Finland early-stage money is mostly government money.
So mostly "I am an unemployed Nokia ex-manager, here is my form, please give me 1M euros"
This is probably the WORST group to start startups, but the easy initial financing will mask this (possibly for years).
Worse, artificial traction will crowd out the true outliers which deserve funding.
Late stage money will have a ton of leads, and will completely squeeze out the founders.
Leading (eventually) to large-ish but zombie-like companies which will retain talent but not grow.
Contrast this with seed funding in the US (and Israel which the article mentions positively) :
i am a technical developer who hates bureaucracy - give me some ramen money
Finland early-stage money is mostly government money.
So mostly "I am an unemployed Nokia ex-manager, here is my form, please give me 1M euros"
This is probably the WORST group to start startups, but the easy initial financing will mask this (possibly for years).
Worse, artificial traction will crowd out the true outliers which deserve funding.
Late stage money will have a ton of leads, and will completely squeeze out the founders.
Leading (eventually) to large-ish but zombie-like companies which will retain talent but not grow.
Contrast this with seed funding in the US (and Israel which the article mentions positively) :
i am a technical developer who hates bureaucracy - give me some ramen money