Scale-Up Europe: Tesi to join public venture capital and private equity investors from France, Germany, Greece and Denmark to finance growth of European tech companies
Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment) has agreed, together with public venture capital and private equity investors from France, Germany, Greece and Denmark, to enhance the ability of European venture capital funds to finance later-stage tech companies operating in the EU. The parties are aiming to invest EUR 3.3 billion in the cooperation framework over the next six years, contributing to the emergence of new European unicorns.
The Protocol of Cooperation, signed at the Growing Together event in Athens on 4 April 2022, is part of the Scale-Up Europe initiative presented in Paris in February 2022, during France’s presidency of the EU Council. Scale-Up Europe aims to strengthen the European start-up ecosystem and boost the financing of later-growth phase companies through even larger European funding rounds.
“I’m very pleased with this cooperation on developing the European – and thus also the Finnish –venture capital and private equity market. It’s important to be involved in initiatives that strengthen the financing of Finnish growth companies in their later phase of growth,” says Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintilä.
Late-stage European startups need substantial financial resources to support them in growing and internationalising on the path to becoming global technology leaders.
“Although generally there is plenty of capital available, we have a bottleneck in Finland and Europe in the case of larger venture capital funds in the later growth phase of start-ups. By working together, we can enable larger European financing rounds that will boost investments in scale-up companies and accelerate their growth and internationalisation,” continues Jan Sasse, Tesi’s CEO.
The strategic cooperation was initiated by Tesi (Finland), Bpifrance (France), KfW Capital (Germany), Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece) and Vækstfonden (Denmark), and the door will also remain open for other European public-sector investors to join the cooperation.
The framework covers operational coordination throughout the investment process so that each entity makes its own investment decisions independently. The cooperation also aims to develop a European ecosystem; for example, by sharing best practices and information.
The Protocol of Cooperation is a strong demonstration of the common objectives of the five parties: to grow new European technology leaders that will reinforce the continent’s economic and technological status and ensure its future competitiveness and technological independence.
More information
Jan Sasse, CEO, Tesi, jan.sasse@tesi.fi, +358 40 861 9151
Tesi (Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a state-owned investment company that wants to raise Finland to the front ranks of transformative economic growth by investing in funds and directly in companies. We invest profitably and responsibly, together with co-investors, to create the world’s new success stories. Our investments under management total 2.4 billion euros. www.tesi.fi | @TesiFII