# Top 50 Gaming Angel Investors in Finland in May 2026 ## Ilkka Paananen - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 7 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Software, E-Commerce, FinTech Ilkka Paananen, is the CEO and co-founder of Supercell, the Helsinki-based mobile games developer behind Clash of Clans, Hay Day, Boom Beach, Clash Royale and Brawl Stars. Since its founding in 2010, Supercell's five games have amassed 100m daily players and remain in the global top 10 years after launch. In June 2016, Supercell became thefirst European technology start-up to reach a valuation of $10 billion.In addition to his role at Supercell, Ilkka helps other entrepreneurs as both an investor and as an active member of the Nordic startup community where he mentors and coaches other founders. Alongside his co-founder Mikko Kodisoja, he has established the We Foundation to fight social inequality and help disadvantaged children in Finland.Prior to founding Supercell, he was the CEO & co-founder of Finnish games developer Sumea, which was later acquired by Digital Chocolate, where he worked as President until 2010. Ilkka holds a Master of Science degree from the Helsinki University of Technology. ## David Helgason - Type: Angel - Location: Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, Denmark - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Gaming, Information Technology David is a technologist, the founder of Unity Technologies, non-exec director to others, and a restless entrepreneur with a passion for creating feedback loops between innovation and teams and products, applying new and old business models to changing industries, and pushing people to do the very best they can do.David's background is inprogramming, an assortment of university dabbling, creating companies, and helping entrepreneurs. He served as CEO of Unity Technologies since co-founding it in 2003 and until October 2014, with an unflinching vision to democratize game development, and to develop technology and business models for the next phase of the games industry. David Helgason attended the University of Copenhagen. ## Ali Omar - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 4 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: Software, SaaS, Artificial Intelligence Ali Omar is a Member of the Finnish Business Angels Network. He attended Aalto University and the University of Oulu. ## Risto Siilasmaa - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Software, SaaS, E-Commerce Risto Siilasmaa is the Founder at F-Secure. Risto Siilasmaa attended Aalto University. ## Henric Suuronen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Gaming, Video Games, Mobile Apps Founding Partner of Play Ventures. He previously co-founded Nonstop Games which was acquired by King for US$32m+ earnout.Henric has over 16 years of experience building mobile games and studios around the world. Before co-founding Nonstop Games in Singapore, Henric was Product Management Director at Digital Chocolate (Helsinki and Barcelona) andHead of Studio at Wooga (Berlin). After King’s acquisition of Nonstop Games, Henric served as Senior Creative Director at King.Henric also has a successful portfolio of angel investments in gaming including Huuuge Games, Futureplay Games, Traplight Games, Matchmade, Omniata (acquired by King), DataTiger (acquired by Apple) and Astralis Group (IPO on Nasdaq). In total, his investments have raised >$125M of venture financing and made 5 exits + 1 IPO. Henric is based in Singapore and frequently travels to the main gaming hubs in Europe and the US. He holds double masters’ degrees in Computer Science and Business. ## Laurel Bowden - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 3 - Stages: Series C, Series B, Series D - Focus: Software, SaaS, E-Commerce Laurel is a General Partner at 83North (formerly Greylock IL), which she joined in 2008. Her areas of focus include: software, internet and fintech. Laurel has led investments in many leading European companies, including Just Eat (LSE: JE), Qliktech (NASDAQ: QLIK) and Hybris (acquired by SAP).Her current company boards and investmentsinclude Workable, Mirakl, NotontheHighStreet, Wonga, Wandera, iZettle, BlueVine, Ebury and Investec PLC & Ltd.Laurel was previously at GE and JVP. She holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from INSEAD. ## Klaas Kersting - Type: Angel - Location: Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Gaming, Mobile, E-Commerce Klaas Kersting is a serial entrepreneur (Gameforge / flaregames / Phoenix Games) and Seed-/Early-stage investor in startups in games and e-commerce. He served and serves as board member and advisor to several of his investments.Most recently, in 2019, Klaas founded Phoenix Games, a company aiming to help game