# Top 45 Hardware Angel Investors in Finland in May 2026

## Ali Omar
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 6
- 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.

## Jyri Engestrom
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 5
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Software, Apps, Health Care

Jyri Engeström is an Investor and Partner of Yes VC. He attended Lancaster University

## Mikael Hed
- Type: Angel
- Location: Greater Los Angeles Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series B
- Focus: E-Commerce, Consumer Electronics, Hardware

Investor, Executive Chairman at Kaiken Entertainment Ltd.

## Leena Niemistö
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 3
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Health Care, Software, E-Commerce

Leena Niemistö

## Otto Hilska
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: E-Commerce, Advertising, Electronics

Otto is a serial entrepreneur who started his first software company at the age of 18. His second company Flowdock raised money from Silicon Valley and got acquired by Rally Software in 2013. After that he spent four years scaling Smartly.io from 30 to 350 people as the Chief Product Officer.After leaving Smartly.io, Otto started working on yetanother startup. Founded in November 2019, Swarmia is building a B2B SaaS product to help self-organizing software teams to continuously improve their ways of working based on data from development tools.Otto has served as the chairman of Startup Foundation, that’s behind the Slush conference, Junction hackathon, Maria 0-1 startup space, and many other ecosystem projects.

## Zach Shelby
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Hardware, Software, Wearables

Zach Shelby is the Co-Founder & CEO at Edge Impulse.

## John Lindfors
- Type: Angel
- Location: Hong Kong, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Series A, Seed, Series D
- Focus: E-Commerce, Marketplace, Artificial Intelligence

John Lindfors is a Co-Founder of DST Global. He previously worked at Goldman Sachs as the head of tech and media investment banking in the EMEA region before transitioning to Digital Sky Technologies in 2010.

## Risto Siilasmaa
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, SaaS, E-Commerce

Risto Siilasmaa is the Founder at F-Secure. Risto Siilasmaa attended Aalto University.

## Janne Jormalainen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: B2B, SaaS, Hardware

Janne Jormalainen is a Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board at New Nordic School. He is also a serial entrepreneur and angel investor.

## 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

## Anssi Vanjoki
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel, Series A
- Focus: Medical, Hardware, Health Care

As Executive Vice President and General Manager of Multimedia, Nokia, Anssi Vanjoki heads a business group that is responsible for developing Nokia Nseries multimedia computers and associated experiences and services. This fast growing segment of consumer electronics will shape our lives in a fundamental way. A highly respected brand authoritywith over 25 years of marketing experience, Anssi has been a driving force in Nokia's efforts to address the mobile markets. His work has focused on developing Nokia's brand durability, loyalty and continuity, while, at the same time, advancing Nokia's vision of a mobile world. Anssi joined Nokia in 1991 and was named Vice President, Sales, Nokia Mobile Phones, before his promotion in 1994 to Senior Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones Europe and Africa. In 1998 he was made Executive Vice President, Nokia Mobile Phones Europe and Africa and became a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia. In addition, in 1999, Anssi took responsibility for Nokia's Digital Convergence Unit and, in 2002, also headed up the Business Unit Management. He was appointed to his present position on January 1st 2004. Prior to joining Nokia, Anssi held a variety of management positions at 3M Corporation. Anssi is the Chairman of the Board of Amer Group, and was a member of the Governing Committee of the European Foundation for Quality Management 2001 - 2003. He is a Knight, 1st Class, of the Order of the White Rose of Finland. Anssi holds a master's degree in economics from the Helsinki School of Economics and Business Administration.

## Mikko Kuitunen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tampere, Western Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 2
- Stages: Angel, Pre-Seed, Series C
- Focus: Mobile, Hardware, Software

Mikko Kuitunen is the Founder and Executive Chair at Vincit. He attended Tampere University of Technology 1965-2018.

## Harpreet Rai
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Mobile Apps, Wellness, Apps

Harpreet Singh Rai is the chief executive officer of Oura and a member of its board. He was previously at Eminence Capital, a L/S Equity Hedge Fund where he was a TMT Portfolio Manager. Previously he was at Morgan Stanley in their M&A Group in New York.

## Jaan Tallinn
- Type: Angel
- Location: Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Internet

Jaan Tallinn is the Co-founder of Future of Life Institute.

## Timo Kiravuo
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Electronics, Cloud Computing

Timo Kiravuo - Researcher @ Aalto University

## Teemu Jokinen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Sensor

Experienced founder, board member, advisor and investor. Currently in 15+ companies (early stage) angel / pre-seed investor. Focus on platforms, marketplaces, SaaS and deep tech.

