 1.5M), Superhero Capital (up to EUR 1M), Wave Ventures (up to EUR 100K), Gorilla Capital (EUR 50K-1M). (Icebreaker)
  • Deep tech / science: Voima Ventures (Fund III EUR 100M+), Butterfly Ventures (Fund IV EUR 47M), Maki.vc (Fund III EUR 100M). (Voima Ventures)
  • B2B SaaS / data infra: Vendep Capital (EUR 0.1-3M), OpenOcean (Helsinki/London, EUR 130M target), Inventure (Nordics/Baltics). (Vendep Capital)
  • Cross-border / corporate: NGP Capital (Nokia-backed, Fund V $400M), NordicNinja (Nordic + Japanese networks). (NGP Capital)
  • Gaming: Play Ventures (Fund III $140M, Helsinki GP). (Pocket Gamer)

• Stack Finland's public edge. Pair VC with Tesi (state co-investor, EUR 425M deployed in 2025) and Business Finland grants (DTA up to EUR 400K per phase, new Sprint Grant up to EUR 100K) to extend runway without ugly dilution. (tesi.fi)

• Tap the angel layer. FiBAN Super Angels (top ~10% of 700+ members) invested EUR 46M in 2025 and write cheques from EUR 200K to EUR 1M+. A committed angel syndicate gives you leverage when negotiating VC terms.

• Signal real PMF math. Lead with activation to 30/60/90 retention, payback by channel, and 12-18-month milestones tied to this round.

Organise your materials in a secure data room so investors can review your pitch deck and technical documentation without email back-and-forth.

The 15 Investors

For each firm: Center, Stage & typical ticket, Why them, They scrutinise, How to approach.

1) Lifeline Ventures (Helsinki)

Center: Iconic early-stage Finnish fund; day-zero to scale. Fund VI launched October 2025 at EUR 400M — Finland's largest VC fund. Seed backer of Supercell, Wolt, Oura, ICEYE, Aiven. (tesi.fi)

Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to Series A; EUR 100K-2M initial with significant follow-on reserves.

Why them: Category-defining track record and the strongest signal in Finnish venture.

They scrutinise: Founder velocity, category insight, and path to global scale.

Approach: One-pager showing your wedge to category plan and weekly usage/retention curves. Share your deck through a data room with page-level analytics so you know which sections each partner reviewed.

2) Icebreaker.vc (Helsinki)

Center: Company-builder mindset from idea to seed; community plus studio DNA. Fund III raised EUR 120M in early 2025. Finland/Sweden/Estonia focus. (Icebreaker)

Stage & ticket: First tickets up to EUR 1.5M; very hands-on at zero to one.

Why them: Day-zero craft: design partners, founder tooling, and hands-on activation support.

They scrutinise: Founder-problem fit and early activation/habit formation.

Approach: Bring design-partner letters and a 90-day build/ship cadence.

3) Maki.vc (Helsinki)

Center: Early-stage deep tech and brand-driven ventures. Fund III closed at EUR 100M in November 2024 with initial tickets of EUR 300K-3M. (Maki)

Stage & ticket: Pre-seed/Seed, concentrated bets.

Why them: Pattern recognition in hard tech plus crafted consumer brands. (Maki)

They scrutinise: IP or scientific edge and a crisp demand story.

Approach: Map TRL to commercialisation, plus first paying customers.

4) Voima Ventures (Helsinki/Stockholm)

Center: Science-driven deep tech across Nordics and Baltics. Fund III EUR 100M+ (SFDR Article 8). Initial tickets of EUR 200K-3M. (Tech.eu)

Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to seed; strong university and R&D ties.

Why them: Climate and industrial focus with deep scientific diligence. (Vestbee)

They scrutinise: IP/FTO, derisking plan, and industrial pilots.

Approach: Show a pilot pipeline and regulatory/scale milestones. Organise lab reports and IP documentation with AI auto-indexing so reviewers can search across your entire filing history.

5) OpenOcean (Helsinki & London)

Center: Early-stage B2B software / data infrastructure; roots with MySQL/MariaDB's Monty Widenius. Fund IV targeting EUR 130M with increased focus on AI-driven data and software. (OpenOcean)

Stage & ticket: Seed/Series A across Europe; initial tickets up to EUR 6M. (OpenOcean)

Why them: Deep technical diligence and go-to-market for data products.

