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Will the next FinTech startups come from Finland?

Fintech, new solutions that demonstrate an incremental or radical or disruptive innovation development of applications, processes, products or business models in the financial services industry (FSI) has been growing at incredible rates over the last few years. 

Now, Swedish investor NFT Ventures has joined forces with Finnish media corporation MTV to launch a new fintech fund in Finland. The Nordic region is a hotbed for IT startups. The interest in Finland is the also partly spurred by the country's successful gaming industry.  

The fund will help technology startups that target the banking sector, including cash and media coverage in exchange for equity. In monetary terms, NFT’s average investment is about €1m, rising to €2m. The fund’s typical equity is between 20% and 25%. Priority is given to early-stage startups contributing to transforming banking processes. The partnership has the potential to invest in 400-600 products, looking broadly at transaction-based companies.

This is a familiar model for NFT. The venture capital firm has been investing in fintech companies in Sweden since 2014. It currently has 14 fintech companies in its portfolio there and plans to make up to a dozen new investments over the next 18 months. The funding is backed by an undisclosed amount of funding from Swedish media conglomerate Bonnier. NFT’s partnership with MTV – Bonnier’s Finnish arm – is a continuation of the collaboration. Announcements of the first Finnish deals are expected in the first quarter of 2016 with plans to build up a portfolio of at least nine investments between 2016 and 2018. 
 
NFT Ventures sees fintech, especially banking, as one of the last industries to undergo major transformations such as those in industries including printed media and the mobile sector. 

But our story doesn't stop here - we conclude with a link to some important advice for fintech firms just been published in a LinkedIn post by Pascal Bouvier, CFA: