Finland’s Wave Ventures unveils €7M fund to invest in Gen Z founders across the Nordics and Baltics

Helsinki-based Wave Ventures, a Gen Z-led venture capital firm, has announced a third fund totalling €7M. 

This new fund is three times larger than its previous one and is the largest Gen Z-led and Gen Z-focused fund in Europe. Wave Ventures focuses on supporting Gen Z founders across the Nordics and Baltics.

The fund is supported by investors including the founders of Slack, Bolt, Skype, Supercell, Wolt, Silo AI, and Smartly.io, along with European early-stage venture capital firms and family offices.

Cal Henderson, co-founder of Slack, says, “Wave Ventures has a truly unique advantage, connecting to the most promising young European entrepreneurs before any other investors could ever have them on their radar.”

“Having seen firsthand the incredible talent and drive of the youth emerging from Finland and the Nordics, I believe we’re about to witness a wave of incredible new companies built by this next generation of founders.”

Backing the “most exceptional” Gen Z founders

Wave Ventures has launched its third fund during a period of change for early-stage investing in the Nordics.

Technologies such as generative AI, no-code platforms, and open-source tools are lowering barriers to starting companies. At the same time, more startups from the Nordic region are entering international markets.

Wave Ventures, founded in 2016, focuses on supporting early-stage founders and has made over 50 initial investments as the first investor through its first two funds. It claims to have backed nearly 80 per cent of Finnish startups led by CEOs under 30.

Past portfolio companies include Inven, Intergrid, Exa Laboratories (YC S24), Vetnio (YC W25), Paebbl, Normative, and Carbo Culture.

Wave Ventures operates on the principle of staying close to emerging startup founders. The fund is managed by a rotating team of Gen Z investors active in startup communities across Helsinki, Stockholm, and Tallinn. This approach enables Wave to engage early with Gen Z founders, often before they gain attention from other investors.

What to expect from the new fund?

With its Fund III, Wave Ventures plans to expand its investment strategy across the Nordic and Baltic regions. The fund aims to support 3 to 10 new teams per country each year, focusing on initial angel and pre-seed funding rounds of up to €100,000.

Antonia Eneh, CEO of Wave Ventures, says, “AI is unlocking a new era of speed and scale: young founders are moving faster than ever, thinking bigger, and building globally from day one. This generation understands the problems that matter and has the tools to solve them. Wave is built to find them and back them first.”