They scrutinise: Data moats, developer adoption, and scalable unit economics.

Approach: Bring pipeline by persona (PM/data/infra) and time-to-value data.

6) Inventure (Helsinki)

Center: Generalist early-stage across Nordics/Baltics with heavy portfolio support. EUR 230M AUM across Fund IV. (Inventure VC)

Stage & ticket: Seed/Series A (select pre-seed); tickets EUR 200K-5M with meaningful follow-on. (PitchBook)

Why them: Deep talent and expansion help for cross-border scaling.

They scrutinise: ICP clarity, repeatable sales, and "why now."

Approach: Show 2-3 lighthouse expansions and a hiring roadmap for the next phase.

7) Vendep Capital (Espoo)

Center: B2B SaaS specialist across Nordics/Baltics. Initial tickets of EUR 0.1-3M; leads seed, supports follow-ons. (Vendep Capital)

Stage & ticket: Seed; practical SaaS help and recent co-leads in Nordic SaaS.

Why them: Speaks SaaS fluently: ICP, ACV motion, retention, sales efficiency.

They scrutinise: Payback by channel and NRR path.

Approach: Share cohort math and two customer expansion stories.

8) Superhero Capital (Helsinki)

Center: Seed investor in software-driven New Nordics founders. Fund IV launched January 2025 with EUR 50M target. (Superhero Capital)

Stage & ticket: Initial EUR 100K-1M; fast process, hands-on early traction support.

Why them: Quick decisions and practical GTM support.

They scrutinise: Founder grit, early usage, and pragmatic go-to-market.

Approach: Show weekly activation and a simple sales machine you can scale. Protect your IP when sharing early-stage materials with password protection and link expiry.

9) Butterfly Ventures (Oulu/Helsinki)

Center: Pre-seed/seed deep-tech (often research-based). Investing from Fund IV (EUR 47M). (Butterfly Ventures)

Stage & ticket: Very early entries; hardware and science comfort. (The Hub)

Why them: One of few Nordic VCs comfortable with pre-revenue hard tech.

They scrutinise: Tech truth, path to revenue, and protectability.

Approach: Put proof-points (TRL, POC pilots) and customer validation on one slide.

10) Innovestor Ventures (Helsinki)

Center: One of Finland's most active early-stage investors; EUR 250M+ across six VC funds. Multi-sector: tech, life science, sustainability. (Innovestor)

Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to Series A; breadth plus follow-on capacity. (Innovestor)

Why them: Good co-investor networks and multi-sector flexibility.

They scrutinise: Capital efficiency and credible go-to-market.

Approach: Bring budgeted milestones and named co-investors.

11) NordicNinja VC (Helsinki-born, pan-Nordic)

Center: Deep-tech with Nordic innovation plus Japanese networks. Fund II targeting EUR 200M with JBIC as a public backer. (Nordic Ninja)

Stage & ticket: Series A/B; EUR 2-8M tickets. (JBIC)

Why them: Japan/East-Asia access and corporate intros for industrial startups.

They scrutinise: Industrial relevance and global path from day one.

Approach: Show partner pilots and an Asia expansion hypothesis.

12) NGP Capital (Espoo/Helsinki)

Center: Global B2B tech; formerly Nokia Growth Partners. Fund V USD 400M commitment from Nokia. Helsinki office. (NGP Capital)

Stage & ticket: Early-growth; corporate networks in 5G, edge computing, and industrial tech. (Nokia)

Why them: Enterprise customer intros through Nokia's global relationships.

They scrutinise: Enterprise-readiness and durable unit economics.

Approach: Bring security/compliance posture and enterprise payback. Show your GDPR readiness with a data room that includes NDA gates before counterparties access sensitive product data.

13) Play Ventures (Helsinki/Singapore)

Center: Early-stage gaming fund; global, with a GP based in Helsinki. Fund III USD 140M (2024). (Play Ventures)

Stage & ticket: Pre-seed to Series A; veteran game builders with infra plus content thesis. (Pocket Gamer)

Why them: Deep gaming craft; strong portfolio pace across Helsinki and Singapore.

