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Jere Partanen

Principal at Sisu Game Ventures I CPO at Pandatron

Jere Partanen is a Principal at Sisu Game Ventures, a global venture capital fund focused exclusively on early-stage game investments.13 Here are some key details about Jere:

Professional Background

  • Current Role: Principal at Sisu Game Ventures13
  • Previous Position: Associate at Sisu Game Ventures before being promoted to Principal27
  • Other Role: Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer at Pandatron (now Panda Training)67

Experience and Expertise

  • Jere has over 5 years of experience in project and event management2
  • He is described as a "wunderkind" in the gaming industry2
  • Previously worked at the Slush startup conference, focusing on gaming-related matters2

Education

  • Studied at the University of Helsinki4

Sisu Game Ventures

Sisu Game Ventures is an early-stage VC fund that:

  • Focuses 100% on games3
  • Prefers to invest very early, often as the first investor pre-revenue and pre-product3
  • Has deep roots in the Nordic region but maintains a global portfolio and network3

Social Media Presence

  • LinkedIn: jerepartanen4
  • Twitter: @JerePart5

Jere is known for his insights into the gaming industry, particularly regarding fundraising strategies for early-stage game companies and the challenges facing the mobile gaming market in the post-IDFA era.1

Highlights

Aug 26 · linkedin

🎮 Another #Gamescom done and dusted. As usual, it was a rather eventful one!

As always, meeting old and new faces over 42 meetings, six mixers/parties, and numerous trips across the river and between the Radisson and the Hyatt was a delight. While Gamescom sits firmly among the best yearly events, Cologne isn't exactly my favourite city for events. The distances make logistics a little bit of a pain. The kölsch almost makes up for it. Almost.

A few personal and Sisu Game Ventures highlights for the week:

  • FuzzyBot announced Lynked: Banner of the Spark on stage at Opening Night Live. Early Access starts on October 22nd, right after Steam Next Fest. Cheers Tatyana Dyshlova & Max Spielberg!
  • emptyvessel's reveal trailer for their cyberpunk shooter DEFECT reached 1.9M views in less than a week on their channel alone, with Emanuel Palalic & Garrett Young also rapidly making the rounds with investors and publishers.
  • A packed Backend Services House happy hour alongside partners like Pragma, Unity, and Hathora to start the week. The DEFECT trailer's bass almost brought the house down. Thanks Eden Chen & Chris Uglietta!
  • Cosmic Lounge amusingly won an honourable mention during PocketGamer.biz Mobile Game Awards in the Best AI Games Tech category - all despite no one but the studio having access to the tech.
  • Lovely mixers from BITKRAFT Ventures, Supercell, Nazara Technologies Limited, Deconstructor of Fun, Scopely, Digital Development Management, and Aream & Co.

Keeping with tradition, my voice was gone already on Wednesday after having to shout in loud evening event spaces. If you're a DJ at a mixer, please don't put up the volume as the space becomes louder while filling up. My poor vocal cords! 😭

I'm not going to lie—there's still a lot of doom and gloom going around in the games industry. Despite some early indicators of improvement, the troubled investment environment isn't going away anytime soon, and the market will continue to be incredibly saturated regardless of category and platform. Still, Gamescom and recent releases show there is reason for optimism as studios continue to adapt, take bolder creative risks, test new distribution strategies, and get publishers to fill their slates for the next few years.

While I can't possibly shout out everyone I'd like to (you know who you are), it was also a pleasure to meet up with people like Elias Sandler, CEDRIC MARECHAL, Emmanuel Obert, Nicola Mizon 🔜 Gamescom, Anna Rosa Lappalainen 🔜 Gamescom, Vesa Jutila, Tung Nguyen-Khac 🔜 NGSC Ryadh, Curtis Urbanowicz, Katya Isakova, Ville Mikkola, Cat Varner, Kayin Lee, Gustaf Åkerman

Jul 24 · linkedin

🕹️ Gamescom coming right up! I'll be in town, so give me a ping if you'd like to grab a kölsch.

At Sisu, we're still looking for exceptional founders to invest in. If you're starting a new game company and building anything from mobile games to cross-platform titles, development tooling, or other games-adjacent platforms, we'd love to hear from you.

We're also co-hosting the Backend Services House happy hour event on Monday 19th, alongside Pragma, AWS for Games, Modulate, Sanlo, Hathora, Idem Matchmaking, emptyvessel and Unity. Limited admission - apply for a spot here: https://lnkd.in/dH4Xusu9

Hope you see many of you in Cologne! 😎

#videogames #gamescom #vc

Related Questions

What are Jere Partanen's key strategies for early-stage fundraising in the gaming industry?
How does Jere Partanen's background in project and event management influence his investment approach?
What are the common pitfalls that early-stage game companies face according to Jere Partanen?
How does Sisu Game Ventures differentiate itself from other gaming-focused venture capital funds?
What are Jere Partanen's thoughts on the current challenges in mobile game marketing?
Jere Partanen
Jere Partanen, photo 1
Jere Partanen, photo 2
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Location

Helsinki, Uusimaa, Finland