Investor Profile: Sisu Game Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

Sisu Game Ventures is an early-stage venture fund based in Helsinki, Finland, founded in 2014 and focused entirely on games. Its team describes itself as game-industry people first and investors second, having founded and built sixteen game companies since the early 1990s.

Thesis and focus

The thesis is simple and strict: back the most promising game founders, wherever they are, and help them build a studio that can survive more than one title. Sisu Game Ventures invests only in games and game-related technology, with deep roots in the Nordic region but a fully global founder network.

Sectors and stages

Sisu Game Ventures invests at pre-seed, seed and Series A, with a focus on early-stage gaming companies in the Nordic region and beyond. Its sectors include mobile, PC and console games, virtual and augmented reality games, and game-services technology that helps studios engage, retain and monetise players.

Fund size

The firm's total fund size is not publicly disclosed in a verified figure on its own website, so this profile records it as not publicly disclosed rather than repeating aggregator estimates.

Notable portfolio

Portfolio names associated with Sisu Game Ventures include Resolution Games, the virtual and augmented reality studio; Mainframe Industries, the Helsinki and Reykjavik studio; Next Games, Small Giant Games and Lightheart in the Nordic mobile tradition; Return Entertainment; and newer names such as Torpor Games, maker of the political drama Suzerain, New Tales, FuzzyBot and Kinoa Labs, a platform for engaging and monetising mobile game users.

Partners and leads

The team named on the firm's materials includes Samuli, Paul, Erik, Kalle, Moaffak, Kadri and Jere, all described as having extensive backgrounds in the games industry and startup circles as entrepreneurs and investors. Jere Partanen, a principal, has spoken publicly about early-stage games fundraising and invites founders to reach the firm through its website.

Programs, credits and perks

Sisu Game Ventures does not publish a formal accelerator cohort or a credits programme. Its distinctive offer, in its own words, is to act as a studio builder: supporting individual founders in building their team, honing product strategy and gathering the right group of investors. That hands-on, studio-building help, plus introductions inside the tightly knit Finnish and Nordic games community, is the value-add to weigh against a larger but less specialised cheque from a generalist fund.

How to apply for funding from Sisu Game Ventures

Sisu Game Ventures does not publish an open application portal with a fixed deadline. The route stated by the firm is through its website, sisu.vc, where founders can learn about its work and portfolio and contact the team. A strong approach for a games investor is different from a software pitch: lead with gameplay, not only market size, and include a playable build or video, the team's shipping history, the production plan and budget, and the live-operations or monetisation model that will sustain the studio after launch.