fff.vc: Investor Story - Jone Vaituleviciute
Today our guest is someone, who within last several years has became one of the strongest early stage fund GPs in the Baltic region. Despite the fact that she is running marathons, word "acceleration" is not something that fully describes what they do at FIRSTPICK. We talked about how to get access to the deals and pick first, looked intro early stage market in Lithuania and discussed the power of the community as a bridge to foreign markets.
fff.vc: Investor Story - Tomas Kemtys
Today, our guest is someone, who started off his career as an investment banker in NY, handled deals across the globe. Form 2017 he is a Partner in one of the leading Climate tech funds in Europe- Contrarian Ventures.We talk about the perception of ClimateTech, how is it to operate with a Pan-European fund from Lithuania, raising the Fund II during challenging times on the market and touched the importance of the community around Contrarian Ventures and at large. Ladies and Gentlemen, this person is Tomas Kemtys, the Genral Partner of Contrarian Ventueres!
fff.vc: Investor Story - Kristjan Novitski
Today our guest is someone who has built one of the biggest payday loan companies, Cash On Go, in the UK without even living there. He then successfully managed and grew its spin off, Every-Pay before starting to invest himself. These days he is a CEO of Stebby - the largest wellness marketplace in the Baltics. Stebby was acquired by Livonia Partners in 2022 and our guest was the mastermind behind this transaction. Since then, company has shown outstanding growth and our guest claims there is more to come. In this episode we will talk about his background, Stebby deal and Private Equity in general. Please welcome… Kristjan Novitski!
fff.vc: Investor Story - US trip with Akim & Tim
We have a special episode on fff.vc where Akim and Tim share their entrepreneurial adventure in the US. They spent a month exploring Silicon Valley and California. In this episode, they delve into the numbers: 23 days, 11 cities, approximately 4000km traveled, 5 events attended, and 70 new contacts made. Tune in to gain a deeper understanding of these experiences. They also discuss the impact versus cash multiples, the speed and volume of US businesses, and shed light on the true meaning of "Fail Fast".
fff.vc: Investor Story - Rasmus Udde
Rasmus is almost a synonym to ClimateTech in Baltics. During his professional career, he has been living Scotland, England, Denmark, Switzeland, before coming back home to Estonia. He is not investing himself but is doing it for company that also invests renewable energy and electrification start-ups - Sunly (https://sunly.ee/). Among other things he is involved in such investments as UpCatalyst, Skeleton Technologies, Comodule and EnergiaSalv.
fff.vc: Investor Story - Triin Hertmann
Triin Hertmann helped to build Skype (https://skype.com) and was the second employee at Wise (https://wise.com). Her active angel portfolio includes companies such as Starship, Montonio, Salv and many others. Lately, she co-founded Grünfin (https://grunfin.com), a company that helps people invest in the most impactful sustainable funds. She is one of the pioneers when it comes to women in tech herself, now becoming a huge inspiration for others.
fff.vc: Investor Story - Sten Tamkivi
Sten Tamkivi is one of the biggest standout names within the Estonian tech scene. Among other things, he has been a General Manager at Skype, worked at Andreessen and Horowitz (https://a16z.com), Advised the president of Estonia on tech and innovation matters, and has made over 100 investments with his business partner - Taavet Hindrikus, over the past two years. Recently, Taavet and himself founded Plural (https://pluralplatform.com) - an investment platform for unemployables. In addition, he has survived two recessions, overcoming his first bankruptcy during the .com bubble. In this episode, e spoke about the past and speculated about the future.
fff.vc: Investor Story - Kristjan Vilosius
Kristjan Vilosius is an exciting mix of a founder and an angel investor. His startup Katana MRP (https://katanamrp.com) has just closed a 35m€ funding round, while his investment portfolio contains the likes of Bolt, Eurora, Outvio, Fooddocs, and many others. Interestingly, he started his investors career for a not-so-common reason but has created a more structured approach since then. It is notable how one person can manage so many things at the same time, also being a father and a partner in his personal life. He seems to hold a black belt in “work-life” balance and loves to surf.
fff.vc: Investor Story - Marko Oolo
Marko Oolo is a Partner at Superangel VC (superangel.io), an angel investor, and an active player within the investment circles in Estonia and Baltics at large. His personal portfolio includes companies such as Planet42, Ampler Bikes, Bikeep, Snabb, and many others. Apart from investing, he also promotes the industry by being one of the founders of the region's largest retail investment event - the Investment Festival.