## Luc De Vos
- Type: Angel
- Location: Leuven, Vlaams-Brabant, Belgium
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Private Equity
- Focus: Analytics, Consulting, B2B

Luc De Vos is the non-executive director at Hybrid Software Group PLC. Luc De Vos attended KU Leuven.

## Anton Gauffin
- Type: Angel
- Location: Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series B
- Focus: Gaming, Video Games, Mobile Apps

Anton Gauffin is the Founder of Sumoing.

## Joshua Schachter
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco Bay Area, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Software, Mobile, Internet

Joshua Schachter is an organizer at Self Racing Cars. He was the CEO of Tasty Labs and the founder of Joshua has also worked for directory, and was a co-creator of Memepool.

## Nicolas Dessaigne
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Developer Tools

Nicolas is a firm believer of “culture-first” companies and am focused on building just that at Algolia where team empowerment is how they accomplish their goals. Prior to co-founding Algolia with Julien, he spent over 12 years working on information retrieval at Exalead and Thales.At Algolia they believe every website and app deserves greatsearch! they offer a hosted Search API that helps developers deliver an instant and relevant search experience. We’ve seen that search is a great touch point to optimize – they regularly see double digit increases in engagement on sites when they improve their search UX.When they founded Algolia in 2012 it was originally going to be a local SDK for mobile app search. They changed direction and realized that they needed to offer search as a hosted SaaS service, but it was those early mobile optimizations that gave us their unique advantage. They are one of the few search solutions that has been developed from scratch, and they never would have gone that direction if they hadn’t originally been focused on mobile search.His focus has been first and foremost on making Algolia a great place to work. They have a unique culture here that values ownership as its pillar. They want to create a company where every team member takes initiative, gets out of their comfort zone, is empowered to make decisions; in short: be free to be their best.He is recently spoken at SaaStock on the challenges of running a company based in both Paris and San Francisco. His priority lately has been on scaling their growth and ramping up their team size.

## Lance Armstrong
- Type: Angel
- Location: Austin, Texas, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series C, Angel
- Focus: B2B, Craft Beer, Financial Services

Lance Armstrong is a father, cancer survivor, advocate and philanthropist. In 1996, at age 25, Lance found himself struggling for his life against testicular cancer that had spread to his brain, lungs and abdomen. Lance aggressively educated himself about his diagnosis and treatment. Even as he battled against overwhelming odds, he made thedecision to declare himself a cancer survivor rather than a victim. During his personal battle with cancer, Lance recognized the lack of resources available to those facing this disease. In an effort to help fellow survivors and their families, Lance created a foundation with the express purpose of helping others manage life through and beyond a cancer diagnosis.In the years since, the organization Lance founded – now the LIVESTRONG Foundation – has served millions of people affected by cancer through direct support services that fill critical financial, emotional, physical and practical gaps in care for them and their loved ones. The Foundation has raised more than $500 million to serve cancer survivors, advocated on behalf of cancer patients in major policy debates and fought the stigma many cancer survivors throughout the world face.Lance has personally devoted himself to becoming a leading advocate for cancer survivors. He has lobbied Capitol Hill, testified before Congress, served two terms on the President’s Cancer Panel, advocated for smoke-free measures across the U.S. and addressed the United Nations.In 2004, the now-iconic yellow LIVESTRONG wristbands associated with the Foundation became an international phenomenon and a grassroots symbol of support for survivors. Thanks to its partnership with Nike, the Foundation has sold and distributed more than 87 million wristbands to advance the Foundation’s work improving the lives of people affected by cancer.In 2007, Lance helped unite support for the largest state-level initiative for cancer prevention in history, one that was overwhelmingly approved by voters and provided $3 billion for cancer research and prevention in Texas. The Constitutional amendment created the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which has awarded nearly $840 million in cancer prevention, research and commercialization grants since 2009.In 2009, after more than a decade of advocacy work in the U.S., Lance led the LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Campaign, an initiative to address the cancer burden worldwide. The landmark event of the Campaign was the first-of-its-kind LIVESTRONG Global Cancer Summit, held in Dublin, Ireland. The unprecedented gathering of more than 500 world leaders, corporations, non-governmental organizations and advocates from more than 65 countries blazed a new trail for reducing the global burden of cancer. The Summit produced 300 new commitments to cancer control representing an investment of more than $200 million and established a unified global cancer movement for the first time in history.The same year, Lance’s vision for a permanent home for the Foundation was realized when the organization moved into a renovated warehouse in East Austin, an underserved part of the city. This home paved the way for the 2011 opening of the LIVESTRONG Cancer Navigation Center, marking a critical milestone in the continuing expansion of cancer support services the Foundation specializes in to patients, survivors and their families. One of just two facilities of its kind in the U.S., this community-based facility provides free, confidential, one-on-one support to anyone affected by cancer. In addition to the Center, the support services are also available online and by phone nationwide. To date, the LIVESTRONG Foundation has served more than 2.5 million people through its cancer support services.In 2012, Lance resigned his leadership role with the Foundation. He remains the Foundation’s single biggest donor and the progress he has helped generate within the field of cancer survivorship stands as a lasting legacy.

