Technopolis Launches Technopolis Online and Q3 VC Report

PR Log (Press Release) – Oct 19, 2009 – Technopolis Online is a world class tool for international investors to find, contact and invest in Finnish high-tech companies. The database contains over 1,500 high tech companies, 155 investors and over 2,300 key people from the Finnish High-Tech ecosystem, which ranks at the top of innovation economies around the world. The key feature is the Investment Tracker, which currently lists investments, both public and private, into Finnish high tech companies from 1999 to today.

Will Cardwell, Director of Technopolis Development Services is clearly excited about the new service. “We started working on Technopolis Online more than a year ago with a goal to create the best information source about the Finnish high tech environment for international and local investors, as well as entrepreneurs. Inbound and outbound transparency is our singular goal, and we believe that transparency itself will lead to more international success for Finnish companies.”

A beta version of Technopolis Online was launched in April 2009: “During the closed beta, we’ve had more than 30 international investors testing Technopolis Online from over ten different countries. The feedback has been tremendous and has already resulted in a few investment cases”, Cardwell continues. For example, Nic Brisbourne of DFJEsprit in London says: “Technopolis Online is one of the best tools we have seen for building visibility for local tech markets. We use it for our initial screens on potential investment opportunities in Finland.”

One crucial element to increase the investments into Finland is to improve the fundability of companies. Technopolis has teamed up with Datamonitor’s Ovum and Business Insights databases to give Finnish companies access to world class reports and tools. With Technopolis Online, companies will get access to hundreds of reports from different high tech industries, which are worth thousands of Euros.

Q3 Report on Finnish Venture Capital Market
The Technopolis Online Q3 report is a digest of all investment activities that happened in Finland during the past quarter. The key point that the Q3 report highlights is that the amount of financing that companies raised during the last quarter was significantly less than a year ago. In Q3 2009, companies were able to raise slightly over 8 million euros, while a year ago the number was €19.3 million, which amounts to an almost 58% drop.
Finnish companies reported only two minor investments during August, leading the month to be one of the lowest months recorded in the history of venture capital in Finland. A positive signal was increased investment activity in September 2009 (€7.3 million) when compared to September 2008 (€5 million). It was the first month since April 2009 that performed better than the same month a year earlier.

Technopolis Online is accessible at www.technopolisonline.com.

Inquiries:
Artur Surov, Business Development Advisor, Technopolis Development Services +358 41 501 0732, artur.surov[at]technopolis[dot]fi

Distributed on behalf of Technopolis Plc by NeonDrum (http://www.neondrum.com)
Nicky Denovan
Tel: +44 7747 017654
nicky[at]neondrum[dot]com