SmartCap

Last week, our investment manager, Mattias Karu, attended the “Estway - the Bridge Between Norway and Estonia” event, organized by the Estonian Embassy in Oslo, Invest in Estonia, and Beamline Accelerator during Oslo Innovation Week. 🇳🇴   The event highlighted the growing collaboration between Norway and Estonia, focusing on the opportunities and challenges of cross-border investments, particularly in the CleanTech sector. Our portfolio company, Bisly, was one of the featured companies, showcasing the potential for sustainable growth and green technology in Estonia.   As Mattias noted, “It was a fantastic opportunity to connect with industry leaders and support Estonian companies conquering a new market. We’re looking forward to turning these new opportunities into future success”.

Do you know our team? This time, we’ll introduce you to Jan Joonas Preimann, an analyst here at SmartCap.   In his daily work, Jan keeps his eye on everything going on in the world of investing and economics, making sure everyone in our team can understand the real story hidden behind the spreadsheets and presentations. He helps the investment team assess our potential investments, manages our deal flow, and provides reports to SmartCap’s stakeholders.   💡Jan, how would you describe SmartCap’s work culture?   Flexible, results-oriented, and always open to exploring new ways of doing things.   💡Why do you like working at SmartCap?   There are a lot of reasons, but I must say that this is a company that perfectly allows me to utilise my past experience, whilst granting me the opportunity to always learn something new. The world of capital markets is ever-changing, and I’m glad to be able to play a part in these changes.   💡 What do you consider to be the most exciting things you’ve got to experience working in SmartCap so far?   Whilst there’s a lot interesting going on every day, I’d like to highlight attending industry conferences and meeting the other attendees. These events attract some of the most experienced professionals from their fields, as well as companies doing truly great things, so it’s a great chance to network and expand your horizons.   💡What are the biggest sources of joy and challenge in your day-to-day work?   The biggest challenge stem from the fact that we’re working in a sector evolving at breakneck speeds – oftentimes we need to create processes and materials from scratch to respond to the changing investment landscape or ad hoc situations, which requires a lot of creativity, thinking on your feet, and quickly adapting to changing requirements.   But this leads to personal development and success, whilst allowing me to work with enthusiastic strartups and founders that strive for greatness. And that’s pure joy.   💡What kind of person would feel themselves at home in SmartCap?   This is a place for people who are motivated to grow – on a personal level, and as an organisation. 

SmartCap's Green Fund joined an investment round into ÄIO to support them in building a demo plant to produce environmentally friendly oils and fats from wood and agricultural residues, offering an alternative to the widely used oils in the food industry. ÄIO addresses one of the biggest environmental challenges of our time related to oil production. In its next development phase, ÄIO plans to build a demo plant in Estonia, where it will start producing tens of tons of encapsulated oil, red oil, and butter fats. The plant is expected to be completed by 2026. We are excited to be part of your journey! 👏 #NextGenerationEU 🇪🇺

SmartCap Green Fund has invested in Fractory to support their mission of driving the resource-intensive metal industry towards more efficient solutions, whilst helping to spur its growth in Scandinavia and other key markets. 🏭 This investment is a crucial step in SmartCap's strategy to support innovative startups that are helping to find efficiency and growth within the manufacturing industry. Fractory’s platform enhances machine utilisation rates in factories across their supplier network by up to 80% and decreases material waste, greatly supporting the manufacturing industry's goal to become greener and more sustainable. #NextGenerationEU

It’s time to meet our team! First up is our investment manager Mattias Karu! 👋 In his day-to-day work, Mattias finds, meets, and evaluates potential funds and companies that SmartCap could invest in. He carries out research, leads the due diligence process, analyses potential risks and gains, and, if everything looks promising, negotiates the terms and arranges all the necessary signatures on the dotted line. 💡 Mattias, why do you like working at SmartCap? There are many reasons, but most of all, I’d like to bring out trust. I feel that I am trusted to work autonomously and utilise my expertise in the best way I can. I have the freedom to approach deals in a way I deem best. In addition to that, I have to highlight our extremely supportive team. You never feel alone, and if you need help with anything or just a sparring partner for brainstorming, everyone’s happy to pitch in. The team is always happy to join any company-wide events, and this tells a lot. 💡 What are the biggest sources of joy and challenge in your day-to-day work? The biggest source of joy has to be meeting different innovative founders and innovators, closing deals, and helping truly promising companies grow. But on the flip side, the same area can, at times, be considered a source of challenges as well – people are different, and the stakes are often high. 💡 What do you consider to be your biggest success stories in SmartCap so far? Oh, definitely all of our successful deals. All of them have required a lot of work, a lot of concentration, and a lot of persistence. But once the ink has dried and the press release has gone out, you find a moment to relax, reflect, and enjoy the feeling that you’ve successfully managed a complicated project from nothing to something. 💡 In short, how would you describe SmartCap’s work culture? Flexible, autonomous, and full of ways to challenge yourself.

Thank you, everyone, for joining our exclusive LPs-only side event at Baltic VCA Summit this year, supported by INVEGA. Engaging regional LPs is a joint effort and as such a special thank you to Inga Beiliuniene, Tomasz Kozlowski CIFD,CFA,CAIA,FCCA, Pavel Dvorak, Dainius Vilčinskas, Ieva Jansone-Buka and everyone else for joining us and Sille Pettai in contributing to the insightful roundtable discussion! 💡 The Baltic VCA Summit, held this year in Vilnius, serves as an important gathering place for all the industry players to meet, chat, exchange ideas, and build relationships. We’re excited to see what Latvia has to offer next year. In case you missed the Summit or our side event, enjoy the hustle and buzz through the pictures we managed to capture!

Modern internships are not about getting your boss' coffee or just taking notes. They're an opportunity to actually learn, grow, and build your professional network. 💡 But what are companies like SmartCap looking for in an intern, and what can we offer in return? We shared our thoughts here. 👇 You can still submit your application for SmartCap's 8-week internship programme here: https://lnkd.in/dJTeyXR3

Great news from our portfolio company, UP Catalyst! 👇 UP Catalyst has secured an additional €2.3 million in investment, which will expedite the construction of their new reactor and increase their production capacity tenfold. This marks a significant step forward in their mission to enhance sustainability in the global battery industry by capturing CO2 and converting it into valuable raw materials. SmartCap is pleased to have participated in this investment round through our Green Fund, financed by the Recovery and Resilience Facility funds. 🇪🇺

Are you attending the Baltic VCA Summit in September? 🇱🇹 We invite you to join an exclusive LP Evening Session, moderated by us with support from INVEGA (soon to be ILTE), in down-town Vilnius. This will be a small gathering of fellow fund investors to mingle, network, and share the latest market talk.   👉 Date and time: September 4th, 19:00 - 22:00 👉 Registration: https://lnkd.in/dWqfiqSH   The places are limited, so we ask you to indicate your interest by the latest 26.08. Hope to see you soon! 

Have you submitted your application yet? Now is the time! 👇 At SmartCap, we support Estonian-oriented venture capital funds and green-tech companies, play a key role in developing the local venture capital market, and help innovation flourish. Your internship gives you a front seat to experience it all. During your 8 weeks at SmartCap, you’ll get to: 📍 Learn on the job with the help of some of the best experts in their fields 📍 Overcome interesting challenges 📍 Get an in-depth overview of the venture capital sector and its opportunities 📍 Have the opportunity to develop your professional network and contribute to the development of the Estonian private equity and venture capital market 📍 Gain experience in analysing venture capital investments, portfolio management, and thinking through the legal nuances related to the field This is a paid internship. We support hybrid work, flexibility, and schoolwork. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/dJTeyXR3