Leo Capital breaks new ground in Europe with the first close of its Nordic fund
by Henry Goodwin, Partner at Leo Capital.
Guest post by Henry Goodwin, Partner at Leo Capital.
Leo Capital, a Singapore headquartered venture capital firm, has recently announced the first close of its new €25m Nordic Fund with anchor investor, Business Finland Venture Capital and a range of returning and new investors from across the globe. The fund will seek to invest from pre-seed stage onwards in Nordic B2B startups.
Leo Capital is a Singapore-based, operator-led VC firm founded in 2018, with three existing APAC funds investing in early-stage technology companies at the seed to pre-Series A stage.
Leo Capital’s first European fund builds on the firm’s proven playbook, which helps ambitious B2B founders to leverage world class Indian tech talent in order to expand successfully to the US and beyond. Leo Capital’s team also launched LEAP program, a 5-week bootcamp offering an international expansion launchpad for globally ambitious B2B founders from the Nordics, UK and beyond.
The firm has been active in Europe since 2021, making investments in startups including Apica, Atoa and Eir. Now, as the first international VC fund to set up directly in Finland, it is able to play a part in contributing to the exciting next chapter of the Nordic tech story.
Founded by entrepreneurs who have built billion-dollar companies, Leo Capital’s partners work directly with founders to scale globally. Its team brings expertise in helping startups overcome challenges in cross-border talent acquisition and management, as well as market expansion, to win with a capital efficient go-to-market strategy.
Leo Capital believes that there is a bright future for B2B founders in Finland and the Nordics. The relatively small markets of the region force founders to think with an international, rather than domestic, mindset much sooner in their growth journeys.
This powerful dynamic was highly attractive to Leo Capital when considering where to establish its European hub.
Shwetank Verma, Leo Capital co-founder and Managing Partner, commented:
“In the current funding environment, it is critical for startups to be thoughtful about how to build and scale their business in a capital efficient manner. Leo Capital has been enabling US based founders to build capital efficient businesses since 2018. We are delighted to now be entering Finland and bringing our India Advantage playbook to Nordic founding teams.
Nordic founders have created a disproportionate number of global success stories from Nokia and Spotify to Unity and Zendesk and we look forward to supporting the next generation of breakout startups.”
Henry Goodwin, Leo Capital Partner commented:
“Our Nordic fund continues Leo Capital’s proven strategy of investing in the most capable, ambitious and resilient founding teams and helping them to successfully scale across borders.
It is these founders that we are looking to partner with, combining their vision and dynamism with our own networks, resources and years of cross-border experience to help supercharge their trajectory and realise their global ambitions.”
ABOUT LEO CAPITAL
Leo Capital is a Singapore based early stage venture fund, founded by serial entrepreneurs Rajul Garg and Shwetank Verma. Its portfolio of 60 early stage companies is supported by a cross-border team across three continents.
Leo Capital backs founding teams powering a software-enabled world, supporting them on their journey from great startup to great company. We are excited about partnering with founders building the iconic companies of tomorrow.
Leo isn’t just about investment. We help your founding team to build an unfair advantage by offering the right type of support, in the right place, when you need it.
To do this, we draw on the experience of our team, our growing cohort of successful founders and an extensive network of experts across the globe.
Our support is focused on the following key areas:
1. Talent
We help founders build the culture and processes to hire the best, especially from emerging markets and lay the foundations for a global business from day one.
2. Go-to-Market
Over the years, we have developed a playbook for international SaaS company founders to access and grow their businesses sustainably in the highly competitive US market. Alongside our playbook, we give founders access to our own network of experts with experience of scaling rapidly in the US market, in a capital efficient manner.
3. Follow on Funding
In addition to the equity funding that we provide, we give you access to our extensive network of dynamic, top tier global co-investors, broadening the sources of capital available to our founders.
