Venture capital investors and VC funds estimate that the start-up companies with the greatest potential in the coming years are those which focus on green solutions, deep tech, decentralised finance and crypto, as well as improving health systems.
“The annual report Atomico on the state of the European technology sector vividly points out that for Limited Partners (LP) Planet Positive stands out,” commented Sille Pettai, SmartCap’s board member and fund manager. “Nearly half of LP’s believe that planet positive venture capital investments have the greatest potential in the near future, and a third of investors estimate that this is the case with frontier and deep-tech.”
The potential of the decentralised finance and crypto, as well as innovative health technologies as the most attractive destinations for venture capital investments in the near future, is also assessed as high.
“Estonia is joining forces with the European venture capital community as well – this year the SmartCap’s GreenFund, created with the help of the European recovery plan instrument, will also start investing, and just very recently in March we concluded a contract with the University of Tartu for creation of a research accelerator in the field of health technologies,” said Sille Pettai.
According to SmartCap’s Pettai, Estonia is also moving forward with the creation of its own fund for deep tech investments, in order to help bring local research-based projects to the market. “The fact that investors, venture capital funds and business angels see great potential in companies focused on deep tech solutions will certainly encourage us to make the necessary capital available to Estonian companies,” said Sille Pettai.
SmartCap manages two common closed-end alternative investment funds: SmartCap Venture Capital (VC) Fund and SmartCap Green Fund.
The assets of SmartCap VC Fund are invested in Estonian-focused venture capital funds that develop innovative Estonian companies with international growth potential or international venture capital funds which contribute to the addition of a significant value to the ecosystem of innovative Estonian companies with international growth potential, and therefore support changes which help the Estonian economy to adapt and develop the local capital market.
SmartCap’s GreenFund, established at the end of last year, will start investing this year, and its assets will be invested in Estonian-focused venture capital funds or directly in Estonian companies that develop innovative research-intensive companies and contribute to the development and launch of services or technologies which help resolution of environmental problems.
Source: State of European Tech 2021 by Atomico. Full report accessible here.