Latest fund size
$11M
Announced
June 16, 2026
Global HQ
Finland
Members only
Check size
$25K - $300K
Members only
Stage focus
Pre-Seed, Seed
Members only
Regions of investment
Europe
Members only
Wave Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm investing up to $340,000 as the first institutional backer of exceptional founders in the Nordics. Founded in 2016, Wave has made more than 50 investments across three funds.
Johannes Korpela — CEO
johannes@wave.ventures
Max Larsson — Investments
max@wave.ventures
Camilla Komulainen — Investments
camilla@wave.ventures
Members only
Names, roles, emails and LinkedIn profiles for the team, plus the fund's website.
Wave backs pre-seed founders across the Nordics and Baltics, with a particular focus on AI-native companies and young builders, often pre-company, who are thinking in systems rather than features.
The firm's core thesis is that the AI era is producing a generation of founders who have grown up with AI as infrastructure, and that the Nordics risk losing this talent to the US without early, local institutional capital.
Wave writes the first check, often before any other investor is aware the founder exists.
Members only
What the fund looks for in founders and which sectors it backs.
Wave Ventures Fund III closed at $11M in June 2026, five times the size of its previous $2.2M fund.
LPs include founders of Supercell, Wolt, Bolt, Oura, Nokia, GANNI, and Voi, alongside European early-stage VCs and family offices. Follow-on investors in Wave's portfolio include Speedinvest, Cherry Ventures, and byFounders. Alongside the fund close,
Wave launched the Wave Rebellion Grant Program, a $265K no-equity grant for 10 pre-idea Nordic founders, with partner credits from AWS, Anthropic, Lovable, Modal, and Verda.
Members only
Fund size, LPs and track record.
Leadership
Johannes Korpela is CEO of Wave Ventures, leading the fund's investment strategy and external positioning.
Investment Strategy
Wave writes checks of up to $300K, backing 10–20 early-stage teams per year.
The firm's proximity edge comes from being embedded in the communities where founders are still deciding what to build, university networks, hackathons, and early online communities, before they have a pitch deck or a co-investor.
The Rebellion Grant extends this model to the pre-idea stage: 10 founders per year receive non-dilutive capital and partner credits with no equity requirement.
Notable Investments
Wave Ventures has made over 50 early-stage investments, including:
These investments span various sectors, reflecting Wave's commitment to supporting diverse and innovative Gen Z-led startups across the Nordics and Baltics.
Members only
Leadership, investment strategy, notable investments and exits.