They scrutinise: Core loop design, playtest data, UA math, and infra ROI.

Approach: Share build cadence, playtest data, and UA unit economics. Use screenshot protection to keep unreleased game design documents contained.

14) Wave Ventures (Helsinki, student-led)

Center: Europe's largest Gen-Z-run VC; earliest pre-seed across New Nordics. Fund grew to EUR 7M in 2025, backed by founders of Slack, Supercell, and Skype. (Tech Funding News)

Stage & ticket: First tickets up to ~EUR 100K; ridiculously early conviction.

Why them: Network of next-gen operators and fast, founder-friendly process.

They scrutinise: Speed of learning and founder-market obsession.

Approach: Bring a 6-month experiment stack with crisp success criteria.

15) Gorilla Capital (Helsinki)

Center: High-volume early-stage investor with a "probabilities over luck" approach. (EU-Startups)

Stage & ticket: EUR 50K-1M; co-invests with angels and seed VCs. (Vestbee)

Why them: Processed, fast, and pragmatic on capital efficiency.

They scrutinise: Frugal growth and repeatable acquisition.

Approach: Show channel payback and a lean hiring plan.

Finland's Angel Layer: FiBAN and Super Angels

Finnish fundraising has a unique advantage in its organised angel network. FiBAN (Finnish Business Angels Network) has over 700 members who invested EUR 46M in 2025 — up 46% year over year. The top roughly 10% of members, informally called Super Angels, account for half of all FiBAN investments and write cheques from EUR 200K to over EUR 1M, well above the median FiBAN ticket of EUR 20K.

For seed-stage founders, a committed FiBAN Super Angel syndicate of EUR 200-500K gives you leverage when negotiating VC terms and signals to institutional investors that experienced operators validated your deal. Access them through FiBAN's roughly 87 annual pitch events.

Superangel (Tallinn-based, founded 2018) is a separate VC fund (~EUR 50M, tickets EUR 100K-500K) active across Baltics and Nordics including Finland, focused on AI, robotics, energy, and defence. They launched a new defence-focused fund in May 2025.

Finland's Public Funding Stack (Updated April 2026)

Finland's public co-investment infrastructure changed significantly in 2025:

• Tesi was restructured in May 2025 into Finland's single consolidated state equity investor (absorbing three separate entities). Deployed EUR 425M in 2025 — 3.7x versus 2024. Co-invests alongside private VC leads with EUR 0.5-20M tickets.
• Business Finland cut Tempo, NIY (Young Innovative Company), Exhibition, and Market Explorer grants in October 2025 due to EUR 27M budget reductions.
• Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) was made permanent: three phases, up to EUR 400K per phase (grants plus loan). Next call opens May 2026.
• Sprint Grant (new 2026 pilot): up to EUR 100K for companies with fewer than 50 employees with international growth potential. Open March-August 2026.

The playbook: secure your private VC lead first, then layer Tesi co-investment and DTA or Sprint grants on top to extend runway without excessive dilution.

Five Quick Tips for Pitching Finnish Investors

1. Pilot math on one slide. Who is piloting, the KPI (time-to-value, retention, NRR), and exactly how pilot becomes multi-site/paid expansion.

2. Stack non-dilutive plus strategic. Map how Tesi co-investment and Business Finland DTA or Sprint grants extend runway and de-risk milestones before a priced round. (tesi.fi)

3. Come enterprise-ready. DPA/GDPR documentation, SSO/SCIM, procurement timeline, and a named security owner shorten cycles with Nordic corporates. Keep your compliance documentation in a secure, organised data room rather than scattered across Google Drive folders.

4. De-risk the next round. "This raise buys: (a) three design-partner expansions, (b) SOC2/CE or regulatory step, (c) EUR X MRR at Y% NRR," plus two likely follow-on leads.

5. Keep your data room boring (that is a compliment). Clean index, cap table, IP/FTO, customer letters, cohort analysis, and a milestone-indexed budget. Use Peony to organise your startup data room and track which investors actually read your materials. Peony's AI Q&A lets investors ask questions and get instant cited answers, cutting days off the diligence timeline.

