Maki.vc

Full house today at our breakfast event! ☕ This time we sat down with Oddlygood CMO Nina Gillsvik and Onego Bio's Head of Brand & Communications Laura Eriksson (née Toppinen) and discussed all things ESG, greenwashing and bold brand building. Moderated by our brilliant Venla Väänänen 💫 Thank you for everyone who joined us this morning! 🫶

This week, we hosted a Maki House Session for our portfolio founders and sales leads led by Sami Toivonen, helping CEO's and revenue leaders accelerate their growth trajectory. In the session we dove deep into go-to-market acceleration, defining product-market-fit and building your sales strategy as a startup. Thank you Sami for sharing your insights! 💥

Only few spots left at our breakfast next Tuesday! ☕ With startups striving for A-rounds and stock listings, incorporating ESG into your brand narrative has become a key differentiator. Companies like Patagonia have shown that a strong ESG focus can propel brands to leadership positions. Is ESG the new secret to brand success? How are the most forward-thinking companies crafting their stories? We’re excited to announce a lineup update — Laura Eriksson (née Toppinen) from Onego Bio will be joining us! With over $70 million in funding and a recent office opening in San Diego, Onego Bio is at the forefront of building a brand driven by sustainable protein production. Laura will be joined by Nina Gillsvik, CMO of Oddlygood, for an honest discussion you won’t want to miss! 🔗 Sign up now: https://lnkd.in/grKNE-Np

Our pride and joy Strise just hit 100 episodes with their The Laundry -podcast and made CNN headlines during the same day! 😮💨 In the article, Strise CEO Marit Rødevand discusses their latest experiments, exploring how ChatGPT could potentially assist individuals in committing financial crimes. 🔗 Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/ekzRYE6x

🌋 "Kvanttilaskennan arvioidaan olevan yksi seuraavista teknologisista murroksista. Noustessaan täyteen potentiaaliin kvanttilaskennan avulla on mahdollisuus tehostaa toimintoja ja nostaa elintasoa lähes kaikilla aloilla", kirjoittaa Kauppalehti. Artikkelissa mainitaan myös IQM Quantum Computers sekä QMill ja avataan niiden tulevaisuuden suunnitelmia. 🔗 Lue koko artikkeli: https://lnkd.in/e3GEeN9A

Sign up for our next breakfast event! 🌟 As startups work towards A-rounds, it is evident that capitalizing on ESG as part of your brand narrative is more important than ever. Just look at Patagonia—who’s made sustainability central to their narrative. Is ESG the key to unlocking your brand’s potential? Join us as SPINNOVA®’s Director of Marketing, Virva Vesanen, and Oddlygood’s CMO, Nina Gillsvik, along with Maki.vc’s Venla Väänänen, discuss: ➡️ Are “challenger brands” like Airbnb and Tesla setting the standard for branding through provocation? ➡️ With backlash being a concern, how can founders embrace bold ESG communications? 🔗 Register now to secure your spot! https://lnkd.in/grKNE-Np

Big news!🚀🚀🚀 We have been selected among the 6 finalists of the Louis Dreyfus Company Climate Resilience Prize! 🏆 There were a whopping 1153 applicants, so this is really something! 🔥🔥🔥 LDC is one of the “ABCD companies” among ADM, Bunge and Cargill. LDC’s net sales is a humbling 50+ billion dollars and a vast share of food and agricultural commodities like sugar, corn, rice and coffee is traded and processed through their operations. The competition is focused on finding food and agtech startups that have a significant positive climate impact. A spot at the finals means that we get to meet the CEO and other core team members of LDC. For Volare this is an opportunity to start building a significant win-win partnership with an industry giant. The finals will be held in Switzerland at the end of October and the winner of the LDC Climate Resilience Prize will be announced on October 31st. Stay tuned! 🔥 Congratulations to fellow finalists AdAstra Sustainability, Darween, EcoBean, GroGuru Inc, Solumar and huge thanks to the MassChallenge Switzerland team for sparring, energy and drive for impact! Our investment round with Springvest Oyj continues until Thursday October 10, 2024 at 10 pm EEST. Become a part of our journey here: www.springvest.fi/volare (in Finland only).

Yesterday, we were fortunate to host a Maki House Session for our portfolio CEO's led by Marten Mickos 💎 Mårten is an entrepreneur and CEO known for his leadership in the open-source software and cybersecurity industries. He especially gained prominence as the CEO of MySQL and HackerOne. Under his leadership, MySQL grew significantly and was eventually acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2008 for $1 billion. Thank you for joining us Mårten and sharing your wisdom with our community! ⭐️

Welcoming a new member to Maki.vc board! 👏   We are happy to announce that Mari Marsio, a strategy heavyweight in growth companies, is joining our board! Alongside her extensive experience leading Legal & Compliance at Titanium and eQ Plc, Mari brings deep expertise in risk management, sustainable finance, IPOs, and M&As.   A warm welcome – we’re thrilled to have you with us! 💙

Does integrating ESG make financial sense for VC-backed companies? ❓ A booklet published by VentureESG shows how 27 European VCs have approached ESG with tangible examples. On pages 37-38, our ESG Lead, Mona Saurén, shares four concrete instances where we’ve elevated operational sustainability within our portfolio. For the broader VC industry, this report provides hundreds of tailored resources on ESG, representing a significant step forward for the field. ⛰️ 🌍