Courage Ventures Seed Fund Announces First Two Investments
New seed and early stage fund based in Helsinki invests in companies that improve human well-being through digital means.
PRESS RELEASE, 29 November, 2016
Courage Ventures announces the first closing of its new seed and early stage fund based in Helsinki. We invest in Finnish companies that improve human well-being through digital means in health and wellness, education and environment-related industries. We seek companies that wish to expand rapidly to international markets, especially to the United States. We are excited to announce our first two investments in The Mighty United Oy and Wellness Foundry Oy.
The Mighty United Oy is a Finnish EdTech start-up empowering the social and emotional learning of primary school kids around the world. Its Mightifier® method and accompanying application were both co-created with Finnish teachers and kids in one of the world’s best educational environments. Pilot results in Finland demonstrate that Mightifier® significantly improves children’s social skills and self-esteem, and decreases bullying and classroom restlessness.
“We’re thrilled to be part of the Mightifier journey, one that is making a positive social and emotional impact in children around the world”, says Fabian Sepulveda, partner at Courage Ventures.
Wellness Foundry is a Finnish-American company with offices in Helsinki and New Jersey. The company’s flagship product, MealLogger (www.MealLogger.com), is a digital nutrition coaching platform for use by health and wellness professionals - mainly nutritionists, dieticians and trainers - to help their clients manage weight loss, diabetes, and eating disorders or to optimize nutrition in athletic training.
“Chronic diseases and conditions, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, account for 86% of all US health care costs (source: www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease). Nutrition counseling plays a key role in preventing chronic diseases as well as achieving optimal performance and health, and Meallogger is one of the very few products that offer a digital and truly scalable approach to dietary behavioral change. We are excited to have Courage Ventures on board to help us continue our expansion in the US market in particular,” says co-founder Michael Quarshie.
These investments demonstrate our philosophy that digitalization can improve the way humans interact with each other and improve their wellbeing. In addition, each company is experiencing a large amount of interest from customers in the US, where our team of all Americans can add significant value.
About Courage Ventures Seed Fund 1
Courage Ventures Seed Fund 1 is a 10-year Finnish limited partnership investing in startups with innovative digital health, education and environment products, who are seeking to access US and other international markets. Our team brought together 20 investors at first closing, and is seeking new investors for its future closings.
Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, our team has fund partners on the US East and West Coast. Our team of general partners is comprised of Will Cardwell, Fabian Sepulveda, Todd Wiebusch (based in Charlotte, NC, and Honorary Consul of Finland to the Carolinas), and special partner Ambassador Bruce Oreck, the former US Ambassador to the Finland. We also have venture partner Dan Newmark based in San Francisco, and strategic partner Fast Monkeys Ltd, a leading Finnish digital solution provider.
For more information:
Will Cardwell: will (at) courageventures.com
Fabian Sepulveda: fabian (at) courageventures.com
Todd Wiebusch: todd (at) courageventures.com
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