OpenOcean

Exciting news from the OpenOcean portfolio! Our portfolio company Leadoo Marketing Technologies, a marketing technology and conversion platform, has been acquired by SALESmanago . Founded in 2018, Leadoo helps businesses turn website visitors into leads and customers with their unique approach to conversion optimisation, redefining how companies engage with their audiences online. OpenOcean recognised Leadoo’s potential early on, investing already in 2019 as a part of their first funding round. We congratulate the entire Leadoo team and everyone involved in this milestone achievement! We’re proud to have been part of your journey and look forward to seeing what’s next.

What a Slush! ♣️ On Tuesday, we kicked off the Slush week with OpenOcean’s Legendary Poker Tournament, hosted with HV Capital! A big thank you to the over 500 attendees who made the evening unforgettable—not to mention the final round that kept everyone on the edge of their seats. Congratulations to the Poker Champion 2024, Fredrik Nars, for claiming the coveted title! 💡On Thursday, we had the privilege of co-hosting the inaugural Slush Founders’ Dinner with Luminar Ventures. Many thanks to all the talented founders who attended! 

What a night! On Slush Day 0, we hosted our annual Legendary Slush Poker Tournament in collaboration with HV Capital and Amazon Web Services (AWS). The competition was fierce, but one winner claimed the Poker Champion 2024 title. Huge congratulations to Fredrik Nars 👑 📸 by Petri Mast

👋 Team OpenOcean is heading to Slush! Catch up with us to chat about recent developments in the data economy, our latest investments or to say hello. Whether you’re building, investing or just curious, we are happy to connect with you. We are of course also very excited to host OpenOcean's Legendary Slush Poker Tournament on Tuesday November 19th! OpenOcean team members at Slush: Tom Henriksson, Ekaterina Almasque, Patrik Backman, Tony Nysten, Sam H., Lisa Edgar. Crystal V., Mirva Laatunen, Joanna Graiver, Katariina Marttinen & Cyrus Hessabi.

Honoured to join the panel “How deep is your tech? Investing in future technologies” chaired by Mike Butcher ✍️, TechCrunch and The Europas founder, at Web Summit yesterday. As a long-standing investor in AI, Quantum and Data Infrastructure, I would like to reiterate: 🚀 Venture Capital is our bridge to the future. Yes, it involves risk-taking, but it is our tool to build the future we want to live in.  🏆  For the founders wanting to build outliers, frontier tech businesses, be strategic about your investor-base. Partner with venture capital funds that understand the challenges of being pioneers. The smartest capital will come with passion for the new emerging market you are addressing, and mindfulness about your scaling journey. Stay away from the funds that only care about pattern recognition and predictability.  🌟 Currently the environment in Europe is tough (er than we want it to be) for frontier tech companies. Especially in growth stages, beyond Series A. The challenges are across a number of fields - from the difficulty of raising A+ rounds to risk-averseness of customers, to accessing global markets and commercial talent. There are however amazing minds (and great friends!) working relentlessly to make it easier for the founders to build global leaders out of Europe. This panel is the proof. Excellent point made by Lars Frølund, EIC Fund board member, that we still need to activate pension funds to have more private capital available for the frontier tech. Specifically, the most ambitious future tech platforms need more growth capital from private sources. Great point made Laurie Menoud from At One Ventures that technical expertise makes a hell of a difference if you want to invest in (or build) a frontier tech business. Jeff Crusey, 7percent Ventures, has a great playbook of investing in early-stage deep tech. Last but not least, Mike made a great point about The EU Inc Petition, which can further strengthen the position of the European tech industry. Hope that the EU Inc indeed will be our new reality. Share your thoughts and reach out if you are working on something amazing. OpenOcean

This week, OpenOcean's General Partner, Ekaterina Almasque, takes the stage at the Web Summit to discuss about two important themes within the startup and tech ecosystem: 1️⃣ Investing in future technologies: In today's competitive deep-tech landscape, finding the right investor means more than just securing funding for founders. Ekaterina will join other panelists to explore what truly matters in backing transformative technologies and how OpenOcean supports founders beyond capital, focusing on long-term growth and impact. She will be joined on stage by Laurie Menoud from At One Ventures, Lars Frølund from the European Innovation Council, Jeff Crusey from 7percent Ventures and Mike Butcher from TechCrunch. 2️⃣ The AI-SaaS landscape: As AI reshapes the tech ecosystem, Ekaterina and fellow panelists will examine the shifting dynamics for SaaS. In light of AI's rapid expansion, they'll tackle the pressing question: Has AI consumed all the SaaS funding? Sharing the stage with her will be Yuri Dvoinos from Aura, Tamara Steffens from Thomson Reuters Ventures and João Tomé from Cloudflare. Web Summit brings together over 70,000 people and companies redefining the tech industry. Stay tuned for Ekaterina's insights and takeaways on the future of tech and investment on our LinkedIn.

A big shoutout to IQM Quantum Computers for securing the top spot on Deloitte’s Technology Fast 50 Finland! We are proud to have backed IQM since 2019, joining them in their seed round as they set out to redefine the future of quantum computing.

"Have a massive ambition and don't be shy about it." In a recent Billion Dollar Moves Podcast episode, Sarah Chen-Spellings interviewed our General Partner, Tom Henriksson, about what it takes for European entrepreneurs to succeed on the global stage. His key insights? 💡 Tom believes Finnish founders and aspiring entrepreneurs shouldn't hold back. Set big goals, embrace bold ideas and communicate your vision confidently to the world. Ambition drives growth, but it starts with owning your vision and making it known. 💡 Ambition alone isn't enough—real success comes from having substance behind your goals. Tom highlights the importance of leveraging your unique skills and background, such as intellectual property or technical expertise, to support your vision. As Tom puts it, combining big ambition with substance is the key to standing out. Catch the full conversation for more of Tom's insights on what it takes to scale globally. Link to the episode in the comments.

The much-awaited UK’s Autumn Budget was the talk of the town last week. Our General Partner, Ekaterina Almasque comments on the budget were featured in outlets like PitchBook, UKTN, IFA Magazine, and FStech, among others. One of key changes Ekaterina discussed was the capital gains tax increase on carried interest. While less severe than expected, she emphasised the carried interest's crucial role in fostering long-term, high-risk investments, especially in R&D-heavy sectors like quantum computing and AI – sectors that Ekaterina has successfully invested in at OpenOcean too. For more of Ekaterina’s insights, see the links in the comments.

In a recent Billion Dollar Moves Podcast episode, Sarah Chen-Spellings interviewed our General Partner, Tom Henriksson, about OpenOcean's early days and its founding investment thesis. Here’s what stood out from Tom’s conversation: 🔹 A strong focus on Europe’s tech evolution: OpenOcean was founded with the understanding that standout software companies can emerge from any corner of Europe. Today, 14 years later, Tom still believes in Europe’s untapped potential and sees the continued growth of data-driven innovation across the continent. 🔹 Leveraging experience: Drawing from the team's history with MySQL, OpenOcean's mission is to support fellow entrepreneurs in building impactful software businesses. While each entrepreneurial journey is unique, sharing insights and experiences can create a strong foundation when business owners come together to support one another. In the episode titled “Data & Disruption: From MySQL to Truecaller,” Tom talks more about OpenOcean’s origins and shares his insights on what it takes to build and back transformative software companies within the data economy. Check out the full interview to hear more about OpenOcean’s journey and Tom’s perspective on what’s next for data-driven companies. Link to the episode in the comments.