Trind Ventures has announced the first closing of its new fund at €21 million. The three largest investors in the fund are European Investment Fund (EIF) under the Juncker Plan, LHV pension funds (LHV) and Trind Ventures’ team itself.
The fund will provide seed capital starting from €100,000 and do follow-on investments of up to €3 million per company. The fund can invest alone, but is keen to co-invest alongside local business angels and/or other early stage funds. The fund plans to invest in up to 10 new portfolio companies per year.
The fund shall invest into early stage ICT companies in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and the rest of Central and Northern Europe. It will help to address the increasing demand for seed capital by early stage teams and improve the capacity of regional syndication for early stage funding.
European Commission Vice-President, Andrus Ansip said, “Improving access to finance for Europe’s vibrant digital startup sector is at the top of the EU’s agenda. The European tech industry creates jobs faster than any other industries, so it’s vital we do what we can to give early-stage companies a helping hand. I am very proud that the EU is supporting Trind Ventures in its quest to provide seed capital to digital businesses across central and Northern Europe.
Partner with Trind Ventures, Ivar Siimar said, “We are happy to have our new fund closed. It can now start investing and our team is already talking to many aspiring entrepreneurs in the region. The quality of investment targets is getting better every year thanks to the positive feedback loop created by the regional success stories. It is also great to have a bit more capital available in the early stage – a development which will increase the success rate of the local companies and provide longer runways for entrepreneurs. We will now be able to syndicate larger financing rounds locally.”
EIF Chief Executive, Pier Luigi Gilibert said, “EIF is pleased to be contributing to the establishment of a new team in the Baltics’ venture capital ecosystem, to reduce the financing gap that limits the growth potential of start-up companies in the region. Trind Ventures will help to establish a direct funding link between the business angel and institutional investor community creating a more targeting funding approach for companies in the Baltics.”
Trind Ventures is supported by InnovFin Equity, with the financial backing of the European Union under Horizon 2020 Financial Instruments and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The purpose of EFSI is to help companies across Europe gain access to financing and attract private investors to support innovative and strategic projects by providing a guarantee to the EIB Group.