## Ryan Rzepecki
- Type: Angel
- Location: New York, New York, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Angel, Series A
- Focus: B2C, E-Commerce, Augmented Reality

Ryan Rzepecki was the founder and CEO of NYC-based JUMP Bikes (acquired by Uber in 2018), focused on developing innovative solutions for urban transportation.
Early in his career, Rzepecki worked as a planner in the bikes division of New York City’s Department of Transportation. During that time, he worked extensively to bring bike facilities tomore New Yorkers. It was this experience that led him to design a high-tech bike share model that he entered in the Copenhagen Design Competition.
By 2010, he founded the company under its original name Social Bicycles, and set out to realize his vision of using bicycles as a smarter, cleaner, and more fun mode of urban transportation. His company pioneered "smart bike" technology, allowing bike share to go dockless and become more accessible and convenient for riders.In 2013, Rzepecki was named one of the 100 Coolest People in Tech by Business Insider and one of the Top 100 City Innovators Worldwide by UBM’s Future Cities.
He received his master’s degree in urban planning from Hunter College of the City University of New York and his bachelor’s degree in marketing and international business from Pennsylvania State University.

## 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

## Gil Penchina
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Series B
- Focus: Software, Mobile, Internet

Gil Penchina is retired

## Shaquille O'Neal
- Type: Angel
- Location: Newark, New Jersey, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Angel
- Focus: Health Care, Wearables, Apps

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal, nicknamed Shaq, is an American retired basketball player and NBA Hall of Fame member since 2016. Shaq is also a former rapper, actor, fashion trend setter, investor and current analyst on the television program Inside the NBA

## Jeremy Yap
- Type: Angel
- Location: Singapore, Central Region, Singapore
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Angel
- Focus: Software, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning

Jeremy is a full time angel from Singapore who invests in the Europe, North America, and Israel.

## Kevin Lin
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Gaming, Information Technology, Video Games

Lin is the COO of Twitch, the world’s leading social video platform and community for gamers. He was instrumental in the 2011 launch of the platform when he joined Justin.tv in 2008. His role included attracting the site’s largest broadcasters and building out the partnership team among other activities which have helped grow the Twitch brand.Currently more than 100 million gamers gather every month on Twitch to broadcast live video, watch and chat about gaming, making the platform an industry leader.

## Taher Haveliwala
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Analytics, Software, Business Intelligence

Taher Haveliwala - Co-Founder @ Scalar Labs

## Peter Vesterbacka
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed
- Focus: Fashion, Computer, Education

Peter Vesterbacka served as the Chief Marketing Officer and Mighty Eagle of Rovio Entertainment Oy. Vesterbacka manages the Rovio Entertainment’s business strategy, including expanding Angry Birds into broader entertainment franchise. He serves as Senior Advisor of Transfluent Oy. Previously, he has founded Some Bazaar, he has held severalcommunications industry related positions at Hewlett Packard and founded the Hewlett Packard Mobile E Services Bazaar and he is the co-founder and original initiator of MobileMonday. He serves as a Director of Star Wreck Studios, Start Up Sauna, BlueGiga Technologies Oy, Oy Filmkompaniet Alpha Ab and American Chamber of Commerce in Finland. He served as a Director of F-Secure Oyj since 2014 until April 7, 2015. Vesterbacka has studied marketing at Åbo Akademi.

