In the latest episode of Joy of Finland, I sit down with Jyri Engeström to explore Finland’s strengths and what the future holds for the Finnish startup ecosystem. Jyri, partner at Lifeline Ventures and Yes VC, brings unique insights from his journey as an early investor in companies like Oura and Iceye. He’s also the co-host of Startup-ministeriö, the podcast diving into the world of Finnish growth companies. In this episode, we focus on: Increasing Finland’s “unicorn birthing rate” and...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement. Sami Inkinen has founded 2 different billion dollar companies. The first is Trulia, an online real estate marketplace. The second is Virta Health of which he is currently the CEO. Virta is the leader in type 2 diabetes reversal and creator of a new standard in medical care for people living with type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, or obesity. He’s also quite the athletic marvel, having broken a world record with his wife...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement. Jan Goetz is the Co-founder and CEO of IQM Quantum Computers. IQM is building world-leading quantum computers for the well-being of humankind, now and for the future and has most recently raised a €128 million Series A2 round. And like me, he also loves dogs. In this episode, we discuss: (0:00) Preview and introduction (1:47) About Jan (3:41) Why Jan pursued entrepreneurship (5:56) Scientific community in...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement. Risto Siilasmaa is the Founder of F-Secure, a publicly listed cyber security and privacy company. He was also the former Chairman of Nokia from 2012 to 2020. He currently invests in startups through his investment firm First Fellow Partners. In this episode, we discuss: (0:00) Preview and introduction (1:40) About Risto (7:23) Nokia’s transformation after selling the mobile business (9:47) Equal...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement. Monika Liikamaa is the Co-founder and co-CEO of the fintech payment service provider Enfuce. Monika’s career involves 20+ years of experience in the payment industry. Enfuce has raised a total of €62 million in funding, including one of the highest investment rounds raised by a female-led business.  In this episode, we discuss: (0:00) Preview (0:55) About me and introduction (2:06) About Monika (6:51) Advocating...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement. Duleepa-Wijayawardhana is the CTO of Supermetrics, one of Finland’s prominent startup success stories. Supermetrics is a data management and analysis tool for marketers. In this episode, we discuss:  (0:00) About me and introduction (1:45) About Dups and how he ended up in Finland (5:17) Clean air and environment (6:28) History of innovation in Finland (8:16) The importance of going global (10:15) Significant...

Joy of Finland highlights Finland’s strengths and areas of improvement from the perspectives of tech entrepreneurs. Johanna Småros transitioned from supply chain researcher to SaaS unicorn Co-founder of RELEX Solutions. RELEX is one of Finland’s prominent startup success stories and most recently closed a €500M funding round led by Blackstone Growth at a €5B valuation.  In this episode, we discuss: (0:00) About me and introduction (3:12) Transitioning from researcher to SaaS...

Peter Vesterbacka is a founder of Slush (Europe’s leading startup event) and was Mighty Eagly (CMO) at Rovio (company behind Angry Birds). He was ranked 7th on Time 100 list of most influential people in the world.  In this episode, we discuss: (0:00) - About me and introduction (1:57) - Peter’s journey with entrepreneurship (3:39) - Mighty Eagle at Rovio (7:29) - The founding story of Slush, its impact on students, and its brand (13:26) - Putting young people in charge in...