North Ventures

We have a unique setup that combines venture creation and tech investments within a single organization. This advantage enables us to identify new research and deep tech opportunities with both commercial and impact potential, all within Chalmers’ entrepreneurial ecosystem. We are experts in starting up companies based on deep tech and research in the most effective manner possible. This process allows us to cultivate our own high-quality deal flow in which we invest and become active owners. Throughout the entire journey, we function as investors and venture builders until exit. Profits are reinvested through our evergreen model and allocated to Chalmers to support new, groundbreaking research. Our investment processWe identify market potential in research-based tech We match the team We invest in and startup the company We attract competent capital with external VCs We have active ownership until exit Our deal flow criteriaDeep tech / research based tech University spinouts Global commercial and impact potential Our process: from lab to market We use our long experience to create conditions required for a growth company to start up correctly and with the right structural capital. We are then involved in the startup through competence and capital until exit. Simply put: we take groundbreaking research from lab to market. IDENTIFY: We attract, seek out and evaluate research and technology ideas. The technologies with the greatest potential are matched with entrepreneurs. SHAPE AND START: Create the basic conditions to shape companies correctly and build structural capital. We are involved in starting up the companies and provides additional benefits during that first critical period. VALIDATE & VERIFY: Validating business model, working for paying customers and unlocking the business model. Find the right proof points to validate and verify the company’s unique idea to both the market and investors. SCALE: Becoming sustainable growth companies reaching out to an international market. Chalmers Ventures works with its skills as active owners, provides professional governance and syndicates the right growth capital. EXIT: Chalmers Ventures pursues a positive exit strategy at what it feels is the right time. We can focus our resources on those companies with the greatest potential and positive impact on the portfolio.

Inspired by the recent success stories of young Nordic founders, more and more young people see building a startup as the best and most meaningful way to make an impact. Wave is Europe’s largest student-run VC backing the most exceptional Gen Z founders in the New Nordics at the earliest stage. Founded: 2016 Area focus: Nordics & Baltics Location: Finland, Sweden, Estonia Team: 7 members Stage focus: Earliest - Your First Investment

By co-investing Mozaic Investors is increasing the chances for each stakeholder to gain from being part of the syndicate. Investors gain by diminishing the high risk related with investing in new ventures and by increasing their portfolio diversity by being exposed to high reward opportunities. Startups gain from the opportunity to raise money in underserved markets where venture capital is limited and in very early stages of the company. They also gain from the vast network of experts and successful entrepreneurs that are part of the syndicate thus increasing the potential on the investment with the smart money. Mozaic is a response to a couple of important problems that the startup ecosystem in Moldova and in the region is facing. The Investors Perspective. Lack of startup investing knowledge: Investors, especially in Eastern Europe, are not used to invest high-risk capital with the awareness that they can lose everything invested and the understanding that they have to keep the founders motivated enough because they are the ones developing the products thus investors should take only a small share of equity. High-risk investing alone: Not having a validation process for the startups usually leads to risky bets that investors take. The limited deals they are exposed to, contribute to decisions when they chose only from what they can evaluate. Not knowing other investors that can share the risk with them decrease the performance of their investments, thus not incentivizing the investors to keep investing. Lack of legal framework: The high cost of legal work regarding an investment makes investors to restraining investing in startups. Unclear rules, unprivileged legislation for investors are not something that an investor can change alone. There should be a common action and suggestions made to the legislative body. Lack of startups deal flow: Diversifying the portfolio require an increasing number of investible startups to choose from. An individual investor has no time and means to know all the startups there are in the ecosystem that are looking for investment thus exposing himself only to the direct approaches. The Startups Perspective. Lack of venture capital: By venture capital we are referring to alternative financing when startups are raising capital from private investors where no other financial institution are ready to finance the initial ideas and startups. Traditional financial institutions usually require more financial data, guarants or other indicators that a newly formed entity simply do not have. Thus founders are unable to support the developing teams and launch the products. A venture capital is not a loan and investors are aware that they can lose it. Also the founders are not tied to reimburse it the in case of failure, thus incentivising more founders to work on more ambition and rewarding projects not putting themself and their families in debt. Founders not owning the company: By investing the most of the money or all the money in the startup traditionally is expected the investor to have the majority of the social capital and voting rights on the matters regarding the activity of the company. This fact is not helping the founder to feel that he is in charge of the company thus he is losing motivation and is not engaged enough to achieve the company’s goal. Lack of smart capital: By accessing the capital from investors, founders also gain the access to investors that are experienced entrepreneurs and connected people that can advice or introduce the founders to potential clients. Ethical money: By promoting the highest standards of ethics throughout the investment cycle, the investors must act with integrity and respect while dealing fairly and objectively with the founders. The ambition is to help early stage companies become industry-defining and sustainable businesses. The Ecosystem Perspective. Not fully functional ecosystem: By covering to a good degree the other components of the startup ecosystem like Infrastructure (coworking, prototyping facilities) and Knowledge (know-how, conferences, events) there is a lack in continuity and sinergy in startup creation process. Not having the Capital and Legal components of the startup ecosystem makes the other components unproductive. Startups looking to other countries or even moving to pursue their goals. High levels of uncertainty: Startup world is known by having a high dose of uncertainty, but by adding to this the fact that founders do not know how they will finance their startups or the next steps in scaling, they have anxieties that keep them from starting in the first place.

Fil Rouge Capital (FRC) is an investment fund manager whose funds focus on early stage businesses from pre-seed, seed, and Series A rounds of investment. ManifestoWe love building and being part of an entrepreneurial ecosystem where everybody plays their role. We want to make the Croatian entrepreneurial ecosystem the best in class so expect to see a lot of us because this is what we want to achieve! Our reputation is our wealth. We always stand behind our founders, in good and bad times, we mean it, you will see! We hate getting the “long yes” so we never give …the “long yes”. We love bold founders and we provide “Capital for the Bold”. Get it? We at FRC have “been there, done that”. Our combined M&A and financing track records exceed $4B. We didn’t always get it right, but we’re not ashamed of it. We can give continuous support to our startups from incubation and acceleration to scale-up and exit. “We bring you more than money”: every VC claims it but very few actually live by it – we do. We were voted “Best Investor” in our region 2 years in a row and there is a reason for that. We’re fine with opinions but we’d rather focus on facts. We are no nonsense guys. We will tell you things as they are, we never intend to demean or hurt. We might seem offensive every now and then, remember, we NEVER mean bad but we’d rather be straight.