How Peony Helps Finnish Startups Raise Capital

I built Peony specifically for the fundraising workflow. Finnish founders use it to:

• Organise deal materials in minutes. AI auto-indexing sorts your uploaded documents into a searchable data room in under three minutes. No manual folder creation needed.
• Track investor engagement at the page level. Page analytics show which investors opened your deck, which sections they spent time on, and when they came back for a second look. Time your follow-ups to the people who are actually reading.
• Protect sensitive IP. Dynamic watermarks print each viewer's identity on every page. Screenshot protection blocks and logs capture attempts. NDA gates require signatures before access.
• Execute documents in-platform. Built-in e-signatures with AI field detection let you close NDAs, term sheets, and side letters without switching to a separate signing tool.
• Control access after sharing. Link expiry, password protection, and instant access revocation keep stale versions from circulating after your round closes.

Peony Business at $40 per admin per month includes AI auto-indexing, screenshot protection, dynamic watermarks, advanced Q&A, and multi-level gating for syndicated rounds. Pro at $20 per admin per month covers core analytics and document sharing for single-lead setups.

Set up your Finnish fundraising data room - ready in under five minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

I'm a deep-tech founder with a university spinout raising €3M seed in Helsinki — should I approach Voima Ventures or Maki.vc first?

It depends on what kind of deep tech. Voima Ventures (Fund III, EUR 100M+, Article 8) specialises in science-driven ventures with industrial and climate applications — they want IP/FTO clarity, derisking milestones, and named pilot partners. If your spinout is turning university research into industrial hardware or materials, Voima is the natural first call. Maki.vc (Fund III, EUR 100M, closed November 2024) backs deep tech and brand-driven ventures but also invests in consumer and creative businesses — they care about both the scientific edge and a crisp demand story. For a 4-person spinout with 15 patent filings and a pilot pipeline, your data room needs to handle both IP documentation and commercial validation. Peony AI auto-indexing organises patent families, lab reports, and pilot agreements into a searchable structure in under three minutes — traditional data rooms like Intralinks charge per-page upload fees and take days to index the same volume.

We're a B2B SaaS startup with €500K ARR raising a €6M Series A — which Finnish VCs actually lead A rounds?

Three funds regularly lead or co-lead Series A in Finland. OpenOcean (targeting EUR 130M for Fund IV) focuses on data and AI-driven B2B software with initial tickets up to EUR 6M — they want to see a data moat and scalable distribution. Inventure (EUR 230M AUM across Fund IV) backs B2B SaaS, fintech, and marketplaces across Nordics and Baltics with tickets up to EUR 5M and meaningful follow-on reserves. NordicNinja (Fund II, targeting EUR 200M) focuses on deep tech and sustainability with EUR 2–8M tickets and adds Japan and East Asia strategic intros. For your EUR 6M round, prepare a clean data room with cohort metrics, pipeline by persona, and an 18-month milestone ladder. Peony page-level analytics show you exactly which partners spent time on your revenue schedules versus your product roadmap, so you time follow-ups to the people who are actually engaged. Google Drive gives you nothing beyond whether the link was opened.

I'm a first-time founder in Finland with a prototype but no revenue — who will actually take the meeting?

Four paths are designed for your stage. Icebreaker.vc (Fund III, EUR 120M, raised early 2025) is a company-builder that invests up to EUR 1.5M at pre-seed with hands-on studio support. Superhero Capital (Fund IV, EUR 50M target, launched January 2025) writes EUR 100K–1M initial cheques into software-driven New Nordics founders. Wave Ventures is Europe's largest Gen-Z-run VC with first tickets up to EUR 100K from their EUR 7M fund — ridiculously early conviction. Gorilla Capital writes EUR 50K–1M co-investment cheques with a fast, probability-driven process. For all four, prepare a 90-day build-and-ship cadence, design-partner letters, and a milestone ladder tied to this raise. Organise everything in a single data room rather than scattered email attachments. Peony lets you set one up in under five minutes with password protection and NDA gates so only serious investors access your materials — Box and Dropbox have no built-in NDA workflow at all.

How do FiBAN Super Angels work, and should I pitch them before or after VCs?

