Finland’s startups to watch, according to investors - Sifted

Finland’s got a fast-growing startup ecosystem. Here are the companies investors are watching today.

From health monitoring rings worn by Prince Harry, to quantum computing breakthroughs, Finland has a fast-growing startup ecosystem that’s emerged in the past ten years.The country’s also proven its ability to scale up tech businesses. On our list of the fastest growing scaleups of 2020, four out of the top ten were Finnish startups. But which startups are VCs watching today? We asked four investors based in Finland to recommend the companies they’re interested in and excited about.Their recommendations are diverse: from a needle-free healthtech tool, to textiles made from recycled leather, and from an AI writing tool to a new way to treat wrinkles. We just had one rule: to keep things interesting, the investors couldn’t recommend companies in their own portfolios.

Inka Mero, founder and managing partner at Voima Ventures

Voima is a deeptech investment firm, investing across the Nordics and Baltics.

IQM

What’s the tech? A quantum computing startup based in Espoo, Finland. We covered its latest quantum breakthrough here.

What problem is it trying to solve? “IQM is a spin-off from Aalto University and founded by the pioneer Prof. Mikko Möttönen. The team’s work started with breakthroughs in qubit reset, readout and thermal management towards large-scale quantum processors. Currently it’s developing unique hardware advantages and novel concepts around digital-analogue quantum computing. Mikko is one of a kind, a fantastic founder and the team is one of the leaders in quantum.”

Founded: 2018

Total funding: €67.5m

Original story: https://sifted.eu/articles/fin...