An Estonian green investment platform backed by the early-stage Swedish impact investor Norrsken VC has closed, saying it might have been ahead of its time.
Founded in 2020 by former Wise employees, Tallinn-based Grünfin raised around $4.5m, with investment from Norrsken VC, Specialist VC, Lemonade Stand, and angel investors. Grünfin offered investors the chance to build an investment portfolio in sustainable companies.
Investors selected their sustainability focus (climate change, gender equality and health) and their monthly contribution. The platform then curated a portfolio.
The sustainable investment platform was founded by Karin Nemec, Triin Hertmann and Alvar Lumberg, who said they were concerned about the future of the planet.
Hertmann posed on social media:
"It has been a great startup journey with its ups and downs, but we did what we promised to do in our hearts and minds - built a world-class impactful investment product that helps everyone to grow their wealth sustainably.
"We are so happy to say that almost 99% of our customers' portfolios have shown good returns and most of them beating the markets, too. For many, Grünfin was their first investment, and we truly hope that all these lovely people will continue investing and growing their wealth."
Nemec said:
"Our great product was not enough. The trust barrier, the misconception in peoples’ minds that sustainable investing has low returns, and lack of urgency to start investing now - have all been challenges for us while building Grünfin.
"We tried many approaches but couldn’t overcome those barriers to achieve the high-speed growth at scale. And we know we gave it all. Our CTO Alvar Lumberg likes to think that maybe we were ahead of time, like many change makers, who knows, maybe he is right too."
The startup is understood to have around 10 employees.
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