FiBAN is Finland's business angel network with over 700 members who invested EUR 46M in 2025, up 46 percent year over year. The top roughly 10 percent of members — informally called Super Angels — account for half of all FiBAN investments and write cheques ranging from hundreds of thousands to over a million euros, well above the median FiBAN ticket of EUR 20K. Pitch angels before or in parallel with VCs, not after. A committed angel syndicate of EUR 200–500K gives you leverage when negotiating VC terms and shows VCs that experienced operators validated your deal. Access FiBAN through their roughly 87 annual pitch events. When sharing your deck with both angel and VC audiences simultaneously, use Peony dynamic watermarks that print each viewer's name on every page — if a screenshot leaks during a broad angel pitch, you can trace it back to the source. Standard cloud storage like Dropbox has no per-viewer watermarking at all.

Can I stack Tesi co-investment and Business Finland grants with a private VC round?

Yes, and this public-private stack is Finland's biggest fundraising advantage. Tesi was restructured in May 2025 into Finland's single consolidated state equity investor and deployed EUR 425M in 2025, a 3.7x increase over 2024. They co-invest alongside private VC leads at seed through growth with EUR 0.5–20M tickets. On the grant side, Business Finland cut Tempo and NIY grants in October 2025 due to EUR 27M budget reductions, but the Deep Tech Accelerator (DTA) was made permanent with up to EUR 400K per phase across three phases, and the new Sprint Grant pilot (2026) offers up to EUR 100K for companies with fewer than 50 employees. The playbook: secure your private VC lead first, then layer Tesi co-investment and DTA or Sprint grants on top. Peony e-signatures let your VC lead, Tesi, and grant administrators all execute documents inside the same platform where they reviewed your materials — most founders juggle a separate DocuSign thread alongside their data room, which fragments the audit trail.

We're a gaming startup in Helsinki raising a €5M seed — which investors actually understand games?

Play Ventures is the obvious first call. They closed Fund III at USD 140M in 2024 with a GP based in Helsinki and offices in Singapore — their entire thesis is early-stage gaming from pre-seed through Series A. They scrutinise core loop design, playtest data, and UA unit economics. Beyond Play, Lifeline Ventures (Fund VI, EUR 400M, launched October 2025) was an early backer of Supercell and understands gaming at the category level. Superhero Capital also backs software-driven founders including gaming adjacent plays. For a EUR 5M seed round, prepare a data room with your build cadence, playtest metrics, and UA experiments alongside standard financials. Peony screenshot protection blocks and logs capture attempts, so your unreleased game design documents stay contained during multi-party diligence — Google Drive and SharePoint have no screenshot detection whatsoever.

We're a Nordic SaaS company expanding to the US — which Finnish VCs have real cross-border networks?

Three firms stand out for cross-border expansion. NGP Capital (Fund V, USD 400M from Nokia) operates globally with a Helsinki office and deep corporate networks in 5G, edge computing, and industrial tech — they help portfolio companies land enterprise customers through Nokia's global relationships. NordicNinja connects Northern European startups to Japanese strategic partners through JBIC backing and corporate LP relationships. OpenOcean (Helsinki and London offices) helps data and AI companies scale across Europe and into the US with distribution coaching and customer intros. For your US expansion, prepare a market entry memo with named prospects, channel partnerships, and a 6-month pipeline hypothesis alongside your core deck. Share it through Peony with link expiry set to 30 days so stale versions do not circulate after the round closes. Google Drive and Notion share links never expire unless you manually revoke them.

How should I organise my data room before approaching Finnish investors?

Finnish investors expect five core sections: a clean cap table, cohort metrics with activation through 30-day, 60-day, and 90-day retention plus CAC payback by channel, IP and FTO documentation if you are deep tech, proof points like design-partner letters or pilot results, and a milestone-indexed budget for this raise. If you plan to stack Tesi co-investment, add a section with your private lead's term sheet and clear use-of-proceeds. For a 5-person startup raising a EUR 3M seed with 120 documents across financials, IP, and customer evidence, keep folders organised by section, not chronologically. Peony AI Q&A lets investors ask questions in plain English and get instant answers with cited page numbers, so you avoid the multi-day email chains that slow diligence. Traditional data rooms like Intralinks charge per-page upload fees and take days to index the same volume that Peony handles in minutes.

Related Resources

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• Startup Data Room Checklist
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• Peony vs Dropbox
• Peony vs Box
• Fundraising Data Room Solutions
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