A Helsinki-based venture capital firm — Maki.vc — reports that the officially launched Maki Fund II, a €100 million seed fund aimed at “brand-driven and deep tech” founders. According to the company blog, the fund is backed by exited tech entrepreneurs and executives who’ve built companies, including Supercell, Smartly and Transferwise.
“We continue to invest across industries with a sweet spot for scientific advances and consumer-facing, brand-driven companies. We’ve already backed seven new founding teams from our new fund, and we are thrilled to introduce four of them to you,” writes Reetta Heiskanen, platform and marketing manager for the firm.
Investments in biotech, medtech and consumer tech:
Baseimmune is a UK-based company that designs future-proof vaccines. They are able to predict variants that are yet to be discovered, whilst ensuring protection against those variants based on the plasticity that the antigen demonstrates.
Pixieray makes next-generation eyeglasses, developing a solution that corrects eye vision based on context, instead of the static solution used today. Currently, the industry is dominated by few big players who enjoy big margins and do not need to innovate, and the market is growing.
Zevoy simplifies expense management. They combine Zevoy’s business card with a receipt scanning app and administration portal, and automate all company expenses in real-time – increasing employee satisfaction along the way.
Volare uses food production side streams to produce high-quality proteins and oils in order to replace other animal proteins, soy and palm oil. Ultimately, they’re creating 100% new products and 0% new side streams.
“Within the deep tech and brand-driven focus, we have no industry or geographical restrictions, but instead we look for relentless founders.,” Maki.vc’s founding partner Ilkka Kivimäki said in a statement. “Common to the most advanced technologies and most captivating brands is their ability to approach the world’s greatest challenges in unconventional ways.”
TechCrunch is reporting that Maki.vc’s initial ticket sizes range from €250,000 to €3 million. Their first fund, which was €80 million, invested in companies including Spinnova, quantum computing firm IQM and CarbonCloud.
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