Startup Refugees Fund
The only fund in Finland for newcomer founders
Third round of Business grant coming in Autumn 2025!
Are you a newcomer entrepreneur, or desiring to be one soon? Do you have a clear business idea in your mind, and you have participated in our Business Program activities?
The next application period will begin in autumn 2025, stay tuned!
The
Problem
Startup Refugees has supported newcomers in finding jobs and starting businesses since 2015. Over a thousand have participated in our Business Program and more than 100 companies have been established with our support. Everyday, we are blown away by the innovative business ideas and high entrepreneurial spirit of newcomers.
But. The fact is that underrepresented founders struggle to get funding. Most funding still goes to the three white guys in the garage. Only 3 % of seed venture funding goes to female-only founded startups in Europe, while only 1 % of tech founders self-identify as Black, Caribbean, or African.
As for any startup, the first years of running a business are extremely hard. But for newcomer founder is almost impossible
We see a problem.
Our
Solution
We believe that refugees and other newcomers bring huge economic and human potential to Finland. This is why we have established the Startup Refugees Fund which offers support for newcomer founders.
The founders and teams receiving the funding are from the Startup Refugees Business Program and have a promising business idea or a running business but are not attracting investors yet.
The recipients of the funding are selected by an external jury which consists of Startup Refugees network members, individuals and experienced newcomer entrepreneurs.
Meet some of our
Founders
Over a thousand newcomers have participated in the Startup Refugees Business Program.
Anna, Robert and Jaisal are one of them.
Robert Ngenzi
Founder of Yomonitor
Anna Sambou
Founder of Heemlig
Jaisal Ashraf
Founder of Eazy Walk
Yomonitor helps advertisers monitor, collect, and analyze their radio and TV advertising efforts and optimize their campaigns.
“It has been hard to get the funding as a immigrant founder in Finland. Even though I’ve created a successful business with the support of Startup Refugees, I need investors to scale bigger.”
Heemlig is an on-demand online platform that connects households with local professionals to provide in-home services.
“Being an immigrant should not limit you from becoming a successful entrepreneur. Finland is my second home, and I want to contribute to the economic growth of the country through my business and by creating more jobs.”
Easy Walk helps visually impaired people to navigate and have easy access to common facilities.
“I’m currently in the formation stage of my startup and looking for investors to grow the idea into a real product. Even though I have tons of technical expertise, I’ve struggled to find partners and investors in Finland. But I keep a positive spirit; the business idea is great and has potential for a huge impact.”