FFF: Story Short #4
What's in this episode?
0:00 - Intro
0:32 - Community Update
7:14 - Introduction of the Collectives initiative with Helery Pops (Honey Badger Capital)
13:25 - A Guide to Secondary Transactions
24:12 - What should I do? My CTO has walked out during a fundraise
34:52 - Norrsken Impact Report 2021: overview
39:19 - What would a recession mean for revenue-based financing startups?
47:39 - State of the market: July 2022
References:
fff.vc: Collectives: https://fff.vc/fff-collectives
What should I do? My CTO has walked out during a fundraise: https://sifted.eu/articles/dear-sifte...
What would a recession mean for revenue-based financing startups?: https://sifted.eu/articles/revenue-ba...
Norrsken Impact Report 2021: overview: https://medium.com/norrsken-vc/how-we...
FFF: Story Short #3
What's in this episode?
0:00 - Intro
1:19 - Community Update
6:42 - Lithuanian startup "InRento" has merged with European real estate aggregator "EvoEstate"
9:58 - Learning: Bootstrap or raise?
19:38 - Investment trends in April
24:48 - Almi Invest Launches A Real-Time Site For Available Startup Jobs
28:31 - Learning: Venture capital economics for investors
34:00 - Startup Of The Week Wants Companies To Talk To Employees Through Podcasts
References:
InRento merges with EvoEstate: https://www.eu-startups.com/2022/03/l...
Bootstrap or raise?: https://sifted.eu/articles/planhat-bo...
Almi Invest Launches A Real-Time Site For Available Startup Jobs: https://startupmafia.eu/almi-invest-l...
Startup Of The Week Wants Companies To Talk To Employees Through Podcasts: https://startupmafia.eu/startup-of-th...
FFF: Story Short #2
What's in this episode?
0:00 - Community Update
5:28 - FiBan - Record-high year for startup investment activities
11:33 - Sweden’s GOALS raises $15m to build NFT-based FIFA
18:46 - Estonian-Swedish Angel Investors Bridge
28:15 - Estonia to host a NATO startup accelerator
30:45 - Metaverse-as-a-Service: City 200+ pages report results
37:14 - Learning: Transparency while pitching, were is the borderline of a lie?
45:37 - TechChill
References:
FiBan, Record-high year: https://arcticstartup.com/fiban-repor...
Sweden’s GOALS raises $15m to build NFT-based FIFA: https://sifted.eu/articles/goals-foot...
Estonia to host a NATO startup accelerator: https://estonianworld.com/security/es...
FFF: Story Short #1
What's in this episode?
0:00 - Intro An update from the FFF
9:09 - Support Ukraine
15:22 - Specialists VC and Creandum raise new funds
20:50 - FFFs principle of the DD process
29:42 - How to win in the venture when the rules-and geography- of the game is changing?
37:35 - Netflix announced plans to acquire the Finnish mobile game developer Next Games
40:54 - Occo closes a 750k € funding round to boost AI
45:18 - Angel investing - access or picking?
53:40 - Popular investment trends in February
56:32 - Atom Mobility launches Atom Academy References:
Fund Fellow Founders - https://fff.vc
Help Ukraine - https://icanhelp.host / https://mapahelp.me / https://www.peopleforpeople.info
Specialists VC and Creandum raise new funds - https://www.eu-startups.com/2022/02/s...
FFFs principle of the DD process - https://fff.vc/resources
How to win in a venture when the rules-and geography- of the game is changing - https://nordicstartupnews.com/norwegi...
Netflix announced plans to acquire the Finnish mobile game developer Next Games - https://investingnews.com/netflix-to-...
Occo closes a 750k € funding round to boost AI - https://www.eu-startups.com/2022/02/e...
Popular investment trends in February - https://sifted.eu/articles/february-s...
Atom Academy - https://atommobility.com/academy