Finland-based venture capital firm and accelerator Vendep has achieved the first close of its Vendep Capital Fund II at €30m ($33m), with government-owned investment firm Finnish Industry Investment (Tesi) as a cornerstone investor.
KRR II, a €130m venture fund managed by Tesi, co-led the fundraising. Finnish government-owned fund Sitra contributed capital, as did employment pension company Elo Mutual Pension Insurance and utility-focused software-as-a-service producer Gerako.
Investment firm AI-Partners and assorted foundations, including Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation and the Saastamoinen Foundation, also took part in the fundraising alongside Vendep’s general partners, unnamed family offices and private investors.
Vendep Capital Fund II has a target size of €40m. It will seek out opportunities in the business-to-business sector, with a particular focus on domestic software-as-a-service startups.
The fund will invest an initial €500,000 to €1m per startup, and each investee will need to show monthly revenue of at least €30,000 to €50,000 – with a significant amount of that from international clients – to secure capital.
Vendep hopes the fund will address the pre-series A funding gap in Finland. The firm will hire additional investment staff at its Helsinki office following the launch of its latest fund.
Riitta Jääskeläinen, investment director at Tesi, said: “It is great to have a new venture capital fund in the Finnish market. Vendep Capital has a good track record as a startup accelerator in Finland and knows the market well. We are looking forward to new success stories.”
– This article originally appeared on our sister site, Global Government Venturing.