## Dave Morin
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Mobile, Internet, Software

Dave is the Co-Founder & Managing Director of Offline Ventures.He was Founder & Partner Emeritus of Slow Ventures. A leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm that champions long term thinking and innovation. Slow serves a community of over 200 of the most innovative entrepreneurs and companies in the world. Including Slack, Pinterest,Evernote, NextDoor, Postmates, Blue Bottle and more.He was the Co-Founder and CEO of Path which was acquired by Kakao in 2015. He co-founded Path with the mission of being a source of happiness, meaning, and connection through simplicity, quality, and privacy in technology and design. Path continues to serves tens of millions of people each month to this day.Dave has had a lifelong passion for technology, entrepreneurship, culture, design, photography, nature, skiing, and improving society. He served both Apple and Facebook for several years during periods of rapid innovation and growth. Today, he serves on the Board of Directors of Eventbrite, Dwell, and Hinge. And, on the Boards of three Non-Profit Organizations, the United States Ski and Snowboard Association, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and Montana ExplorationWorks. He holds a degree in Economics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He grew up under the big sky of Montana where he was ranked as one of the top downhill ski racers in America. Today, he lives and works in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area with his wife Brit, son Ansel, and dog Pixel.

## Henric Suuronen
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- 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.

## Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Mobile, Retail, Big Data

Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Nokia as of June 1, 2006.Olli-Pekka joined Nokia in 1980 as Corporate Counsel, and has held roles of increasing responsibility since that time. In 1987 he was appointed Assistant Vice President, Legal Department, and in 1988 he was named Assistant Vice President, Finance. In1990 he was promoted to Senior Vice President, Finance.In 1992, Olli-Pekka was named Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In 1997-1998 he served as Corporate Executive Vice President, Nokia Americas, being responsible for all Nokia’s business operations in the Americas. He returned to the position of Chief Financial Officer at the beginning of 1999, the position he had held prior to moving to the United States. From 2004-2005 Kallasvuo was Executive Vice President and General Manager of Mobile Phones. On October 1, 2005 he was named President and COO before his appointment to the current position.Olli-Pekka has been a member of the Group Executive Board of Nokia since 1990. On April 1, 2007, Olli-Pekka was appointed Chairman of the Board of Nokia Siemens Networks. In May 2007, Mr. Kallasvuo was nominated as member of the Board of Directors at Nokia. Starting January 2009, he will also serve as a Member of the Board of the Confederation of Finnish Industries EK.He holds a master’s degree in law from the University of Helsinki. Prior to joining Nokia, Olli-Pekka held a variety of positions with the Union Bank of Finland.Olli-Pekka was born on July 13, 1953, in Lavia, Finland. In his spare time, he enjoys golf, tennis and reading about political history.

## Kari Vatanen
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Fashion, Computer, Lifestyle

Kari Vatanen

## 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)

## Pekka Vartiainen
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A
- Focus: Mobile, Software, Apps

Pekka Vartiainen - Board Member @ Inbot

## David Shuman
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Wellness, Fitness, Wearables

David Shuman

## Karl Magnus Troedsson Troedsson
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Virtual Reality, Information Technology

Karl Magnus Troedsson Troedsson

## Marten Mickos
- Type: Angel
- Location: San Francisco, California, United States
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Series A, Convertible Note
- Focus: Software, Internet, Enterprise Software

Marten Mickos is the CEO of HackerOne, Inc. the leading vulnerability coordination and bug bounty platform. Previously Marten was the CEO of Eucalyptus Systems, acquired by Hewlett-Packard where he served as head of the cloud business. As the CEO of MySQL AB from 2001 to 2008, Marten grew that company from a garage start-up to the second largestopen source company in the world. Marten holds a M.Sc. in technical physics from Helsinki University of Technology in his native Finland.

## Kim Groop
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed, Pre-Seed, Series A
- Focus: Software, SaaS, Machine Learning

Kim Groop - Managing Partner & co-founder @ First Fellow Partners

## Vladimir Ashurkov
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Electronics, Cloud Computing

Vladimir Ashurkov

## Jaakko Ollila
- Type: Angel
- Location: Helsinki, Southern Finland, Finland
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: SaaS, Hotel, Events

Jaakko Ollila - VP of International Sales @ Booxmedia

## Sasha Markvo
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Electronics, Cloud Computing

Sasha Markvo

## 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.

## Timo Rein
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Seed
- Focus: Hardware, Software, Data and Analytics

Timo Rein is an individual investor.

## Kari Ahola
- Type: Angel
- Relevant deals: 1
- Stages: Series A
- Focus: Mobile, Software, Telecommunications

Kari Ahola is the Senior Vice President at Nokia.

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