Project updates

8.5.2026 – The release of the Series Seed 4.0 documents

Castrén & Snellman has prepared Series Seed 4.0 on behalf of Startup Foundation in April 2026. It’s the most comprehensive revision to Finland's standard seed financing documentation in several years. The updated document suite introduces sweeping changes to leaver mechanics, warranty liability, sanctions compliance, and exit economics. 

Key updates:

• Three-tier leaver classification. The previous two-category framework (Bad Leaver and Good Leaver) has been replaced by a graduated three-tier system introducing an intermediate "Early Leaver" category for voluntary resignations without cause. Pricing consequences escalate accordingly, bringing Finnish practice closer to international standards and ensuring greater economic fairness for departing founders.

• Structured primary and secondary liability regime. The company now bears primary liability for warranty breaches, with founders' liability becoming secondary and capped at 30 per cent of the amount invested by the relevant investor. Customary de minimis and basket thresholds apply.

• Sanctions and AML compliance provisions. Reflecting the changed geopolitical landscape, the documents introduce comprehensive sanctions-related representations and warranties, together with KYC and AML documentation obligations for shareholders.

• Compensatory issue and compensatory sale mechanisms. Investors may now elect to receive compensation for warranty breaches by way of new preferred share issuances rather than cash, preserving the company's liquidity at a critical stage.

• Streamlined material breach and remedies framework. The lengthy catalogue of specific redemption events in version 3.0 has been consolidated into a single, workable material breach framework with a thirty-day cure period.

• Exit transaction cost allocation. A new provision allocates trade sale transaction costs in line with prevailing Nordic market practice, with collective costs borne by the company and individual costs borne by each shareholder.

• Refined participation rights, holding company provisions, and drag-along mechanics. Pro rata participation rights now sit exclusively with preferred shareholders, with an explicit overallotment right. New holding company provisions and a clearer qualified majority drag-along threshold (two-thirds of all shares, including more than 50 per cent of preferred shares) have also been introduced.

22.12.2020 - New website and update (release 3.0) on the documents published.

The new documents have been made on startuptools.org templates though in a manner that they are materially in line with the commercial contents of the seriesseed.fi docs with some improvements. In the document kit there’s also a summary sheet clarifying the material differences between the 2.0 and 3.0 updates.

We also prepared separate templates for “Founder SHA”, “SHA with smaller investors” and “SHA with a Lead Investor” in accordance with the startupools.org approach. In addition, there is one subscription agreement template.

Huge thanks to Ville Vesterinen for coordinating the work, to Kimmo Reina from Bird&Bird for preparing the documents and to Erik Byrenius for the startuptools.

17.11.2020 - An update (release 3.0) on the documents is being prepared with the supporting community.

The new release 3.0 will be available by the end of 2020.

The aim of the update has been to 1) have a status check since the last update on how the documents have worked and what needs to change if any, 2) if possible move the documents little closer to seriesseed.com conventions to make it easier for international investors to invest in Finnish startups and 3) to build a bridge with other Nordic startup investors, namely to link the Finnish documents to the pan-Nordic site https://startuptools.org/.

12.11.2019 - The maintenance of the SeriesSeed.fi website has been transferred to the Startup Foundation
The Startup Foundation and the Aalto Entrepreneurship Society have agreed to transfer the responsibility for maintaining the SeriesSeed.fi website to the Startup Foundation.

07.04.2016 - New version 2.0 of the SeriesSeed.fi documentation is released

The new documents (SeriesSeed.fi 2.0) were created by Dottir and they are still licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0. However, forms provided are only for your guidance and for discussion purposes. Seek independent legal advice before executing.

01.02.2010 - Seriesseed.fi first to bring standardized legal documents for startups

Seriesseed.fi first to bring standardized legal documents for startups

01.02.2010 - Initial version of the documents published!

The documents (SeriesSeed.fi 1.0) were created by Kallio Law and they are licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0. However, forms provided are only for your guidance and for discussion purposes. Seek independent legal advice before executing.

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Original version 1.0 documents were created by KallioLaw. A new version 2.0 of the SeriesSeed.fi documentation was prepared by Dottir and released in 2016. A new version 3.0 of the SeriesSeed.fi documentation was prepared by Kimmo Reina at Bir&Bird and released in 2020. The material changes to the 2.0 version are described in the documentation package.