founders to achievemore - both financially as well as commercially. In 2008 Klaas Kersting was named 'Entrepreneur of the Year'. Gameforge was awarded 'Red Herring 100 Europe', and 'Technology Fast 50 Rising Stars'. Furthermore, he was selected 'Technology Pioneer 2009' by the World Economic Forum. ## Paul Heydon - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Gaming, Mobile Apps 30 years as a founder, operator, investor, and advisor. Previously Paul was a Co-Founder and General Partner at LVP. Paul has invested in Supercell (majority acquired by Tencent), Unity (NYSE:U), Matchmade, Radiant Entertainment (acquired by Riot Games), Boomlagoon (acquired by Wargaming), Peak (acquired by Hachette Livre), AppOnboard, FRVR,Starform, Gameclub, Coherence, Lucid Sight, Doppio Games, Capture, Flick, EvenPrime, Tellie & Litho and others. Previously, he was an investment banker at Avista Partners, Commerzbank Securities & ING Barings. He has both a HBA & MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at University of Western Ontario in Canada. ## Jari Ovaskainen - Type: Angel - Location: Tampere, Western Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Mobile, Internet of Things, PC Games Jari Ovaskainen - Business Development Director @ Modulight ## Lasse Järvinen - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Angel, Seed - Focus: Marketplace, Restaurants, Software Lasse Järvinen - Co-Founder @ Bonusway ## Glyn Eggar - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Software, 3D Printing Glyn Eggar ## Anton Gauffin - Type: Angel - Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B - Focus: Gaming, Video Games, Mobile Apps Anton Gauffin is the Founder of Sumoing. ## Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Software, 3D Printing Veli-Pekka Saarnivaara ## Joakim Achren - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 2 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Gaming, Mobile, MMO Games Joakim Achren is Co Founder at Next Games. Previously, he has worked as Director of Analytics at Supercell. ## Markus Maki - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Gaming, Online Games, Social Network Markus Maki is an Executive Chairman at Remedy Entertainment. ## Christian Jantzen - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: Software, SaaS, Information Technology Danish angel investor, based in London. ## Alexis Bonte - Type: Angel - Location: Stockholm, Stockholms Lan, Sweden - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Gaming, Video Games, Apps Alexis is a Venture Partner at Atomico advising on new investments in France, Spain & Portugal and Eastern Europe as well as sourcing and accelerating growth in the games, blockchain and travels vertical. He is passionate about high-impact, purpose-driven companies, and he currently serves on the boards of Bossa Studios and OhBiBi, Atomico’slatest game investment. He splits his time between London, Paris, Bucharest, Stockholm and Madrid.Alexis is co-founder and CEO of games company eRepublik Labs (eRepublik.com, Age of Lords, World at War, War and Peace) a “free-to-play” pioneer that he sold in June of 2017 to Stillfront Group. Alexis remains the company’s CEO, and is also the Group COO for Stillfront, giving him a unique mix of investor as well as operational expertise. Prior to Erepublik Labs, Alexis was part of the first wave of internet start ups and was with lastminute.com for six years right up to its $1.1B trade sale to Sabre in 2005.Alexis has numerous angel investments, mainly in Europe, and has been active in supporting the development of the European digital ecosystem through events and associations.Alexis is fluent in French, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Italian and understands basic Romanian if pushed. A long time ago he was a national sailing champion in Portugal, but now he prefers to stay dry and play chess with one of his three children. ## Niklas Zennström - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Series A, Seed, Series B - Focus: Software, Internet, Apps Niklas Zennström is CEO and Founding Partner at Atomico. He works daily with founders and sits on the boards of Farmdrop, Lilium, Pipedrive, Oden Technologies and Varjo. Niklas is an experienced technology investor and entrepreneur, having previously co-founded and managed globally successful technology companies including Skype, Kazaa andJoltid. Niklas founded Atomico in 2006. He is passionate about partnering about founders solving big challenges facing their planet with digital technology.In 2007, he co-founded Zennström Philanthropies with his wife, Catherine. They focus their efforts in two areas: human rights and the environment. Niklas also founded the Race for the Baltic, a foundation for a well-managed and sustainable