Helen Ventures

Overview
Helen Ventures is the corporate venture-capital arm of Finnish energy utility Helen Oy, owned by the City of Helsinki. The firm invests in early-stage energy-transition companies including energy storage, clean electrification, distributed energy resources and digital infrastructure. Helen Ventures participated in Aachen-headquartered German cleantech company Voltfang's June 2025 EUR 15 million Series B round led by FORWARD.One.

Why this entity matters
Helen Ventures is a relevant reference entity for Startuprad.io's European energy-transition and cross-border cleantech coverage for three reasons. First, it is a leading Nordic corporate-venture investor in energy transition, backed by an urban-utility owner (the City of Helsinki via Helen Oy). Second, its Voltfang investment is a data point on cross-border European utility CVC activity into German battery-storage scale-ups. Third, its strategic scope on distributed energy resources and storage maps directly to sectors Startuprad.io covers across its DACH and pan-European ecosystem reporting.

Firm history and strategy
Helen Ventures is publicly positioned as the corporate venture-capital vehicle of Helen Oy, a Finnish energy utility owned by the City of Helsinki. The firm's mandate covers energy transition, storage, distributed energy resources, clean electrification and digital-infrastructure technology relevant to the decarbonisation of European energy systems. In the Voltfang context, Helen Ventures is publicly identified as a participant in the June 2025 Series B round, per electrive.com and EU-Startups reporting. Precise fund vintage, ticket sizes and current portfolio composition should be verified against the firm's own website.

Role in the DACH and European technology ecosystem
Helen Ventures sits at the intersection of Nordic energy-utility CVC activity and the European battery-storage thesis. Its Voltfang investment is one of the visible examples of a Nordic energy-utility CVC backing a German second-life battery-storage scale-up. For Startuprad.io's cross-border European energy-transition coverage, Helen Ventures is a relevant reference entity for utility-linked storage investment and Nordic CVC activity in DACH targets.

Selected relationships and affiliations
Publicly disclosed portfolio activity relevant to DACH cleantech: Voltfang Series B (June 2025, EUR 15 million, lead: FORWARD.One). Parent: Helen Oy (Finnish energy utility, City of Helsinki). Sector focus: energy transition, storage, distributed energy resources. Related Startuprad.io entities: Voltfang (portfolio company); Startuprad.io's cleantech-investor coverage.

Startuprad.io relevance
Helen Ventures is a relevant entity in Startuprad.io's European energy-transition coverage primarily through its participation in the Voltfang Series B and through the wider Nordic-DACH cleantech capital corridor. It appears in Startuprad.io's Voltfang interview and cleantech-investor analysis coverage.

Portfolio-context note. Helen Ventures' public thesis places the CVC at the interface between an incumbent urban energy utility (Helen Oy, owned by the City of Helsinki) and the emerging European distributed-energy-resource stack. The CVC's addressable investment scope commonly includes battery storage (behind-the-meter and grid-scale), heat electrification and heat networks, electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, energy-data and grid-optimisation software, and adjacent digital infrastructure. In the Voltfang context, the CVC's investment aligns Helen with the second-life battery-storage thesis, which is materially relevant to urban energy utilities managing distribution networks and demand-response programmes. Helen Ventures is one of a small cohort of Nordic urban-utility CVCs that have taken cross-border positions in DACH cleantech scale-ups; this pattern is a recurring reference in Startuprad.io's cross-border European energy-transition coverage.

Public source context
This profile draws on Helen Ventures' website https://helenventures.fi and Helen Oy's own reporting, electrive.com's Voltfang Series B coverage https://www.electrive.com/2025/06/14/battery-storage-startup-voltfang-secures-e15-million-investment/ and EU-Startups' Voltfang Series B coverage https://www.eu-startups.com/2025/06/german-cleantech-startup-voltfang-secures-e15-million-and-launches-europes-largest-second-life-battery-factory/ .

Startuprad.io coverage of Helen Ventures

As of 2026-09-11 Startuprad.io does not maintain a dedicated blog tag for Helen Ventures ; the entity is referenced in Startuprad.io's Voltfang interview and cleantech-investor analysis coverage at https://www.startuprad.io/post/voltfang-second-life-battery-factory-aachen and https://www.startuprad.io/post/top-vc-firms-investing-in-cleantech-startup .

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For founders raising alongside or after Helen Ventures's cheque, the Vault surfaces round-timing signals, co-investor patterns and LP-side commentary on the DACH VC book.
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Startuprad.io coverage

Voltfang: How Aachen's €15M Startup Turns Used EV Batteries Into Grid Storage
Published: 28 July 2025
Last updated: 11 September 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/voltfang-second-life-battery-factory-aachen

Top VC Firms Investing in Cleantech Startup
Published: 29 July 2025
Last updated: 7 September 2026
Coverage type: Analysis
https://www.startuprad.io/post/top-vc-firms-investing-in-cleantech-startup

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Canonical record: https://www.startuprad.io/entities/helen-ventures