CapMan Growth closes its second €97 million fund which exceeded its original target size. With the new growth fund there is almost €100 million to invest in Nordic growth companies.
The fund makes minority investments into growth stage companies with ambitious growth and expansion goals and a turnover of €5–100 million. Investments range in size from €3 million to €20 million. The fund is backed by Finnish institutional investors as well as some of the most successful local entrepreneurs.
“Our growth investment strategy has attracted a lot of interest among growth companies as many entrepreneurs seek for minority investments to support growth so that they still maintain the decision-making power in the company. In addition, many investors have found the investment strategy an interesting alternative to more traditional investments, and the investor demand for the fund has exceeded our expectations”, says Antti Kummu, partner at CapMan Growth.
The fund’s second investment to Unikie, a software technology developer of autonomous vehicles
The second investment from the new fund is Unikie, a Finnish technology company, founded in 2015, that develops software technology platforms for autonomous vehicles. Unikie’s main segments are car industry, smart machinery, industry 4.0 and telecommunications and its spearhead is Unikie AI Vision, a comprehensive automatic driving solution that can be scaled to the global market. The investment of €12 million is made together with Tesi.
In 2019 Unikie was the third fastest growing technology company in Finland and employs more than 300 people. Unikie’s turnover was €26.9 million in 2019. About one third of its turnover comes from international markets. In addition to Finland, Unikie has operations in Sweden, Germany, Poland and the United States.
“Ever since the company was founded, we have focused on global technology platforms by investing in technology development and international sales. Starting the international operations right in the beginning has been central to later development. Now, our customers include German car manufacturers, market leaders of heavy machinery and the top operators of technology developers in the fields of information networks and data security,” says Esko Mertsalmi, CEO and founding partner of Unikie.
CapMan Growth was inspired by Unikie’s story and sees that the company has the potential to grow into an international technology company.
“We have kept an eye on Unikie’s growth for a while now. The desire for scaling up internationally through technologies is in line with our own values. The entrepreneur-driven team and the great success stories of certain international lead customer relationships made an impression on us,” says Juha Mikkola, CapMan Growth’s managing partner, who joins Unikie board.
The funding the company received will be primarily allocated to strengthening international sales and marketing. Another focus area is to develop product management and the company’s product range to support the current technology platforms.
“We have all the necessary prerequisites to build a truly international and notable software technology hub of vehicle industry and telecommunications sector in Finland. This funding helps us ensure our positive international development and enables our strategy to materialize,” Mertsalmi says.
For more information:
Juha Mikkola, Managing Partner, CapMan Growth, +358 50 5900522
Esko Mertsalmi, CEO, Unikie Oy, +358 400 675 918
CapMan Growth is the leading Finnish growth investor. Their new growth investment fund makes significant minority investments in growth stage companies with ambitious growth and expansion goals. Unikie is the fund’s second investment. CapMan Growth is part of CapMan, a leading Nordic private asset expert with an active approach to value creation. As one of the Nordic private equity pioneers, CapMan has developed hundreds of companies and real estate assets and created substantial value in these businesses and assets over the past 30 years. With over €3 billion in assets under management, the objective is to provide attractive returns and innovative solutions to investors. CapMan has a broad presence in the unlisted market through local and specialised teams. The investment strategies cover Private Equity, Real Estate and Infra. capman.com
Unikie, established in 2015, is a technology company specialised in demanding device-edge-cloud-based software. Its main segments are car industry, smart machinery, industry 4.0 and telecommunications. The company’s spearhead is Unikie AI Vision, a comprehensive automatic driving (AD) solution that can be scaled to the global market. Unikie is the third fastest growing technology company in Finland with operations in Finland, Sweden, Germany, Poland and the United States. The company’s next goal is to achieve a turnover of €100 million based on Unikie’s expertise and the strong demand for technology solutions. Unikie’s clients include brands such as Sandvik, Nokia and Valmet. unikie.com
