Helsinki-based venture capital firm Wave Ventures has announced the opening of its second fund of €2 million. Unicorn founders of Supercell, Smartly, and Wolt backed the student-led fund focused on Nordic Gen Z teams, ArcticStartup reports.
- Founded in 2017, Wave Ventures offers valuable, low-threshold support both in terms of money, and other guidance to startups in the Nordics.
- The fund can do just that thanks to the fund’s backers. The list includes unicorn founders Ilkka Paananen (Supercell), Kristo Ovaska (Smartly), and Miki Kuusi (Wolt), as well as many others.
“We want to make the leap easier for promising aspiring founders by investing in them earlier than any European VC has done before. Currently, there are some so-called “super founders” who have proved themselves and can attract the attention of VCs and angel investors very early. The challenge is that there is no systematic approach to how to help, validate – and invest in people at the earliest stage,”
Erik Kymäläinen, the newly appointed CEO of Wave Ventures, comments.
- The second fund will target 25 to 30 promising GenZ and millennial teams, university research, and young first time founders. The firm will help the early stage startup emerging from region to become next unicorns.