Tesi in 2023: Tesi’s role as a stabilising force in a turbulent market becomes increasingly important

Tesi made investments and commitments amounting to EUR 235 million in 2023, both in VC & PE funds and directly in startups and growth companies. Of these, fund investments accounted for EUR 161 million, direct investments through normal operations EUR 48 million, and the special investment programmes prompted by the coronavirus pandemic EUR 26 million. Altogether, Tesi gave nine fund commitments and made 33 direct investments in Finnish startups and growth companies. There were 12 exits. At the end of 2023, Tesi was a minority owner in 556 Finnish companies, either directly or indirectly through funds.

Tesi posted an expected IFRS net loss of EUR -51 (-26). The loss was largely due to a decline in the unrealised valuations of investments. The company’s retained earnings for the full term of its operation amounted to EUR 859 (910) million at the end of the year. The imputed return on investment (internal rate of interest) for the Finnish state, taken over the whole period of operation, has been approximately 6% after taxes.

Tesi raised a new EUR 200 million KRR V fund-of-funds together with Finnish institutional investors in 2023. The fund complies with Article 8 of the EU's SFDR regulation. Overall, the KRR funds-of-funds managed by Tesi have invested in almost 50 Finnish VC & PE funds, which have in turn invested in some 350 Finnish startups and growth companies. Tesi channels growth capital to Finnish companies also in cooperation with the European Investment Bank (EIB). Altogether seven investments were made from the EU’s EUR 200 million financing programme in 2023. By the end of 2023, a total of EUR 102 million from the EU’s financing programme had been invested in ten companies.

In 2023, Tesi published nine market studies and three sustainability tools that were freely available to other market players. Tesi’s objective is to promote sustainability across a wide front, in startups and growth companies and in the wider VC & PE industry. In 2023, Tesi conducted both an ESG review and an impact evaluation of all new investments and, in particular, promoted carbon footprint calculation.

The work started in 2023 on enhancing efficiency in the Finnish state’s VC & PE investment operations by merging the Finnish Climate Fund, Oppiva Invest, and Business Finland Venture Capital into the new Tesi Group will continue in 2024. The new Tesi Group has an industry-focused mission aimed at promoting economic growth, innovation, and investment.

“We have high ambitions for the new Group, aiming for concrete and positive changes in the investment market. We want to build in Finland, together with private co-investors, Europe’s strongest and most competitive ecosystem of startups and growth companies, which will also attract the best large-scale and internationally prestigious industrial projects to Finland,” says Tesi’s CEO Pia Santavirta.

“Finland, as a small country on the edge of Europe, needs partners. For this reason, deepening our networks is one of our strategic goals. It is important to identify how Finland can be a globally competitive growth leader ten years on from now. We also need to pursue ambitious goals persistently and systematically for sustainable growth,” adds Santavirta.

2023 Key Figures, EUR (2022 figures in brackets)

• Tesi’s new investments and investment commitments 235 (297) million of which
  • 9 (13) fund commitments totalling 161 (90) million
  • 33 direct investments totalling 74 million, comprising 6 (7) initial and 27 (7) follow-on investments;
    • 48 (27) million of these direct investments through normal operations
    • 26 (180) million through pandemic-era special investment programmes
  • 12 (5) exits, of which 4 (2) were bankruptcies.
• Unpaid investment commitments at end of year 482 (415) million
• Tesi’s net loss (IFRS) for the fiscal year -51 (-26) million
• Tesi’s investments under management per 31 Dec amounted to 2.5 (2.5) billion comprising 114 (111) fund investments, 5 (4) funds-of-funds, and 121 (128) direct investments

Read more in the 2023 Annual Report:

• Business Overview: Strategy, value creation, investment operations and sustainability
• Financial Review: Board of Directors’ report and Financial Statements

• Corporate Governance Statement: Corporate governance, internal control and risk management systems
• Remuneration Report: Remuneration principles, remuneration of the Board of Directors and CEO