SmartCap has selected Superangel as the deep tech fund manager, which will be raising additional private capital to the state’s 15 million anchor investment in order to invest in the development of deep tech companies.
As a result of the call, SmartCap selected Superangel as the manager of the deep tech fund. In the opinion of the Investment Committee, the vision of the selected management company met all the conditions of the call, and their investment strategy is well balanced with the experience of the team and the ability to raise private capital.
“Our goal was to find a team for the fund being created. A team with the ability to invest in technologies with hardware or physical technology components, and to grow the success stories and industry leaders from deep tech start-ups. The Superangel team has a good background for this, and their investment strategy supports the achievement of the SmartCap’s goals,” said a member of the management board and the fund manager of SmartCap Sille Pettai.
The fund will invest in companies whose products or services and business model are primarily based on research and development and the commercialization of intellectual property. “Funding of deep tech initiatives is in poor state today, since the period required for products and services to reach the market is long and the process itself is risky. The fund to be created aims to alleviate these problems,” added Pettai.
According to Sille Pettai, the Superangel team has previously demonstrated access to a transaction flow with high growth potential and the ability to successfully leverage private investor money. SmartCap will invest 15 million euros in the fund as a state anchor investment, in addition to which the management company will raise private capital.
As an early-stage investor, Superangel has now invested in more than 100 start-ups worldwide. The company’s portfolio includes such unicorns as Bolt, Veriff, Pipedrive and Rappi. The company often invests together with major internationally renowned investors such as Index, Sequoia, Accel and Seedcamp to help to bring global capital closer to start-ups in the region.
In addition to SmartCap’s competence, an independent international expert, and several experts in the field from Estonia were involved in the selection of the management company of the deep tech fund. 6 teams of management companies participated in the call. The company’s team as well as the planned investment strategy, the conditions of the fund to be established and the suitability of the team were assessed.
At the end of 2020, the Estonian state-owned venture capital management company SmartCap announced a public call to find a private fund management company for the deep tech investment fund to be established.
SmartCap offers private fund management companies anchor investments in order to develop the Estonian venture capital market and allow ambitious and innovative Estonian companies to grow internationally.