Baltic Sea, one of the most threatened major bodies of water in the world.Niklas is a keen yachtsman and has won four World Championships with his yacht racing team, Rán.Niklas holds dual degrees in Business and MSc Engineering Physics/Computer Science from Uppsala University in Sweden, and he spent his final year at the University of Michigan. ## Shanti Bergel - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Gaming, PC Games, Mobile Shanti Bergel is the Managing Director of the Transcend Fund, an early stage venture capital firm focused on games and digital entertainment. ## Mitch Weisburgh - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Software, 3D Printing Mitch Weisburgh ## Bret Terrill - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Gaming, Online Games, Social Network Bret Terrill is the CEO and co-founder of Tenuki, Inc., a social games development company. He also writes about the social games industry. ## Tero Lehtonen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Software, 3D Printing Tero Lehtonen ## Jussi Laakkonen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Gaming, Online Games, Social Network CEO and founder of Applifier, cross-promotion network for social games and apps reaching tens of millions of MAU. Everyplay, Laakkonen's startup in the social gaming space, turned into Applifier recently.Business development director at Bugbear Entertainment, an independent game developer. Expertise in business development, sales,marketing, PR, production and process developmentCo-founder of ASSEMBLY Organizing, the arranger of the 5000+ participants four day computer festival held in Helsinki, Finland held since year 1992.Over five years of experience in data security software industry in R&D, product marketing and process re-engineering at F-Secure Corporation.Laakkonen is from Helsinki, Finland. ## Ken Lamb - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series C - Focus: Gaming, PC Games, Apps Ken is a co-founder and partner at Initial Capital, a London and San Francisco-based firm started in 2010 that invests in seed and early stage companies focused on digital, mobile, social media and gaming. Initial Capital's investments include Supercell, Nexmo, Plyfe, Space Ape, Berg, Brainbow and Supersolid. Ken is presently or hasformerly served as a Director or Board Observer for various companies in the portfolio, including Nexmo, Plyfe, Space Ape, Mapply and Supercell.For most of his career, he was a corporate partner in the Century City, San Francisco and London offices of Gibson Dunn advising clients such as Amazon, Intel, Peoplesoft and The Gores Group. In 2001 and 2002, he was also head of West Coast M&A and US Technology M&A at CIBC World Markets,In addition to his activities for Initial Capital, Ken is also in a graduate degree program on East Asian art history at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and in the Master of Wine program, Institute of Masters of Wine. ## Nicolas Béraud - Type: Angel - Location: Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Drones, Gaming, Travel Nicolas Beraud is the CEO at Betclic Group. He attended the ENSEIRB-MATMECA. ## Arto Rastas - Type: Angel - Location: Tampere, Western Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: SaaS, Marketplace, Food Processing I am a cook who never found it just as the journey on the trail. Thus, I decided to walk through several trails. What I mean is that, one day I can do a very modern and innovative cuisine, and again on the second day I can and I want to do something else. However, both of these must be in its own address. ## Dan Bragiel - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series C - Focus: Software, Logistics, Mobile Dan Bragiel has co-founded 2 companies and has been involved in startups for the past 10 years. He began with mobile gaming at Paragon 5 focusing on running the offices in Poland, Netherlands and Argentina. He then co-founded the startup Meetro, a pioneer in the location/mobile space. He then went on to start Lefora that was sold in 2010. ## Mikko Silventola - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel - Focus: E-Commerce, Transportation, Apps Mikko is an active investor, with over 50 investments globally. Besides Europe, he is also active in Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Lat Am. He is the first investor of Bolt (Estonia), an investor of Rappi (Colombia), and of Hugo (El Salvador). He has founded 3 international media companies which in total have generated over €35M in sales overjust a few years. He has helped companies with internationalization, fundraising and M&As in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. ## Elias Aalto - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Convertible Note - Focus: News, Video, Internet