What Tera Ventures does

Tera Ventures is an Estonian venture capital firm founded in 2016 that invests at pre-seed and seed stages in born-global digital startups across the New Nordics region (Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Czech Republic). The firm manages two investment vehicles with a combined AUM of approximately €75M as of 2022, built around Fund II which closed at €43M in April 2021 with backing from the European Investment Fund (under the EstFund initiative), ITOCHU Corporation, LHV Pension Funds, Mistletoe Venture Partners, Perot Jain, and other institutional and individual LPs. Tera typically leads rounds and has made 30+ investments, with notable exits including GrabCAD (acquired by Stratasys) and Vitalfields (acquired by Monsanto).

The firm's offering is capital plus hands-on operational support: founders receive seed funding, board participation, follow-on capital, and introductions to a strategic network that helps portfolio companies expand into the US (via Perot Jain and the Los Angeles office), UK (via General Partner Eamonn Carey in London), and Japan (via ITOCHU, Mistletoe, and Senior Advisor Eric Sato). Investment focus spans AI/ML innovations, FinTech, Security, Enterprise SaaS, and Robotics/Deeptech applications, and Tera's portfolio companies have subsequently raised follow-on rounds from top-tier VCs including Union Square Ventures, Bessemer, Draper Esprit, and Global Brain.

Tera operates as a standard VC fund manager, earning revenue through management fees (typically 2% of committed capital) on its fund vehicles and carried interest (typically 20%) on profitable exits above the hurdle rate. The firm is privately held by its founding partners — Andrus Oks, Stanislav Ivanov, and James McDougall — with a small operational team of 1–10 employees based across offices in Tallinn (headquarters, Pikk Street 7), Helsinki (regional), and Los Angeles (West Coast market entry support). The legal entity is Tera Ventures OÜ (Estonian private limited company, registration code 14088576), with a related entity TeraVCapital OÜ.

Name

Tera Ventures

Legal name

Tera Ventures OÜ

Website

https://tera.vc

Company type

Private

Founded year

2016

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Tera Ventures is an Estonian venture capital firm that provides seed and pre-seed funding plus hands-on operational support to early-stage digital startups across the New Nordics, with offices in Tallinn, Helsinki, and Los Angeles enabling portfolio expansion into US, UK, and Asian markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital and Private Equity

NAICS

Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles (525)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Early-Stage Venture Capital (Pre-Seed/Seed) (FSANAAAA)

Keywords

• Venture capital investing
• Seed-stage funding
• Early-stage investments
• Fund management services
• Startup portfolio management

Headquarters

HQ city

Tallinn

HQ country

Estonia

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Fund Management: VC firm generates returns through management fees on committed capital (typically 2% of fund size) and carried interest (carry) on successful exits, typically 20% of profits above the hurdle rate.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Tera Ventures is an Estonian venture capital firm that manages two early-stage investment funds (Fund I and Fund II, totaling approximately €43M with combined AUM of approximately €75M). The firm invests in pre-seed and seed-stage born-global digital startups across AI/ML, FinTech, Security, Enterprise SaaS, and Robotics/Deeptech sectors, providing capital, board participation, strategic guidance, follow-on funding, and market expansion support to the US, UK, and Asia.

Product overview

Tera Ventures is an Estonian venture capital firm that provides investment services to early-stage born-global digital startups. Rather than offering a software product platform, Tera Ventures offers funding, hands-on mentorship, strategic advisory, and network access to portfolio companies. Their investment focus spans AI-powered innovations, Enterprise SaaS, Robotics/Deeptech, FinTech, and Security sectors across Estonia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Czech Republic. The firm supports portfolio companies with follow-on investments, international market entry (particularly US, UK, and Japan), and connections to strategic corporate partners and additional capital from top-tier VCs.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Tera Ventures Fund I Seed-stage venture capital fund investing in born-global digital startups from Estonia, Scandinavia, and Central and Eastern Europe. Fund I is part of the firm's combined AUM of approximately €75M and supports startups across AI/ML, FinTech, Security, Enterprise SaaS, and Robotics/Deeptech sectors.
• Tera Ventures Fund II Second seed-stage venture capital fund totaling €43M, focused on exceptional early-stage technology companies from Estonia, Scandinavia, and Central and Eastern Europe with global ambitions. Provides seed capital, follow-on investment support, and access to international markets including US, UK, and Japan through strategic LP relationships.
• Portfolio Company Advisory and Follow-on Investment Hands-on strategic advisory, board participation, follow-on capital, and market expansion support services for portfolio companies across AI/ML, FinTech, Security, Enterprise SaaS, and Robotics/Deeptech sectors. Includes introductions to strategic corporate partners (ITOCHU, Perot Jain) and top-tier VCs for subsequent funding rounds.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple successful exits including GrabCAD (acquired by Stratasys) and Vitalfields (acquired by Monsanto)
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• RakutenminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2021Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten partnered with Tera portfolio company Lingvist for language learning technology collaboration.
• Strata (London Partner)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 August 2021Strategic partnership with Strata, an independent corporate finance partnership in London, to help portfolio companies raise capital and successfully close exit deals. Provides M&A advisory and capital raising services.
• Pär Nuder (Advisor)coreOthers · 13 April 2021Former Swedish Minister of Finance (2004-2006) and Chairman of AP3 joins as investor and advisor, bringing extensive Nordic financial sector connections.

Scale indicators4 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• European Investment Fund (EIF): A pan-European fund-of-funds that is itself an LP in Tera Ventures and a critical capital provider to the European VC ecosystem; relevant as a backer-of-funds and indirect peer in sourcing.

Direct peers

• Superangel: Estonian early-stage fund investing in Baltic and Nordic tech startups, with overlapping portfolio companies (Monese, Scoro) and similar ticket sizes; competes head-to-head for the same Estonian founders.
• Karma Ventures: A Tallinn-based early-stage VC investing across the Nordics and Baltics with a deep tech and enterprise focus, directly competing with Tera on the same regional deal flow and founder base.
• Icebreaker.vc: A Helsinki-based seed VC focused on the Nordics and Baltics with similar founder-friendly positioning and pre-seed/seed ticket sizes; overlaps on regional deal flow and target sectors like AI and SaaS.
• byFounders: A Copenhagen-based seed-stage VC focused on Nordic and Baltic founders, with a similar thesis of backing born-global startups and providing US market access via a San Francisco presence—making it the closest direct competitor to Tera in the New Nordics seed category.
• Lateral Capital: A Helsinki-based early-stage investor backing Nordic and Baltic tech founders with a similar hands-on operator-led model; competes for the same pre-seed and seed deals.
• Change Ventures: A Riga-based early-stage fund targeting the Baltic region with pre-seed and seed tickets; operates in the same founder pool as Tera and pursues comparable AI and SaaS theses.
• Presto Ventures: A Prague-based seed fund focused on Central European and Baltic startups; co-invests with Tera (e.g., Secfense) and targets overlapping founders in Poland, Czechia, and the Baltics.

Broad incumbents

• Northzone: A major Nordic VC investing from seed to growth across the region; competes for the same founders at seed and frequently leads Series A rounds for Tera-adjacent companies.
• Open Ocean: A Helsinki-based venture firm investing across Europe with broader stage coverage; while larger and more generalist, it competes for later rounds of Tera's portfolio companies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/teraventures
• Facebookfacebook.com/teraventures
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tera-ventures
• Instagraminstagram.com/tera.vc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments66 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Tera Ventures