https://techfundingnews.com/finland-unicorns-vc-deeptech-hub/
Finland’s 15 unicorns and $1.5B VC surge How it became the Nordic deep tech hub
Finland’s 15 unicorns and $1.5B VC surge How it became the Nordic deep tech hub
Finland’s startup ecosystem has been on the European radar for quite some time, riding the Nordic wave initially set in motion by the telecommunications giant Nokia. During my recent trip to Turku and Helsinki with Business Finland, the Nokia legacy was clear. Nearly every person I spoke with had served in a C-level role there, and yes, I never saw that many Oura rings in my life.
Now, let’s look at some numbers. Business Finland data shows that over 47,000 people work in the country’s startup scene in 2025, spread across 4,200 companies generating roughly $14 billion in revenue. The ecosystem boasts 15 unicorns, with VC funding hitting $1.5 billion in 2024. Plus, Maria 01 stands out as the largest startup campus in the Nordics, with a strong emphasis on diversity initiatives (more on this later!).
What really stood out, however, was not just the scale but also the high concentration of AI and quantum computing innovation spanning the country. This was on full display at the AI Summit in Turku and at Slush 2025 in Helsinki, where Finland’s deeptech scene was centre stage.
The opening of the Ellis Institute, a new epicentre for AI research and cross-sector collaboration, was lauded as a landmark for both the Finnish and European ecosystems. “It’s a testament to the community we’ve built, from cutting-edge research to bringing new talent into real-life applications,” as noted during the summit.
Much of Finland’s momentum stems from a strong university engine fueling deeptech innovation. Universities in Turku, Helsinki, and Oulu continuously produce world-class research, spawning startups across AI, health tech, diagnostics, and climate tech.
This university-to-startup flow, as Alexandra Gylfe, Founding Partner at Nordic Science Investments, emphasised, not only keeps the Finnish ecosystem vibrant but also fosters cross-border collaboration with other Nordic countries. She added that cooperation between academic clusters, startups, and industry is what allows Finland to punch above its weight in global AI.
For instance, before moving its headquarters to Helsinki, Algorithmiq was born at Turku University. Dr Boris Sokolov, co-founder and lead researcher at Algorithmiq, explained to TFN, “We’re building a complete simulation pipeline for molecular discovery using quantum systems, a true collaboration between quantum chemists, computer scientists, and pharma partners.”
The company recently partnered with IBM and the Cleveland Clinic to push the boundaries of quantum advantage in drug development. “Our team combines deep local expertise with international talent: nearly 80 people, multiple nationalities, and active projects on both sides of the Atlantic,” noted Sokolov.
Meanwhile, Dr. Janne Lehtinen, Chief Science Officer and co-founder at SemiQon, a Helsinki-based hardware startup, described their mission as “developing scalable solutions for quantum computers, making million-qubit chips feasible, bringing down power and cost, and opening the door for real-world applications.” Their team, he notes, is “26 people, and we are actually now closing our seed round. Most are engineers and physicists from Finnish academia.”
Moving on to bigger players in the market, the prime example is Canatu, a Helsinki-based deeptech company spun out from Aalto University, the factory of which I visited during my trip.
“Our patented carbon nanotube technology, invented right here in Finland, is essential to the next generation of AI chips, enabling groundbreaking developments for companies like Nvidia, AMD, TSMC, and Samsung. Without this technology, AI development couldn’t move forward to sub-2nm processors,” explains Juha Kokkonen, CEO of Canatu, to TFN.
In an exclusive interview, Tom Henriksson, General Partner at OpenOcean, shared Finland’s startup evolution over 15 years, noting rapid growth in revenue and capital raised, thanks to an emerging breed of serial entrepreneurs who are spawning new ventures.
“The whole startup scene has evolved so much… Nowadays, there’s a fair amount of startups generating a fair amount of revenue and raising quite a lot of capital in Finland. You need serial entrepreneurs… and Finland is starting to have some serial entrepreneurs who are creating quite a lot of new companies.”
“My favourite project at the moment is IQM,” said Henriksson, referencing the quantum computing startup OpenOcean backed early on, which has since become Europe’s leader in the field. “When we met this team, the plan was so amazing, the IP was so strong, that we actually got special permission from our fund advisory board to invest in a hardware company. Nowadays, it’s the European leader in quantum, and as you know, they’ve raised 275 million euros.”