Elias Aalto is Wolt's Advisor and a Co-Founder before that. ## Hannu Vaajoensuu - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: SaaS, Software, Information Technology Hannu Vaajoensuu - Chairman of the Board of Directors @ Nervogrid ## Juha-Petteri Kukkonen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed Juha-Petteri Kukkonen runs family office KVKI Capital, which helps food & beverage startups and growth companies with their world-shaping ideas. He has founded the digital agency Piraija Interactive and a mobile app company, CreateTrips. He also have a strong background in advertising and PR and have worked for agencies like SEK & Grey,Satama Interactive, Mindshare Worldwide, and Valve. ## Riku Mäkelä - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel - Focus: Gaming, Online Games, Social Network Riku Mäkelä is a member of the board at slush, a technology conference for startups and tech talent to meet with top-tier international investors, executives and media. ## Christopher North - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Software, B2B Chris is a Managing Partner at L Catterton, the world's leading consumer growth investor with US$20B assets under management, where he co-leads the Growth Fund. He focuses on growth-stage consumer technology businesses in the US, Europe, and the UK. The L Catterton team previously scaled today's consumer tech leaders (Amazon, Shopify,Lazada, Shutterfly, Peloton, Vroom, Better Mortgage, ClassPass, and more) and brings their experience to support entrepreneurs building tomorrow's leading companies. He is also an active angel investor and serves on the boards of several non-profits in arts and education. Previously, Chris led Shutterfly, Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) as President and Chief Executive Officer and a member of the board of directors from May 2016 through the sale to Apollo Global Management in 2019. Under his leadership, over the three years from 2015 to 2018, Shutterfly doubled revenues to $2 billion, doubled free cash flow, and increased operating income ten-fold.Prior to joining Shutterfly, Chris served as Managing Director of Amazon UK and co-led Amazon across Europe for six years, after leading Amazon’s UK Media businesses for four years. Amazon UK grew to almost $10 billion in GAAP revenue over this 10-year period, a 14-fold increase. Before joining Amazon, he worked in publishing as Global Managing Director of Phaidon Press, as Chief Operating Officer of HarperCollins Canada, and as Vice President & General Manager of Electronic Publishing for HarperCollins Publishers. He began his career as a management consultant with the media & entertainment practice of Booz Allen & Hamilton.In addition to his operating roles, Chris serves in leadership roles in several not-for-profit organizations. He is a director of Character Lab, a non-profit dedicated to advancing the science and practice of character development in order to help children thrive; a member of the Board of Visitors of Oxford's Ashmolean Museum; a member of the Collections Committee and Director's Circle of the Harvard University Art Museums; and President of the American Friends of the Royal Collection. He and his wife also actively support the Domaine de Chantilly, the Wallace Collection, and the Attingham Trust. Chris is an active angel investor, having made more than 40 investments in early-stage companies. He enjoys mentoring, working with a number of technology entrepreneurs and serving as a Strategic Advisor to Forto.Chris earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Harvard College and a master’s degree in Philosophy from New York University. Chris and his wife have three young children and divide their time between London and France. Born and raised in New York, Chris is a dual US/British national. ## Juha Paananen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A - Focus: Health Care, Wellness, Video Games Juha Paananen - CEO & Co-Founder @ Soba ## Sebastian Östman - Type: Angel - Location: Espoo, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Wellness, Nutrition, Personal Health Sebastian Östman is an Angel Investor. ## Kaisa Olkkonen - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Gaming, Software, 3D Printing Kaisa Olkkonen ## Kalle Katevuo - Type: Angel - Location: Espoo, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Wellness, Nutrition, Personal Health Kalle Katevuo is an Angel Investor. ## Miki Kuusi - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: E-Commerce, Gaming, Privacy Miki Kuusi is the Co-Founder and CEO at Wolt. He previously worked as the Founder, Creative Director and Board Member of the Helsinki-based tech conference, Slush. In 2011-2014, he led the event’s growth as its CEO from a local, 150-person