Tesi

Ragnar Jongen
Tony Nysten
Investment Manager, Direct VC
Tesi


Founded in 1995 with the aim of developing Finland’s venture capital and private equity markets, Tesi is a state-owned investment company headquartered in Helsinki. With more than €1.2 billion in assets under management, the firm focuses on co-investing directly with local and international investors as well as committing capital to Nordic and European funds.

To do so, Tesi leverages PitchBook’s comprehensive capital market data, analyst reports and mobile app to identify the most promising investment opportunities and find the right partners to co-invest with.
 

3 ways Tesi uses PitchBook:
  • To source deals in a fast-changing environment
  • To find co-investors and attract international capital
  • To quickly prepare for meetings with target companies and co-investors

“PitchBook is the fastest, clearest way to get a good picture of what a company is doing."

– Tony Nysten

Sourcing deals in a fast-changing environment

When Tesi was founded, the firm invested strictly in venture capital and private equity funds. However, they have since started to complement their fund investment activity with direct investment where funding gaps have been identified, including the Nordic region’s late-stage VC market. Tesi is now regularly approached by Finnish startups looking for growth capital and international funds looking for co-investors, but also chooses to take a proactive approach to sourcing investments to stay on top of all market developments.

By tapping into their extensive network and PitchBook’s database of more than 1.3 million private companies, Tesi can quickly discover businesses within Finland and the firm’s target industry verticals, find out when they last received funding, and how long they have been part of another portfolio. If it has been a while since a company’s last financing round, Tesi knows that business will likely be looking for more capital soon. If a company has been in another firm’s portfolio for a number of years, Tesi also knows that company’s investors may be looking to exit.

Tesi’s Investment Manager of Direct VC, Tony Nysten, says, “If you go to a company’s website, they usually explain what they do in a very complicated way and you don’t get visibility into their investors or their previous funding rounds. PitchBook provides all of that information, so you always get a very clear picture of what stage a company is at.”

To get a better understanding of what’s happening in a sector before they invest in it, Tesi relies on PitchBook’s analyst reports, such as the European Venture Report. They also look at all the prior transactions in a given space to gain insight into active companies and investors as well as multiples and important market trends.

“We regularly use PitchBook to identify potential co-investors based on the sectors they have previously made investments in.”

– Tony Nysten

Finding co-investors and attracting international capital

As a state-owned investment company, Tesi is mandated to always have a syndication partner. “We never invest alone,” Nysten says. “One of our missions is to attract Finnish and foreign capital into larger, late-stage investment rounds in Finland.” They also have a mandate to invest in sustainable and socially responsible companies. “We think about the impact of our portfolio companies through a risk-management lens as well as a way to create value,” Nysten says. “If a company is solving a global problem, like energy efficiency or health and welfare for example, that’s going to drive returns.”

By leveraging PitchBook’s granular data on more than 272,000 investors around the world, Tesi can quickly find and connect with the ones whose interests align with their own—cleantech, healthtech, IoT, life sciences and manufacturing. Tesi is also able to research what deals those investors have done and look at the performance of their past funds.

By using the contact information available through the platform, Tesi can also reach out immediately to connect.

Preparing for meetings with target companies and co-investors

To stay up to date on industry news and look up information on potential investments and co-investors before meeting with them, Tesi also relies heavily on PitchBook Mobile.

“The PitchBook Mobile app is useful when on the move,” Nysten says. “When I’m in the field or at industry events, or when I have a lot of meetings booked with a lot of different companies, it is the fastest way I can get a snapshot of the next company or person I’m meeting with.”

After closing more than 245 deals and making over 165 successful exits across the Nordic region, Tesi plans to continue leveraging PitchBook to find new investment opportunities, connect with co-investors and help drive the firm's success.

“No other platform combines and presents all the information we need like PitchBook does.”

– Tony Nysten

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