Specialist VC - Venture capital firm
Specialist VC
We are a venture capital fund supporting forward-thinking founders from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland and Ukraine
We mainly invest in B2B, SaaS, fintech, platforms, software enabled hardware and deep tech, but we don’t limit ourselves to those areas
We’ve invested in and built long-term relationships with over 45 brilliant teams building tech companies that are really changing the way the world works Some of them have become superstars already, and others are just preparing to take off We often support them through several rounds
We’ll make sure you’ll get access to the right people and resources needed to take your company to new heights
Our LP base consists of some of the brightest players in the region They are either founders or early employees of fast-growing tech companies – such as Veriff, Wise, Bolt, Slack, Pipedrive, F-Secure, Kilo Health and Vinted – or specialists of a wide range of relevant topics Quite a few of them are founders of our portfolio companies
We might be aiming for the stars, but we’re pretty down-to-earth Each of us brings a unique set of experiences, know-how, and connections to the table that we’re all very eager to put to good use, helping founders succeed
We’re based in Tallinn, but we’re often on the road wherever our investment radar takes us
Riivo is a serial entrepreneur who has never worked anywhere else apart of his own companies In his long history of investing as an angel investor and venture capitalist, he’s made over fifty investments He is one of the founders of Civitta, the largest management consulting company in Emerging Europe Riivo sources deals, analyses opportunities, and manages the fund and investments at Specialist He helps founders and their teams with strategy, fundraising and more
“Extraordinary startups are built by extraordinary people Spotting them early-stage is like spotting a great piece of art – after seeing thousands of artworks, you start to develop an intuition for telling the difference ” Being one of the region’s most experienced early-stage tech investors, Gerri has invested in over forty startups within the last ten years He helped grow Fortumo into one of the global leaders in mobile payments In 2019, he was honoured as “Investor of the Year” by Estonian startup founders Gerri works daily with the portfolio founders, sources the deals, and manages the fund He believes investing is a two-way process which is what makes it so exciting and emotionally rewarding
“You continually learn from the founders as well as feel you contribute to something that is perhaps going to make the world a better place ” Investment Manager (Maternity leave) Karina has spent over a decade supporting the tech community in CEE hands-on She started her career in banking but missed the human side of finance and wanted to contribute to tangible change This led her to the startup world Meeting founders daily, she also started investing in startups, joined Atomico’s Angel Programme, and now doing it at scale with Specialist Karina covers the whole workflow from the pre-and post-investment process, from finding investment opportunities to supporting founders along their journey
“Building a startup is not a sprint but a marathon, defined by struggle and challenges I look for driven founders who are truly motivated and have deep knowledge about the problem they are about to solve ” Samela has handled analytics and deal sourcing since Specialist was still United Angels She also makes sure our portfolio companies meet our ESG policy Before joining the team, she studied at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga and Frankfurt School of Finance and Management, as well as gained experience in investment banking She currently studies Business IT at Taltech Samela is interested in marketplace and data science verticals
“I find it very fascinating that you never know which trend or business vertical becomes the next big thing It means we’ve got to stay curious and open-minded when investing ” Venture Partner and Scientific Advisor Tõnu is a human genomics professor at the University of Tartu and a senior manager at Estonian Biobank (Eesti Geenivaramu) – one of the most impactful and innovative health data repositories globally Tõnu’s expertise is in genomics, healthtech and techbio, and for several years he has been ranked among the most influential researchers in human genomics globally He has mentored many science-focused teams and is a scientific advisor for several deep tech companies
“Only a very small fraction of scientific discoveries will ever be developed into products I want to change that as ideas in deep tech have the potential to reshape the future as we currently know it ” Finance and Operations Manager Barbara has always been fascinated by the patterns and processes of money She’s worked in finance for her entire professional life, gaining experience at Wise, where she learned what it takes to IPO a fintech company, at Vitality, the leading health insurance company in the UK, and at Swedbank She holds a MAAT status and a BA in International Business Administration from Estonian Businesses School Besides numbers, Barbara loves to travel, always hunting for the perfect sunset
“Working with startups and scaleups is a fantastic way to discover innovative and interesting financial models Even more exciting is to see how these new products are replacing the old ways of doing things ” Marko joined the team to bridge the gap between business and art He is an artist working within the mediums of photography, sculpture, animation, painting, and text Marko studied graphic art at the Estonian Academy of Arts, receiving a B A in 1993 and an M A in 1995 He is helping our portfolio companies to be creative and think “out of the box” Because besides knowledge, execution skills, and luck, building a successful company requires creativity
“For me, art means communication, and I am interested in provoking dialogues and making people think outside their comfort zones and taboos ”
