Jouni Hakala: “The size of the Nordic-Baltic VC market is about 10,5 billion euros”
Jouni Hakala, director of new investment opportunities in Finnish Industry Investment (FII) talked in FinanceEstonia International Forum about Baltic Sea area VC market and the role of a governmental investor.
According to market statistics in 2013, Finland ranks 1st in Europe in VC activity. “Baltic countries are making also very good progress. Your investments in VC market have increased year after year and you are getting closer to EU average,” added Hakala.
The total size of the Nordic-Baltic VC market is about 10,5 billion euros. “The Nordics generate nearly 10% of all unicorn exits globally, even though their GDP share is only 2%. Unicorn in that case is equivalent to 1 billion USD exit. So in a global sense we are doing extremely good,” told Hakala. Volume of exits >$1 billion from the Nordics has steadily increased with 2014 being a record year. In Europe, Nordic countries account for more than 50% of all such exits
According to Hakala, the only way to make Baltic and Nordic VC market sustainable is to have a constant flow of success stories.
FII is an established, well recognized financial institution investing into the Finnish SME sector through fund and direct investments FII operates on market driven basis and is 100% owned by the Finnish government.
