Voima Ventures
Voima Ventures is a Nordic deep-tech venture capital firm based in Helsinki that backs science-based startups and university spin-offs across the Nordics and Baltics. Water is not a separate thesis; its water companies are deep-tech bets that happen to be wet. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies, rated Committed by (don't) Waste Water.
Compiled by Antoine Walter, (don't) Waste Water, from official filings and direct intelligence in Leviathan.
The take
Voima Ventures closed its third fund north of EUR 100M at the end of 2024, a deep-tech vehicle built to back 25 to 30 science startups across the Nordics and Baltics and classified Article 8, the EU label for a fund with sustainability goals baked in. For a fund that does not call itself a water investor, that headline is the one that matters: Voima backs hard science wherever it points, and every so often it points at water.
Voima Ventures was built in 2019 around a plainly Finnish bet, that the next valuable companies would come out of the lab rather than the pitch competition. Deep tech is the industry shorthand for exactly that, startups whose edge is a piece of real science or engineering that takes years and nerve to build. Voima writes the first institutional cheques into university spin-offs, mostly out of Helsinki and now Stockholm, and helps the scientists behind them turn a paper into a company.
Voima Ventures does not run a water thesis, and that is the honest way to read its two water names. Both are deep-tech bets that happen to be wet: Sensmet built a micro-plasma instrument that reads dissolved metals in water in real time, and Sofi Filtration makes a chemical-free filter that pulls solids out of industrial water streams. They are sensors and hardware first and water plays second, which is precisely what you get from a fund that hunts for science and lets the application follow.
Voima Ventures is the kind of investor a lot of water technology quietly starts with, the science fund that backs a clever instrument long before anyone files it under water. As of 2026 it has backed 2 water companies across 2 deals, rated Committed by (don't) Waste Water, and with a fresh EUR 100M+ fund to deploy, the smart money is on more wet science turning up in its portfolio, not a pivot to a water-only strategy.
Water Commitment Score
Compiled from official filings, third-party records, and direct intelligence from investors and founders, in Leviathan · recomputed monthly · as of Jun 2026.
Portfolio · 2 water companies
Invests alongside
Highlighted = profiled on (don't) Waste Water.
Frequently asked
- What does Voima Ventures invest in?
- Voima Ventures backs early-stage deep-tech and science-based startups across the Nordics and Baltics, from pre-seed and university spin-offs through Series A. Its sectors span the green transition, life sciences and health, quantum, advanced materials and AI. Water is not a separate thesis but surfaces through these science bets.
- Does Voima Ventures invest in water?
- Yes, selectively. Voima Ventures has backed 2 water companies across 2 deals: Sensmet, which reads dissolved metals in water in real time, and Sofi Filtration, which makes a chemical-free filter for industrial water. Both are deep-tech spin-offs rather than pure water plays. (don't) Waste Water rates Voima's water commitment Committed.
- Who runs Voima Ventures?
- Voima Ventures was founded and is led by Managing Partner Inka Mero, a Finnish serial entrepreneur and investor. The partnership includes Jussi Sainiemi and Pontus Stråhlman in Finland and Jenny Engerfelt in Sweden, supported by an investment team of deep-tech specialists working across Helsinki and Stockholm.
- Where is Voima Ventures based?
- Voima Ventures is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with a second office in Stockholm, Sweden. It invests across the Nordics and Baltics and works closely with research institutions such as VTT and regional universities to source science-based startups at the earliest stages.
- Is Voima Ventures a water or energy company?
- No. 'Voima' is Finnish for force or power, but Voima Ventures is not a utility or an energy firm. It is a Nordic venture capital fund that invests in deep-tech startups; its water exposure comes only through portfolio companies such as Sensmet and Sofi Filtration, not its own operations.