The City of Oulu has selected Butterfly Ventures to manage the Northern Startup Fund that will be established in Oulu. The fund will invest in startup companies that have operations within Oulu region. The goal is to gather approximately 35 million euro of investment capital. The Northern Startup Fund is the first so called asymmetric fund in Finland. The fund intends to make its first investments already before the end of 2012.
“Asymmetric model is particularly interesting from the private investors’ point of view.” said Matti Kanninen, managing partner of Butterfly Ventures “In asymmetric model the private investor has preference over the public financier, which benefits in any case in a form of tax income. The private investor is preferred both in return of the invested capital as well as in distribution of the profits”, he added.
The new fund will significantly improve the startup ecosystem in northern Finland. In addition to capital, Butterfly Ventures will bring in plenty of required knowledge and networks. The management company will also reshape some of the operation models in the industry. One of its goals is to bring the world famous “Techstars” –type of model into Finland.
“Our goal was to bring in the best possible team that can operate both in Oulu as well as internationally with ease.” said Ville Heikkinen from Business Oulu “We selected Butterfly Ventures because they combined the regional dimension with the first class IPO seen serial entrepreneur experience and deep understanding of venture capital industry”, he added.
The fund will start its active operations early fall. At first the fund capitalization will be roughly 10 million euro, half of which comes from the City of Oulu. The other half will be gathered from private investors. In second phase, during 2014, the fund capitalization will be expanded into 35 million euro. Negotiations with the private investors will be finalized during the summer and fall. Butterfly Ventures will also organize a fund related information event for the interested investors and startup companies by the end of August in Oulu.
Enquiries and more information:
Matti Kanninen, managing partner
Phone: +358 (40) 5455877
Email: matti@butterfly.vc
Butterfly Ventures
Butterfly Ventures is an early stage focused startup development and venture fund management company located in Oulu, Finland. Behind the company are Matti Kanninen, Antti Kosunen and Juho Risku as well as board members Jukka Mäkinen and Jari Pasanen. Butterfly Ventures has offices in Oulu and Helsinki.
Web: http://butterfly.vc