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Birch Venture is looking for:
Complete our 2 minute test to see if you qualify
Application phase
Digital Sales boost phase (max 8 months)
(Paper value 20 k€; max 10 k€ marketing spend)
Digital Sales growth phase (max 16 months)
(Paper value 50 k€; max 25 k€ marketing spend)
Those companies which fulfill our investment criteria will be analyzed against our productized model. We focus on trying to understand if a company is ready for a real product market test or growth phase. We check out digital sales possibilities for the case and a few main competitors with our brief analysis for naturally unique selling points.
If our investment application passes reviews of both a Digital Boost 360 specialist and Birch Venture we propose a meeting to see if other aspects match and both parties are happy to proceed to the first co-operation phase
A convertible note enables a fast investment process. A company gets money the same way as in equity rounds but money will be converted to shares with delay. There can be small interest for the convertible note but that will be also converted typically to shares so there is similar loan repayment as in normal loans.
Our convertible note has a maturity date and terms, interest rate, and a conversion feature. The conversion feature allows us to convert the debt into equity at a later stage at a predetermined valuation.
No. One benefit from our model is that we learn to work with each other before bigger investments. If both parties enjoy co-operation and results are great then we can proceed to the second phase.
We don’t have a normal fund since we work as an “Oy” company, therefore we can increase the size of the “fund” whenever we get exits from previous cases. However, we have allocated such funding that we can invest in 10 start-up test-phase cases and in 5 sales boost cases before further funding is needed
The idea of the test phase investment is to confirm that company has reached product marker fit phase and that professional level digital sales approach can help them significantly. During test phase we can also see how the company has been managed and how it handles light reporting requirements. During the test phase both parties also see if the co-operation is fun and beneficial for both parties.
No, that’s not possible. Birch Venture pays UA costs and digital sales work in advance but requires receipts for everything. Own salaries or for example rents can’t be covered with Birch Venture investment
Yes, most likely that is possible. Birch Venture is minority share holder since for example first tranche is equal to 6% of shares and it will take part of company decision making. However, each case is different so it is good practice that start-up discloses partnership with Digital Boost 360 if it applies marketing, product market fit development or market entry related funding from entities like ELY or Business Finland.
Those companies which fulfill our investment criteria will be analyzed against our productized model. We focus on trying to understand if a company is ready for a real product market test or growth phase. We check out digital sales possibilities for the case and a few main competitors with our brief analysis for naturally unique selling points.
If our investment application passes reviews of both a Digital Boost 360 specialist and Birch Venture we propose a meeting to see if other aspects match and both parties are happy to proceed to the first co-operation phase
We review applications within one week of submission. Those companies which pass screening will be reviewed from digital sales perspective within 14 days of application. We hope to have a review meeting within 2 weeks of the application which has fulfilled the investment criteria.
Sure. A convertible loan agreement template will be delivered per request.
Birch Venture provides standard convertible loan agreement and informs about basic legal requirements. If the company decides to use a legal advisor for reviewing our contract it covers its own expenses. Birch Venture legal costs are covered by us.
Our legal terms are done in a way so they should be applicable for most early stage companies. If a company has already confirmed product market fit we can review some of the details in convertible loan agreement.
It is currently our only partner. If you would like to use some other partner we need to review their growth process in detail before we can accept their costs in our investment cases.
Yes it is possible since Digital Boost 360 provides growth services for all potential customers. However, they are not allocated the same lead or growth professionals in cases which compare with each other. And Birch Venture will not invest in companies which are in direct competition with each other.
Birch Venture pays the entire project in advance to Digital Boost 360 at the start of the co-operation. Digital Boost 360 deducts real costs every month from the prepayment and works as long on the case as funds last.
Digital Boost 360 growth professionals get a normal salary of all work done. They also receive an exit bonus plan for each case which benefits them if successful exit takes place and they have fulfilled exit bonus criteria.
That is possible but has to be confirmed case by case. Normally start-ups can include Digital Boost 360 growth leads in their org chart but there should be clarification (like John Doe, growth lead, external, Digital Boost 360)
Digital Boost 360 has dozens of successful digital sales partnerships. We are happy to share some of their webinar cases like “1000% yearly growth”. Please check out also previous Birch Venture investment cases from here.
Our focus is in digital sales partnership so that is our main differentiator.
We don’t request board seats.
Birch Venture buys digital sales consultancy from Digital Boost 360 or other digital sales agency and they provide needed consultancy work for the start-up. We also cover advertising costs which can be 50% of total costs or even more. Growth meetings take place on a weekly basis at the start and at least every second week when co-operation is up and running. Please check the model in detail from here.
It is possible but not very likely scenario since we like to invest early.
We hope that exit process would start 5-7 years from our investment. Exit can also be done in phases in the following investment rounds.
Most investors are fine with early family office -type investments. If certain investor required founders to owe bigger portion of their companies Birch Venture shares can be acquired by them.
There are several options like trade sale, exit in future investment rounds and even IPO might be possible in some cases
Birch Venture is a family fund and funding comes from Symbio exit. Symbio was a software services company established with the name Flander in 1997 by Mika Heikinheimo. It transformed to Symbio after several mergers and was sold to USA (Bain Capital company VXI, +100mUSD) exit in 2015.
Since we are an Oy and not Ky we can invest our returns from our early investments further on. Our year 2023 funding enables us to make max 10 first phase investments and max 5 second phase investments. If our model continues to work well and we get returns from our investments between years 2015-2018 we will expand year 2023 “fund”.
Currently we don’t provide investment services for 3rd parties and we don’t aim to apply investment service rights in the near future. However we can make joint investments with family offices, professional early stage investors and for example with Fiban members.
We are happy to partner with incubators, angel networks, VC’s and other start-up minded growth professionals.
Take our simple test to find out in minutes whether we are the right fit for each other.