New Wave. Peter Platan (TESI): Inside Finland’s $3B LP: How They Back VC Funds
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🌊 The Third Swell Has Arrived
We’re joined by Peter Platan, Investment Director (Fund of Fund) at Tesi (Finnish sovereign wealth fund), one of Europe’s most active LPs backing ~125 funds.
In this episode, we dive into the real bottlenecks in European climate capital and unpack what it takes for GPs to win LP trust. We also touched on one of Peter’s expertise: financing first-of-a-kind (FOAK) plants.
If you’re a GP building or raising in climate tech, this one is for you.
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My 10 key takeaways:
The Capital Squeeze: Every €1 of LP capital is being chased by ~€3 in GP demand; exits are slow, NAV is stuck, and distributions are thin.
The European Landscape: Early-stage climate investing is crowded. The scarce resource is growth and hardware/FOAK capital.
What LPs Look For: Real track record (DPI), operator/engineering chops, and go-to-market expertise.
LPs Don’t See Climate as Special: “Climate GPs aren’t different from any other vertical. We shouldn’t look at climate as a separate vertical that’s somehow special.”
Returns Check: Finland VC vintages 2009–2015 posted ~18.5% IRR and 2.71x TVPI; newer vintages look softer given exits.
FOAK Financing: FOAK plants aren’t VC-size bets. They demand €30–€300M blended stacks of equity, debt, and grants. Winning teams de-risk engineering, financing, and offtake together. Success requires project finance and industrial know-how, not just venture instincts.
Climate’s Relabeling: With the “green premium” fading, winners will sell cost-advantaged solutions with real market pull (energy storage, grid efficiency, space-enabled monitoring, circularity).
Advice to GPs: Choose partners with complementary skills, high conviction, and the stamina for a 10-year journey.
LP Alignment is Key: Unlike other sovereign LPs, Tesi avoids “home-country” investment quotas. According to them, mandating local reinvestment can misalign LPs and distort GP strategy.
Emerging Funds Need an Investor: LPs expect emerging funds to include at least one partner with full-cycle experience, someone who’s sourced, invested, created value, and exited with real DPI. The standard: a GP who’s done ~20 VC deals and delivered a positive portfolio multiple.
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Reach out to Peter:
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🌊 Next Swell Incoming
Don’t miss our next deep dive with Hampus Jakobsson, General Partner at Pale Blue Dot.
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