Tucked away in the north of Europe, Finland sits nestled amongst its Nordic partners, of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. This sparsely populated country of little more than 5 million inhabitants appears to be punching above its weight in venture capital terms, with the highest number of venture funded companies per capita in Europe.

Antti Kummu, Investment Director at Finnish Industry Investment Ltd, points out that figures on the number of venture backed companies in Finland can often be disproportionately bolstered by large numbers of small early stage investments, made by various seed funds. Modestly he stated that in fact the Finnish venture capital market is approximately the same size as its Nordic neighbours, Sweden and Denmark which both incidentally have impressive venture portfolios for their respective size.

Jukka Mäkinen, Managing Partner of Eqvitec Partners, and board member of the Finnish Venture Capital Association added that the strength of Finland’s venture backed sector is particularly focused in the Information Communication Technology sector. This concurs with Library House figures of venture funding by sector in Finland.

Finnish corporates such as Nokia and Erickson have had some influence on the strength of this sector, though large government and contract research organisations like VTT and the renowned Centre for Wireless Communications are also credited with enriching the innovation landscape. Materials and nanotechnologies are also seen as strengths in Finland, whose technical applications span multiple industries.

Wireless companies in the Finnish landscape

An archetypal example of a Finnish company fitting the mould is Sensinode, a leading provider of IP-based wireless sensor network solutions. The company has the vision of being one of the key plays in real-time physical sensing through scalable low-power networks, which can be used in a vast number of monitoring and sensing applications. The company was spun out of research from the Centre for Wireless Communications, with seed funding from angel investors, and is now seeking €2-3m in order to launch their products in global markets.

A more established player in the wireless space is BlueGiga Technologies, one of the world leaders in Bluetooth technologies, having had 4 successful funding rounds since it was established in 2000. The company, which has strategically placed sales offices in the US, was ranked as the second fastest growing Finnish company by Deloitte in the Technology Fast 50-study in autumn 2007. Following indications given to Library House last year by the CEO, Petri Salonen, a trade sale or IPO could be expected in the next 12 months.

The growing market of mobile content delivery will be familiar to the majority of western consumers. WES, short for Wireless Entertainment Services, the Helsinki based company enables the buying and selling of digital content and services over any network. An early commercial example of this was Nokia launching the first mobile phones that supported commercial ring tones in 1998. Since then the concept has expanded into an array of other services like news and music downloads. Sector analysts predict that the market for this form of content provision is set to continue with aggressive growth.

Truphone, the UK-based mobile VoIP service provider, has raised £16.5m (€20.6m) in series B funding from private investors and return investors Burda Digital Ventures, Eden Ventures, Independent News & Media and Wellington Partners Venture Capital. Truphone's software allows users to make free and low-cost mobile calls over the internet. The funding is to be used to deliver a global SIM card that will enable mobile users to make low-cost calls in the UK and abroad, and to develop internet-based features.

Nanotron Technologies, the German-based developer of wireless products for manufacturing, logistics and healthcare applications, has raised €11m (£8.8m) in series F funding from DEWB, Zouk Ventures, Danfoss, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, PolyTechnos Venture-Partners and company management. Nanotron Technologies has developed a range of wireless products for use in the sector networking and industrial control markets. The funding is to be used to drive international expansion and to increase the company's market share in the wireless networks solutions market.

mtm Laboratories, the German-based developer of In-vitro Diagnostics, has raised €9.6m (£7.7m) from HBM Biopartners, investing alongside a consortium which included: Wellington Partners, Mannheim Holdings, Heidelberg Innovation, Nexus Medical Partners and one new investor, National Technology Enterprises Company (NTEC), the direct VC investment affiliate of Kuwait Investment Authority. mtm Laboratories develops products for early detection and diagnosis of cervical and other cancers. The funding is to be used to expand the clinical and commercial development of its product range.

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PIramed, the UK-based biotechnology company, has been acquired by Roche for $160m (€100m). The deal includes an upfront cash payment of $160m (€100m) and additional milestone payment of $15m (€9.4m), on commencement of Phase II clinical trials. PIramed has focused on developing new treatments for cancer and immune inflammatory diseases using PI 3-Kinase technology. These treatments will be integrated into the Roche Group's inflamatory R&D portfolio.

Sherlock Publications, the UK-based media company specialising in providing information on property in London and the South East, has been acquired by Propertyfinder.com for £5.6m (€6.9m). Propertyfinder.com, the joint venture of the REA Group (50%) and News International (50%), will use the acquisition to strengthen its position against market leader, Rightmove.co.uk.

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BullGuard, the Denmark-based provider of integrated security solutions, has appointed George Tennet to the position of chief executive. Prior to joining the company, Mr Tennet held the position of managing director, EMEA, at Mobility Electronics. Before this he was head of global sales at Sennheiser Communication and vice president, sales and marketing, EMEA, at GN/Jabra.

E-Government Solutions, the UK-based provider of e-procurement solutions to the public sector, has appointed Peter Whent to the position of chief executive. Prior to joining the company, Mr Whent held the position of chief executive of Wishstream and managing director of Xpedite Systems. Before this he co-founded Transmit International, building a global presence and securing a range of blue chip customers.

ETView, the Israel-based developer of medical devices for incubation procedures, has appointed Jonathan Adereth to the position of chairman. A veteran of the Israeli medical imaging industry, Mr Adereth spent twenty years at Elscint and serves on the board of Medivision Medical Imaging and Ophthalmic Imaging Systems.

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PutPlace, the Ireland-based provider of online backup services, has informed Library House that it will be seeking funding in 2008. Joe Drumgoole, chief executive, told Library House that the funding would be used to expand the business in Europe and North America. Mr Drumgoole also stated that he expects the company to reach profitability in 2010, and believes that the company will exit via a tradesale.

CreativeCrowds, the Netherlands-based provider of crowdsourcing technology, has informed Library House that it intends to raise an additional round of funding in twelve months, to be used for international expansion and community expansion. Rutger Docter, chief executive and co-founder, told Library House that he expects the company to reach profitability by Q4 2008.

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