DECEMBER 2021

Dear EstVCA community!

On behalf of the EstVCA Management Board, we want to thank you for making 2021 truly a year to remember. We’ve seen absolute records in fundraising, new LPs entering the market, were honoured to host the first Nordic-Baltic conference and have witnessed investments and exits in new heights. In this newsletter we will give an overview of our December news as well as recap the whole year.

2021 in a nutshell

NEW MEMBERS: We welcomed supercool new members – VNTRS, Siena Secondary Fund, KPMG, Tech X Legal and Technopolis Ülemiste! Great to have you in the family!

NEW FUNDS: 8 funds announced record-size fundraising – Tera Ventures, BaltCap, Karma Ventures, Livonia Partners, Change Ventures, EfTEN United Property Fund & EfTEN Real Estate Fund 5, VNTRS/VEQ. Not to mention SmartCap’s announcements to create new deep tech and green tech funds.

NEW BOARD: EstVCA members elected our new 11-member board for 2021-2023 period.

NEW FUND TYPE: In a good cooperation with the Estonian Ministry of Finance, developed the regulation for the creation of feeder funds in Estonia for also retail investors to be able to invest into PE/VC funds.

INVESTMENTS & EXITS: 50+ investments, 15+ exits by our funds, exact data coming in Q1/2022.

EVENTS: Hosted 10 events, including the Nordic-Baltic Momentum, the Baltic VCA Summit and numerous Coffee Connections events on ESG, exits, fund structuring, ecosystem development ect.

REPORTS: The first-ever “Women in PE Baltics” report was published, accompanied by our very own Baltic and Estonian PE/VC market reports, the semi-annual Market Pulse survey and contributed to a wide variety of European tech-reports.

REGULATORY: Our legal & regulatory team worked on various projects related to sustainable finance (SFDR), taxation, fund creation & structuring, talent attraction and digital business environment.

EDUCATION: in fruitful cooperation with universities were able to contribute to the creation of industry syllabus >> in spring 2022 a special PE/VC 8-week course is to start at TalTech and Estonian Business School universities, all lecturers being EstVCA members.

Whatever is beautiful. Whatever is meaningful. Whatever brings you happiness.
May it be yours this holiday season and throughout the coming year!

EstVCA news and updates

in December

EVENTS

Recap: Estonian Startup Ecosystem

Fireside Chat 2021

20 December 2021

It has become a tradition to get together with the Estonian startup ecosystem organisations at the end of the year and reflect back on the year as well as pinpoint the key possibilities and challenges for the next year(s) ahead. As we have witnessed a record year in fundraising, the number of startups and jobs created, what’s there to come?

The event was moderated by:

Maarja Pehk / Invest Estonia

and the panelists included:

Martin Villig / Estonian Founders Society

Eve Peeterson / Startup Estonia

Margus Uudam / EstVCA

Lev Dolgatsjov / EstBAN

A selection of topics discussed:

What could Estonia do more to be the most attractive hub for foreign tech talent?
Are 25 unicorns by 2025 an achievable vision?
Which steps to take to achieve the sectors’ 30% of GDP target?
How to further boost deep tech?
Where do impact and diversity stand?

EVENT RECORDING

(90 minutes; In English):

click HERE

EVENT PHOTO GALLERY

(by Kristi Sits):

click HERE

And a special kudos to our organising team: Marathon Studios, Kadri Lindpere, Kata Varblane, Jekaterina Molotkova, Sander Sillavee, Sandra Saarniit!

MARKET PULSE

EstVCA Market Pulse #3 report

EXCLUSIVE LAUNCH: a huge thanks to all our funds that contributed to our 3rd Market Pulse Survey, conducted in December. This time we're seeing more positive assessments on fund and portfolio performance as well as the fundraising environment, but there is still quite a bit of work to do in developing the regional LP base.

View the Market Pulse #3

results HERE

>> Market Pulse #2 results (May 2021)

>> Market Pulse #1 results (December 2020)

FUNDS

EfTEN launched a new fund and acquired Danske Bank office building in Vilnius

EfTEN Capital launched a new commercial real estate fund - EfTEN Real Estate Fund 5 - which will follow the principles of green investments. The fund is successor of EfTEN Real Estate Fund 4, which has completed its investment phase and holds the highest GRESB sustainability rating among property funds in the Baltics of four out of five stars.

>> Read more