Finns launch new $90 mln VC fund Maki.vc

Finland got this week a new $90 million high-profile VC fund Maki.vc, which is backed by founders of Supercell and Skype among others.

The new fund, which is created by Slush Chairman Ilkka Kivimäki and Pirkka Palomäki, invests in teams that have potential to reshape markets across geographical areas and industries, with home base being in Northern Europe.

The $90 million fund is among the largest in the Nordic country which is often showing the way for the rest of Europe in creating the best conditions for innovation and startups.

The new fund lists Supercell founders Ilkka Paananen and Mikko Kodisoja, F-Secure founder Risto Siilasmaa, Skype-founder Niklas Zennström and Taizo Son’s Mistletoe among its investors.

“Ilkka definitely has his finger on the pulse of the vibrant tech community in the Northern Europe and we are excited to be partnering with him in supporting the region’s most exciting startups,” Taizo Son, founder of the Mistletoe Venture Partners, said in a statement.

“Our team is a unique collection of strong professionals, family offices, private individuals as well as corporate and institutional investors. We aim to create a strong community with strong professional ties and to offer invaluable help for the most promising founders in the region,” said Kivimäki.

Kivimäki is a serial entrepreneur who sold Wicom Communications to SAP in 2007, after which he has invested in companies like Wolt, Beddit (sold to Apple), AImotive and Umbra. Palomäki is a former Enevo and F-Secure executive, private investor and advisor to startups with a strong background in technology and scaling companies and businesses.

Maki.vc’s first investments include medtech firms Disior and Neuro Event Labs, VR & AR pioneer Glue and recruiting startup Sumpli. The firm is looking into making ten investments during its first operating year.

Disior has raised 600,000 euros seed round from Maki.vc and its earlier investors, the company said in a separate statement on Wednesday.

Disior brings doctors a new way to get information from medical images. The technology works with all 3D imaging formats: Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (CT and MRI). The software turns images automatically into mathematical models, to get precise and reproducible measures and shapes to patient-specific diagnosis and treatment planning.

”It’s very rare to meet teams, that have world-class competences. Disior is one of them,” Kivimäki said.