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Tesi, Finland’s state-owned investment company, has conducted the first comprehensive study focused on Finland’s thriving foodtech sector. This pioneering analysis delves into the funding environment, company landscape, and investor trends within the Finnish food tech ecosystem.
Tesi’s research focuses on exploring company diversity, funding trends (particularly venture capital and growth stocks), and investor activity in the sector, providing a broad overview of the Finnish food tech landscape. It is an object. Inspired by well-known reports from industry experts such as DigitalFoodLab and Forward Fooding, this study focuses exclusively on the Finnish foodtech space and fills a critical gap in existing analysis.
Main findings
The Finnish food tech space is home to a diverse range of companies spanning a variety of products, technologies and business models across the entire food value chain. This landscape is primarily characterized by the AgTech and next-generation food categories, including agricultural solutions, plant-based products, and cellular agriculture.
Funding in food tech surged significantly from 2019 to 2022, primarily driven by large investments in companies such as Wolt and Relex Solutions, but these companies have seen a significant increase in funding from 2015 to 2022. It is important to note that it accounted for a significant 84% of the total amount raised. For the giants, excluding these two companies, the total funding amounted to approximately 270 million euros.
Despite the dominance of Wolt and Relex Solutions, other companies have also witnessed an increase in large funding rounds since 2020, contributing to the increased funding environment. However, funding decreased in the first half of 2023. This is due in part to the challenging macro and funding environment that is impacting multiple industries.
Foodtech category and funding breakdown
Analyzing funds by category, AgTech and next-generation food emerge as the main investment destinations, accounting for approximately 80% of total funding from 2015 to 2022 (270 million euros), excluding Wolt and Relex Solutions I am.
Funding rounds are mainly less than 10 million euros, but the increase in larger funding rounds since 2019 (+10 million euros) accounts for around 70 million euros of total funding in that period, excluding Wolt and Relex Solutions. %. In particular, large funding rounds of over 50 million euros mainly relate to Wolt and Relex Solutions.
Investor landscape and innovation ecosystem
The Finnish food tech sector sees a diverse range of investor activity, including Finnish venture capital firms, foreign investors, and established Finnish food companies working on new food technologies through financing and M&A activities. Although the presence of international VCs is less pronounced, their involvement is noteworthy, especially in AgTech and next-generation food categories.
Finland’s rich innovation ecosystem consists of various research centres, universities and incubators specializing in food innovation. Organizations such as VTT and the Viikki Food Design Factory Germinator Program play an important role in research, commercialization, and nurturing start-ups that contribute to the food value chain.
As the Finnish food tech scene continues to evolve and innovate, Tesi is collaborating with industry players to create a more comprehensive, modern and inclusive company listing to foster continued growth and innovation in the sector We aim to do so.
The Tesi report not only sheds light on the current state of the Finnish foodtech industry, but also serves as a beacon to guide future initiatives and collaborations within this fast-growing industry.
Click here to read the research.
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