Metsä Group receives Finland’s most startup-friendly company award for the second year running
Metsä Group has been honoured for its support of startup communities, advancing sustainable innovations related to various wood-based materials with investments, R&D and production support, thus helping startups bring their innovation to the masses.
Helsinki, Finland (February 2nd, 2023) Metsä Group, a Finnish forest industry group that operates in international markets, has been awarded as Finland’s most startup-friendly company in 2022, receiving the award for the second year running. The award, presented by the entrepreneurship and startup community Tribe Tampere, is granted in recognition of the exceptional actions of large industrial corporations in collaboration with the startup sector.
“We are once again extremely grateful and proud that our determined contribution has led to this recognition,” says Erik Kolehmainen, VP, Corporate Venturing at Metsä Spring, the innovation arm of Metsä Group. “Our involvement goes beyond simply investing capital in promising startups. Through our strategic collaboration, startups benefit from access to Metsä Group’s industrial assets and knowledge to facilitate R&D and innovation, advancing the forest-based bioeconomy.”
As the winning company, Metsä Group received particular praise for, among other things, the openness of its collaborations, and the involvement of the top management, signifying clear strategic importance of collaborating with the startup ecosystem.
Metsä Group's innovation company Metsä Spring is a concrete example of Metsä Group's commitment to helping the growth of innovations and startups. Through Metsä Spring, the group invests in promising startups and technologies that can improve the business ecosystem around Metsä Group and bring value to the forestry and wood-based sectors.
Wood and bio-based innovations have recently been gathering momentum. According to Facts and Factors, the global bio-based materials market size was worth around USD 21 billion in 2021 and is estimated to grow to about USD 82 billion by 2028.
Several Finnish wood and bio-based companies are emerging at the forefront of this movement. Metsä Spring’s portfolio companies include startups like Innomost that offers cosmetics producers biodegradable and renewable ingredients derived from Finnish birch. Metsä Group’s internal demonstration projects include Kuura – environmentally responsible textile fibre produced from softwood pulp, and Muoto, an alternative for plastic packaging.
In addition to capital investment, startups can access a sustainable flow of raw materials sourced from Finnish forest owners. Startups can also establish R&D and demo plants close to or within Metsä Group’s facilities, where they can test their products and processes before scaling them to the market.
One example of such cooperation is with Montinutra, a Finnish circular economy startup that upcycles forest industry side-streams, such as sawdust and bark, to produce high-value ingredients for applications including cosmetics, coatings, and packaging. As a Metsä Spring portfolio company, Montinutra has just announced plans for a commercial demo plant that is situated at Metsä Group’s Vilppula sawmill site.
“Thanks to Metsä Group, we have secure and scalable access to the much-needed feedstocks that come from side-streams of the forest industry – we don’t use land that could be cultivated for food, for example. Bringing new biochemicals to the market is a long process, but with the support of Metsä Group, we have the ability to scale our production capacity to a commercial scale,” says founder and CEO of Montinutra, Jaakko Pajunen.
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For additional information:
Media kit with pictures
Erik Kolehmainen, VP, Corporate Venturing
Metsä Spring
erik.kolehmainen@metsagroup.com
Metsä Spring
Innovation company Metsä Spring invests expertise and financial resources into initiatives with the ambition to reshape the forest-based bioeconomy, aiming to increase the value for Metsä Group’s stakeholders in the long-term. For more information, visit: www.metsaspring.com
Metsä Group
Metsä Group is leading the way in advancing the bioeconomy. We invest in growth, bioproduct development and a fossil-free future. The raw material for our products is renewable wood from sustainably managed northern forests. We focus on the growth sectors of the forest industry: wood supply and forest services, wood products, pulp, fresh fibre paperboards, as well as tissue and greaseproof papers.
Metsä Group’s annual sales amount to approximately EUR 6 billion, and we have around 9,500 employees in 30 countries. Our international Group has its roots in the Finnish forests: our parent company is Metsäliitto Cooperative which is owned by nearly 100,000 forest owners. For more information visit: www.metsagroup.com
Finland’s most startup-friendly company competition
A selected group of Finland's largest companies participated in Finland's most startup-friendly company competition. The goal of the annual competition is to draw attention to startup cooperation and offer practical models to be used to improve the operating culture and competitiveness. With the help of startup cooperation, companies can develop new technologies and products for customers and increase the agility and innovation of large companies as development partners.
