1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Andrus Oks, Founding Partner of Tera Ventures (Part 1)

Andrus Oks is Founding Partner at Tera Ventures, based in Estonia. We have a great discussion on entrepreneurship in the Baltic and Scandinavian countries in particular.

Sramana Mitra: Let’s start by introducing our audience to yourself as well as Tera Ventures.

Andrus Oks: I’m one of the founding partners of Tera Ventures. Tera is an Estonian-based seed fund. We currently invest from our €45 million second fund. We are halfway through. We have done 15 deals. We are doing another 15. We support our portfolio companies throughout the rounds. We like to be early. We’re often the first investors.

Sramana Mitra: You do pre-seed and concept-stage investing.

Andrus Oks: And later seed as well.

Sramana Mitra: You do the follow-ons but you’re comfortable doing this early-stage stuff.

Andrus Oks: Yes, exactly.

Sramana Mitra: What do you need to see in a founder team where you would write a check against a concept?

Andrus Oks: This is where we spend most of our time – really understand the founders’ ambitions, motivation, and background as well. We think about it quite broadly as well. We invest in both experienced founders and first-time entrepreneurs. The main point is, do we believe that these guys can become category leaders? Do we believe that we can help them?

Sramana Mitra: What heuristic have you come up with? These are two different categories. The experienced entrepreneur is a proven quantity and someone who has a track record. A first-time entrepreneur doesn’t have that. What do you look for in a first-time founder?

Andrus Oks: Always the intellectual capability as well as the way they think about their business. Have they done their homework? Even though they are early, they should have been thinking about their business for some meaningful amount of time. We test their ideas. The quality of discussion is the main way we evaluate opportunities. We are not too fast decision-makers. We like to take our time.

We also help them at the same time. The usual test is something related to their go-to-market. We are trying to validate opportunities together with them. It will lead to them finding customers with us. We’ve been doing this for most of 13 years. During that time, we have been developing capabilities. This is an enjoyable exercise trying to validate this opportunity and, at the same time, getting to know them.

Sramana Mitra: What sectors do you invest in? What types of businesses do you like to invest in?

Andrus Oks: We are agnostic. We’ve invested in many industries. Of course, we have preferences. We’ve been investing in AI/ML for more than a decade. As we are hands-on, we get to learn about industries as well. We like FinTech and automation.

Sramana Mitra: What about B2C? Do you do B2C as well?

Andrus Oks: Yes, we are open to that. We are predominantly B2B.

Sramana Mitra: It’s primarily B2B and some B2C potentially.

Andrus Oks: Another theme that we like to invest in is deep tech.

Sramana Mitra: What is the geographical span?

Andrus Oks: Most of our deals are here but we also cover Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Lithuania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. So we circle around the Baltic Sea.

Sramana Mitra: You are based in what city?

Andrus Oks: Tallinn.

Sramana Mitra: All of you are based in Tallinn?

Andrus Oks: The main office is in Tallinn. Three of us are here, but one of us is in London. One is in Amsterdam. We also have people in Helsinki.

Sramana Mitra: You’re based in Tallinn, but you are investing in a broader area and not just in Estonia.

Andrus Oks: That’s correct.

This segment is part 1 in the series : 1Mby1M Virtual Accelerator Investor Forum: With Andrus Oks, Founding Partner of Tera Ventures
1 2 3