Multitouch Closes 2 Million Euro Investment
The Finnish manufacturer and designer of touch based large screens, Multitouch, has secured a 2 million euro investment from the Finnish Industry Investment and Veritas Pension Insurance. The investment will be used to speed up the company's sales and marketing efforts including their international operations. Previous investors, founders and seed fund Vera will continue as owners in the company as well.
The company was founded in 2007 and has received a good start ever since. Earlier this year we covered the company as it designed the Twitter wall for CES. According to the press release, Multitouch has currently clients in 40 countries.
Northzone Announces The First Close Of € 90 Million Of A New Fund. So What?
Northzone Ventures announced the first close of € 90 million of a new fund, Northzone VI. Targeting € 150 million, the fund will invest in fast growing Euro tech companies. Prominent Nordic and International institutional investors participated in the first close.
This was not only significant because we certainly don't have too much venture capital in the Nordics, but also because this will mean that some of the better venture capital firms are bullish enough to look outside for new investments instead of just trying help navigate their current portfolio companies through the rough economy. I'm happy that the Finnish Industry Investment, whose Advisory Council I sit at, invested a total of € 7.5m in the new fund (consider this as my disclosure). This shows that the institutional players believe in the asset class despite the lack of an IPO market. I agree that I might read this news as a bigger positive sign than most, given how bad the European let alone Nordic venture capital situation is, but what it highlights is that the best startups will always find the money when they need it regardless of geography or economy. For the real pirates now is always the right time to start a company.
State Of The Finnish Venture Capital
The Nordics and Baltics are still very much a wild west when it comes to venture capital and building startups into real growth companies and all the way to the IPO dreamland.
All the countries have their peculiar histories when it comes to VC landscape and so does Finland. Will Cardwell, the CEO of Techopolis Ventures, wrote a very enlightening post called "Reeling in the last decade in Finnish VC" (here) on how the scene has developed in Finland what factors have influenced it.
Will starts out by saying that while there certainly are a lot of colorful stories, the thing that bothers him is the number of “success stories that got away. When assessing history track record he goes on to say that he emphasizes exits, since they are the only relevant measure of success for both growth entrepreneurial businesses or venture capital investing, and this area (exits) is precisely where Finnish companies have had the biggest challenges Cardwell's view. By looking at the figures one can't but agree.
Eniram Closes A 5 Million Euro Round
Eniram, A Finnish startup providing dynamic decision support systems for the shipping industry, has closed a five milliong euro investment round.
The company does not operate in the consumer web remit, but when the mainstream press is doing its best to fuel the economic despair we want to show that every coin has two sides and that great startups will always find funding. In fact, now that the tougher times weed out the clones and other cowboys who're in it for a quick buck it's a lot easier to get your message our there and find that smart money you need.
In the same spirit, great ideas know no boundaries either and best opportunities wait at the intersection of different industries be it micromessage systems, ship building or clean tech.
In Eniram's case the investment will allow the company to increase the pace of expansion of its global sales, distribution and support operations. Stronger presence in key markets will help Eniram respond to the growing demand for the company’s flagship product Dynamic Trimming Assistant (DTA), introduced in July 2008 to the global maritime market.
Eniram DTA helps vessel officers optimize trim at all times, minimizing water resistance, decreasing fuel consumption, and reducing emissions. The system continuously collects and displays real-time data of the vessel attitude, allowing timely action in changing circumstances. The key metrics are brought to vessel officers in an easy-to-read graphic form, to facilitate faster and better informed decision-making.
The investment round closed in December 2008 was led by Ferd Venture, one of Norway's leading venture capital investors focused on ICT companies in the Nordic region. Other investors include Conor Venture Partners, a Finnish early-stage technology venture capital firm, and Finnish Industry Investment, a government-owned investment company. Conor Venture Partners previously invested in Eniram in the company’s Series A funding round in March 2008.
It's shitty time to build your career in almost any big company as they need to cut cost and tighten the screw in every possible way. Hell, even Google is cutting the perks and laying off part-time workers. This makes it an ideal time to give that idea of yours a shot. Don't quit your day job, but build a proto during the weekend and even during the week when your employer is not looking. When the old methods are not working everyone is looking for new alternatives, which makes it an ideal time to bring your proto to the investors to see.
Photo by western dave (CC-BY)
Axel Technologies Raises EUR 2.4M for Mobile TV Technology Commercialization
Axel Technologies, a Finnish multistandard mobile TV technology startup, has received EUR 2.4 million Series B investment from Nexit Ventures and Finnish Industry Investment Ltd. The investors are the same as in the first round approx a year ago. The funding will be used to strengthen Axel’s sales and marketing operations to cover the global market, and to "intensify R&D efforts focused on anticipated developments in the mobile TV market", i.e., bridging the gap between the fragmented regional and global mobile TV technology solutions and standards.
Axel Technologies develops mobile TV technology enabling device manufactures to bring mobile TV to all portable devices, like mobile internet devices, portable media players, netbooks, and car navigators. Axel claims to support all most important mobile TV standards, and provides also Java and native UI client with features like service guide, purchases, live TV and on-demand video. Axel also statedly has the world’s only authentic DVB-H field test network.
So far mobile TV hasn't taken off that well globally outside Japan and South Korea, although Axel Technologies' press release quotes estimates that mobile TV subscribers are forecasted to reach 250 million by 2010. There are quite a many obstacles still in getting profitable business running around mobile TV, though, as the value chain is pretty long and complex with many stakeholders (manufacturers, wireless carriers, content providers, technology providers, broadcasters, ...). Even in South Korea the popular services are apparently not profitable. Anyway, Axel aims to remove the technology bottleneck, after which "the content offered by broadcasters and operators will determine the success of the service” as Pekka Salonoja, General Partner of Nexit Ventures and the Chairman of Axel Technologies, comments.
Full press release.
