FiBAN Angel Investment Data
- 2011-20247700
Investment transactions
480Million € invested
2000Startups invested in
Find our previous statistics and publications in here.
- 2024
- 2023690
Investment transactions
26Million € invested
173Startups invested in
Find our previous statistics and publications in here.
- 2022791
Investment transactions
37Million € invested
248Startups invested in
Find our previous statistics and publications in here.
Interactively explore 7700 investments into 2000 startups, collected systematically by FiBAN since 2010. Here are a few of our top findings.
- Angel investors play a crucial role in getting startups through their early stages.
- Not only do angel investors add value to the startup ecosystem but they also enable the creation of new jobs.
- According to FiBAN research conducted in 2019, for every 1M€ invested by business angels, 19 new jobs are created.
Did you also know that…
- 60% of FiBAN angels are expecting to at least double their current investments into startups.
- 86% are actively looking for new investments.
- 28% are open to invest in all industries.
Interested to learn more about more FiBAN angel investors?
Finnish early-stage growth companies attract considerable amounts of funding each year from angels
In 2024, the total amount invested went up by 20% compared to previous year, as angels invested a total of 31,5 million euros. Half of the investments were directed towards new target companies
Since 2010, FiBAN investors have invested 480 million euros into startups.
Finnish startup ecosystem has matured over time and the numbers are again on the rise
Business angels contributed a total of 31,5 million euros in 2024 – thus enabling the development of a a new generation of startups that will attract even more funding in their later stages.
Over the last 15 years, Finnish startups have attracted over 15 billion euros worth of investments. Angel investors account for roughly 3% of all investments during this timeframe.
Explore investments in Finland by region
In 2024, 97% of investments were targeted to Finnish startups. In addition to Greater Helsinki region, Tampere, Jyväskylä and Oulu stood out.
We have compiled comparable data from 10+ years. Please note that the percentages are shares of the total sums invested.
..and by municipality
Most of the investments are going to major tech hubs, with Helsinki and Tampere in particular dominating in 2024.
Angel Investing by the Numbers
- Business angels typically invest in early-stage startups.
- Many of the investments are also done as co-investments together with other angel investors.
- The top three sectors in 2024 in terms of investment count were Software, Healthcare and Manufacturing.
Number of deals by industry
FiBAN members invest in all industries. While most angels focus on sectors that they themselves understand well, many are also sector agnostics, investing in lucrative opportunities across all industries.
Share of funding by industry in 2024
However, top three sectors in terms of funding share were Manufacturing, Shipping and Software. Hardware-based companies typically operate in more capital-intensive environments, requiring larger funding rounds to scale.
Do note that larger individual rounds can skew this statistic.
Syndication practices
FiBAN members are highly networked investors. 87 % of investments made in 2021 were co-investments. Investing together rather than alone has many benefits both for the investors and the founders: a larger network, access to diverse skills and experiences and access to larger sums of capital.
Name Your Price: Valuation
- The median pre-money valuation of a startup that received angel investment in 2024 was 1.64 million euros
- Median valuations have been in decline for past few years.
Median valuation per year
Finnish startups that have received angel funding from FiBAN members have, on average, become more valuable throughout the years. This might be an indication of a maturing startup ecosystem in Finland.
Harvesting the Returns: Exits
- Earlier, acquisitions were most common type of exit as large corporations typically chose to buy startups rather than build innovations internally.
- However, in the last few years we have seen bankruptcies become the most common type of exit in angel investing.
Number of exits has stabilized in the last few years
Exits are the ultimate metric for angel investors, and often angel investing is referred to as the “exit business”. Years of failing and learning how to build a portfolio of startups have had an impact on angel investing for FiBAN members: the number of exits remains right but has stabilized in the last few years. This might be another indication that angel investing and the startup ecosystem in Finland are maturing.
Return on investments
Successful exits compensate for the losses in angel investments. In 2023, the share of very profitable exits remained similar to past years even though the share of bankruptcies became higher.
Type of exits
Acquisitions have been the most common type of exit in the past years but more recently the share of bankruptcies has grown. This also reflects the general economic trend in Finland as the number of bankruptcies has been exceptionally high for the last two years, as reported by Statistics Finland.
Time of return on investments
Negative exits usually happen within a few years of investing. Companies going bankrupt do not survive for long as successful companies go through several funding rounds before possibly resulting in a positive exit.
Past Research
- An effective way to boost growth is to have an angel on board.
- Angels invest mostly in startups with fewer than 5 employees.
- Angel investing has positive repercussions on employment.
Angel Investor Profiles
FiBAN conducted an extensive member survey in September 2023. In total, 254 members answered the survey.
- How do angels invest and how much?
- What kind of backgrounds do angel investors in Finland have?
- Which industries interest them the most?
Find the answers from our Member Survey Data. (download link – opens in a new tab)
Impact of Angel Investing on Employment
For every 1 M€ invested by business angels, 19 new jobs are created. The research is based on data from FiBAN and Bisnode and includes 720 investments into 490 startups between 2013 and 2016.
One of the ways to boost growth is to have an angel on board. 4-6 years after an investment, 18 % of the startups have grown their revenue by more than 1 M€, compared to only 6 % of the startups that pitched at Pitch Finland but didn’t receive funding that year. However, 2 out of 5 startups have failed, indicating the high-risk nature of startup investing.
In terms of number of employees, angels prefer to invest in startups a little bit further down the road than many that pitched at Pitch Finland but did not receive funding.
Appendix
1. About FiBAN's data
FiBAN, one of the largest and most active business angel networks in the world with over 600 private investor members, annually conducts an investment survey of its members. The survey has been sent out to all FiBAN members since 2010, the year FiBAN was founded. This constitutes Europe’s most comprehensive yearly survey of business angels. Through quality research and analysis we aim to offer valuable and unique knowledge for the whole startup ecosystem.
Since FiBAN’s data is based on voluntary questionnaires annually collected from our members, it is more indicative than exact. The response rate has increased throughout the decade reaching all-time high close to 70% towards the end of the decade. Our figures consist only of the data provided to us: we do not cover all angel investing activity in Finland. However, by pooling data, FiBAN can look into trends and findings which benefit the whole angel investor and startup community.
2. FiBAN Data Sharing Policy
FiBAN handles all data confidentially and with care. All data is processed anonymously. Read more about our Data Sharing Policy in the document below.
3. Contact us
We are happy to discuss any questions, comments, or suggestions you might have related to data page!
4. Glossary
The glossary presents terms and definitions as used in the FiBAN research processes, most notably as used in the Annual Survey. It is reviewed annually. Open the glossary in a new tab: fiban.org/glossary.
