In October, 32 innovative and actionable startups started the 8-week New Nordic Leads program preparing them for the next investment round. In addition to harnessing knowledge on topics such as startup financials, due-diligence process, and managing high-performance teams, the teams have received mentoring from investors.
On November 30 during the SLUSH week in Helsinki the final pitch took place, the investor jury consisted of four experienced investors and mentors: Meri Helleranta, Nicholas Anderson, Ivar Siimar, and Teemu Varpanen. At the end of the event, the winner was announced.
“We decided to choose one that was investable with the valuation, the funding round, the plan, and the service they provide to the planet is worth supporting. And they have good traction from the markets, which is always kind of a critical success factor going forward” said Teemu Varpanen.
“During the programme we got feedback for our financial docs, deck, investor relations, logistics etc. It came at a really good timing and we are happy to say that we are most probably closing the round soon since there are currently more meetings than is actually necessary.” says Karl Pärtel, the founder at RAIKU.
“We’ve got a pretty amazing and even surprising compostable packaging material to substitute plastic bubble wrap and filling in a 10bln€ business that is growing and changing at the moment rapidly since 90% is still plastic.
We can give our raw material 15 times more volume, we are 600-700% more efficient than our competitors, and 100% natural leaving no waste. It’s also flexible and protective and our products and technology are patented. We have international customers lined up and proof-of-concept machinery working.
But there is much to do and we are raising ca 300K this round to speed up the processes. The round is nearly together, but we are gathering some extra interest to prolong our runway and move faster,” adds Karl.
If you are interested in participating in this round, please contact karl.partel@raiku.co
“As I think it was mentioned a couple of times, the batch of this round was better than ever, so obviously I can’t wait to see the next batch.” says Teemu Varpanen.
Startups, apply to the next batch starting in February here!
