Stories

This is our first post in a multi-part blog series about how to turn a startup into a successful business that attracts investors and customers. In this post, we look at product development and the Minimum Viable Product concept.

We talk with experienced investor, founder and head of Helen Ventures, Terhi Vapola, about startup funding and get some valuable tips.

In April 2021 we announced our 5th portfolio company deal, which we are super proud of. Together with btov Partners, DvH Ventures, Motu Ventures and one of the most renowned investors from the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem, we invested €5.25 million to Berlin based LiveEO, a pioneering new space startup that helps asset owners around the globe.

Virta, one of the fastest growing companies in Europe ranked by the Financial Times*, announces today that it has attracted significant funding from major technology investors in Europe and Asia, the globally leading electric vehicle markets. The Virta platform allows industries to expand their business in EV charging with a market proven solution integrating electric mobility as a flexibility element of the sustainable energy system.

LiveEO, an Earth Observation (EO) asset monitoring startup based in Berlin, has closed an investment round with the venture capital firms btov Partners, Helen Ventures, DvH Ventures, and Motu Ventures as well as deep tech investor Andreas Kupke and one of the most renowned investors from the Silicon Valley tech ecosystem. The Series A investment of €5.25 million (USD $6.35 million) allows LiveEO to further accelerate the development of their market leading infrastructure monitoring solution as well as their international expansion.

Helen Ventures' portfolio company Virta made it to the FT 1000 list again. EV charging company Virta is recognised as the second fastest growing company in Finland and the 144th fastest growing company in Europe on the Financial Times FT 1000 list.

Several media outlets in the venture capital ecosystem have been reporting about the 2021 European Capital Report by i5invest and WU Entrepreneurship Center. We at Helen Ventures are delighted that also our work has been recognised in the report!

Whether operating in B2C or B2B field, in digital business or a brick-and-mortar, certain aspects of sales and business growth are likely to be the same: A) you have potential customers, B) there is a certain flow of how they come to you, C) how they engage with your business, and D) how they convert into sales and stay with you. Regardless of how this flow looks to your business, we’re talking about the customer lifecycle framework.

Helen Ventures has invested into a Norwegian Bergen-based startup Think Outside. The new technology of Think Outside offers more accurate information of the quantity of water stored in snow to hydropower companies, which helps them in optimizing the energy production.

Hydropower accounts over 50% of all electricity produced in the Nordics, and 60% of all renewable energy production globally. Vast amount of the water originates from snow within the catchment areas. The accumulated snowfall therefore contributes largely to the hydropower reservoir (HPR). What makes hydropower so efficient, is the fact that in the mountain areas where elevation plays well for the value (since hydropower is essentially gravitation power) also snowfall tends to be high.

The extraordinary year 2020 has come to an end and it’s a perfect time to stop and retrospectively look in the transom. In this interview, Terhi Vapola, VP and founder of Helen Ventures talks about VC work, gives insights of Helen Ventures’ investments, and reveals how she thinks Covid-19 changed the investment sector permanently. So, keep reading!

Helen Ventures and Helen had the honour of entering the Nordic PropTech scene at RecoTech 2020. Read below our recap of the event.