Mart Maasik has stepped down as chief executive of UniTartu Ventures at the University of Tartu to join a $63 spinout investment fund.
Mart Maasik, who was the inaugural chief executive of the University of Tartu’s commercialisation arm UniTartu Ventures in Estonia, has left to become a partner at venture capital firm Nordic Science Investments.
Maasik had been CEO of UniTartu Ventures since 2021, joining shortly after the unit was created. In November 2022, he also became head of entrepreneurship at the University of Tartu though he stepped down from that position in December 2023.
Nordic Science Investments is a venture capital fund focused on university spinouts in Nordic and Baltic countries. Founded in early 2023, it has raised €60m ($63m) and began investing earlier this year, with a focus on deeptech, healthtech and life sciences. It has a current portfolio of nine university spinouts.
The firm’s founding partners include Alexandra Gylfe and Jari Strandman, formerly business development manager and chief executive, respectively, at the University of Helsinki’s tech transfer office Helsinki Innovation Services.
Its model is to collaborate closely with university tech transfer offices to identify opportunities. It then assists with business development and team building, before acting as an anchor investor in seed rounds. The firm also makes select follow-on investments up to the series B stage.
Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is editor-at-large of Global University Venturing and Global Corporate Venturing, and host of the Beyond the Breakthrough podcast.