event to become one of the leading startup events in the world, reaching 14,000 attendees from 80 countries in2014. Kuusi has been a driving force in the Nordic startup ecosystem. Prior to Slush, he served as the Founder & CEO of Startup Sauna, which was awarded as the leading young accelerator program in the world by UBI Index in spring 2013. Aside from Slush, Kuusi currently focuses on his new company Wolt, which raised half a million in seed funding in fall 2014. ## Julia Jouhki - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Wellness, Nutrition, Personal Health Julia Jouhki is an Angel Investor. ## Gregory Milken - Type: Angel - Location: Santa Monica, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B - Focus: Video Games, eSports, Gaming Gregory Milken is Managing Director at March Capital Partners, where he focuses on investments in digital media, gaming and esports. Gregory has led March Capital’s investments in broadcasting solution Genvid Technologies, game mastery platform Dojo Madness, and game developers nWay and Wavedash. Gregory has over 15 years of entrepreneuriall and operational experience. He was the co-founder and COO of AltEgo, a cloud-based technology and gaming company. Prior to his work in technology, he worked in strategy and operations for Knowledge Universe Education, new business development at Warner Bros. in Hong Kong and London, and at Twentieth Century Fox.Gregory received his M.B.A. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a M.A. in international policy studies from Stanford University. He also received a B.A. in international relations and Asian studies from the University of Pennsylvania. ## Ben Feder - Type: Angel - Location: New York, New York, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series C - Focus: Shoes, Gaming, Mobile Ben Feder is an accomplished and creative and entrepreneur and investor, with a long and proven track record in the media and telecommunications sector. He has held pubic company board positions in Japan and the United States. Ben is co-founder of ZelnickMedia, a successful private equity firm in the U.S.that focuses on the media andcommunications industries; and he is formerly the CEO of Take Two Interactive, a $2 billion public video game company that develops and publishes video games such as Grand Theft Auto, NBA 2K, and Civilization. ## Olli Sirkiä - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Angel, Seed - Focus: Software, Marketplace, Real Estate Olli has background in management consultancy (McKinsey & Company 2007-2009) and software business (LeadDesk Oyj (publ) 2010-2018). ## Rasmus Östman - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Wellness, Nutrition, Personal Health Rasmus Östman is an Angel Investor. ## Mikko Kodisoja - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Debt Financing - Focus: Music, Gaming, Mobile Mikko Kodisoja ## Mikael Hed - Type: Angel - Location: Greater Los Angeles Area, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel, Series B - Focus: E-Commerce, Consumer Electronics, Hardware Investor, Executive Chairman at Kaiken Entertainment Ltd. ## Chris Lee - Type: Angel - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed - Focus: Software, Virtual Reality, Digital Entertainment Chris Lee is an investor at Facemoji. The Attended University of Nottingham. ## Siamc Kamalie - Type: Angel - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Pre-Seed - Focus: Gaming, Robotics, Video Games Siamc Kamalie ## Niklas Hed - Type: Angel - Location: Finland, Minnesota, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed - Focus: Wellness, Nutrition, Personal Health Niklas Hed is the Co-Founder of Rovio. He steers Rovio's Research and Development efforts on new technologies, platforms and ventures to ensure Rovio’s products are always at the forefront of innovation. ## Pekka Aakko - Type: Angel - Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Angel - Focus: Apps, Gaming, Mobile Pekka Aakko ## Arielle Zuckerberg - Type: Angel - Location: San Francisco, California, United States - Relevant deals: 1 - Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel - Focus: Analytics, Productivity Tools, Gaming Arielle Zuckerberg the youngest sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is joining Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers in October 2015, in a bid by the firm to inject youth and diversity into its line-up of partners. (TechCrunch) # About Shizune Shizune.co is an investor database. Core features: - 48,091 startup investors (angels, VCs, accelerators, and others) - Email, phone, LinkedIn (for intros), socials, and other contact data - Updated daily from public funding news - CSV and Excel export The User can access the full database FOR FREE after signing up: shizune.co