Tesi’s Impact Review: Positive societal impact becoming established in growth companies’ business models

“Research shows that businesses backed by venture capital and private equity grow, invest and employ more, and also conduct considerably more R&D. This is evident in the almost 450 Finnish companies in which Tesi is involved as a minority owner. We believe that growth companies play a vital role in diversifying Finland’s economic and industrial structures and in solving present and future global challenges,” comments Tesi’s CEO Jan Sasse.

“Our goal is to maximise our positive societal impact through our operations. In addition to economic sustainability, a condition for our investment is that it meets our ESG criteria, that the investee company or fund wants to develop its corporate responsibility, and that we will be able to influence the development of its operations together with our partners,” Sasse adds.

Tesi acquires information from its data model and reviews annually a range of corporate responsibility aspects in the Finnish growth companies of which it is directly or indirectly, through funds, an owner. The results reveal the economic importance of growth companies and indicate there are still improvements to be made in developing ESG meters. Some key figures include:

-                 some EUR 11 billion in net sales

-                 over 70,000 jobs

-                 roughly EUR 1.3 billion of tax receipts in Finland

-                 energy and/or waste monitoring in 31% of companies

-                 greenhouse gas monitoring in use or under development in 20% of companies

-                 Women represent on average 13% of boards of directors

-                 Code of Conduct in use or under development in 63% of companies

We promote the growth and internationalisation of Finnish companies – one euro from Tesi attracts ten more euros from VC & PE funds investing in growth companies

Tesi promotes the growth and internationalisation of Finnish companies mainly through minority investments in VC & PE funds investing in Finland. In 2021, one euro from Tesi acted as a catalyst for almost ten more euros from private Finnish or international investors. The volume of Tesi’s direct investments in companies grew substantially, mainly due to special investment programmes necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic as well as to the transfer of Finnvera’s investment operation to Tesi.

Tesi’s Impact Review supplements the Responsibility Report that is a part of our Annual Report. The Impact Review illustrates in more detail the positive indirect impacts of our operations on Finnish society. The Impact Review is published in early autumn, because, owing to the nature of our operations, some of the data needed for the report is only available after publication of the Annual Report.