WE CO-CREATE COMPANIES IN HEALTH, WEB, GAMES AND TECH.

In tough times, we would like the entrepreneurs to reach out to us first.

Latest Strong News

Investments

  • Oskari Saarenmaa (CEO), Heikki Nousiainen, Mika Eloranta, Hannu Valtonen
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  • Mika Kanninen (CEO), Lauri Pulkkinen, Jari Koskinen, Kimmo Valo
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  • Matias Tainela (CEO), Bo Malmberg, Petro Moilanen, Timo Rauhala, Edward Haeggström
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  • Mikko Ikola (CEO), Simo Suoheimo, Arno Paula
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  • Jalmari Raippalinna, Jussi Laakkonen (CEO), Matti Savolainen, Pekka Aakko
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    Acquired by Unity

  • Kim Forsman (CEO), Perttu Jalkanen, Hannu Krosing
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  • Ari Tulla (CEO) Tapio Tolvanen
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  • Fredrik Schauman (CEO)
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  • Mika Raento, Pekka Uronen, Teemu Kurppa (CEO)
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  • Joerg Ott, Marcin Nagy, Varun Singh (CEO)
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  • Anselm Levskaya, Austen Heinz (CEO), George Church, John Mulligan, Lukman Winoto, Reese Jones, Sagar Indurkhya
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  • Pia Henrietta Kekäläinen (CEO), Sam Van Wesenbeeck, Christopher Carstens
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  • Heather Anne Halpert, Linda Avey (CEO), Mitsuharu Hadeishi
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  • Heikki Länsisyrjä (CEO), Jukka Virkkunen, Mika Vainio-Mattila
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  • Antti Sunnari (CEO), Juuso Olkkonen, Jyrki Saarinen
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  • Jyri Engeström (CEO), Ulf Schwekendiek
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    Acquired by Groupon

  • Ari Ketola (CEO), Veikko Latvala
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  • Hannu Lepomäki (CEO), Jorma Eloranta, Esko Aho, Eera Industrial Development
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  • Fredrik Kekäläinen (CEO), Johan Engström
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  • Aki Järvilehto (CEO), Markus Tuppurainen, Mika Tammenkoski
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  • Nick Heller (CEO), Andreas Signer
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  • Celine Pasula, Harri Granholm, Harri Hätinen, Jarno Wuolijoki, Markus Pasula (CEO), Mikko Lindstedt, Mikko Wilkman, Roope Kangas
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  • Andreas Karlsson, Mikko Hämäläinen, Teemu Tuulari, Ville Vesterinen (CEO)
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  • Pekka Laurila, Rafal Modrzewski (CEO)
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  • Janne Haverinen (CEO)
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  • Antti Laakso, Heini Varjonen, Jari Jaanto, Ville Mujunen (CEO)
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  • Kai Karttunen (CEO), Marusa Filic
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  • HJ Jost (CEO), Aleksei Shcherbinin, Mikko Sipilä
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  • Miska Kaipiainen (CEO), Jari Kolehmainen, Lauri Nevala
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  • Sakke Järvenpää
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  • Alice Taylor (CEO), Joanna Roach, Luke Petre, Sulka Haro
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  • Tommi Pisto (CEO), Mika Hämäläinen
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  • Aleksi Soini (CEO), Janne Koskinen
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  • Olli Kallioniemi, Sami Kilpinen, Tommi Pisto (CEO)
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  • Jukka Planman, Kristian Ranta (CEO), Tuomas Planman
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  • Kristian Ranta (CEO), Albert Nazander, Riku Lindholm
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  • Antti Laitinen, Ilona Lindholm, Juha Leinonen, Olli Sinerma, Ville Kivistö (CEO)
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  • Toni Soini (CEO), Lauri Koskinen, Jani Mäkipää
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  • Matthew Wiggins (CEO), Alan Harding
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  • Aapo Kyrölä, Aleksi Aaltonen, Sampo Karjalainen (CEO)
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    Acquired by Facebook

  • Henric Suuronen, Henrik Karlström, Juha Paananen (CEO), Teemu Ikonen
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    Acquired by King.com

  • Jarkko Väinämö, Tuomas Riski (CEO)
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  • Teemu Päivinen (CEO), Kane Waltman
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  • Akseli Hemminki, Pekka Simula, Franz Wuite (CEO)
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    Acquired by Targovax

  • Jaakko Suoknuuti, Janita Leinonen, Noora Keskievari (CEO
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  • Ami Rubinstein (CEO), Levon Gasparyan
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  • Kari Kivelä, Petteri Lahtela (CEO)
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  • Gerald Goldstein, Itamar Lesuisse (CEO), Sagi Shorrer, Xavier Louis
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    Acquired by Hachette Livre

  • Rami Korhonen (CEO), Timo Kari
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  • Nikolaj Nyholm (CEO), Jakob Lund Kristensen
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  • Antti Virolainen, Juho Makkonen (CEO)
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  • Kristo Ovaska (CEO), Tuomo Riekki
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  • Sami Kuusela, Toni Laturi (CEO)
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  • Jani Virtanen, Tuomas Neuvonen (CEO)
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  • Ilkka Rämö, Jutta Haaramo (CEO)
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  • Joshua Zloof (CEO), Kalle Freese
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  • Suvi Haimi (CEO), Laura Kyllönen
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  • Ilkka Paananen (CEO), Lassi Leppinen, Mikko Kodisoja, Niko Derome, Petri Styrman, Visa Forsten
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    Exited to SoftBank

  • Antti Ritvanen, Harri Hallila (CEO), Juha Haaja
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  • Harri Valpola (CEO), Antti Rasmus, Timo Haanpää, Mathias Berglund, Tapani Raiko
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  • Ulla Engeström (CEO)
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  • Akseli Hemminki (CEO)
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  • Kai Bäckman (CEO), Mikko Mononen
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    Acquired by Autodesk

  • Anna Ronkainen, Heikki Vesalainen, Matti Kokkola, Mikael Kolehmainen (CEO)
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  • Pyry Takala (CEO), Abhishek Aggarwal
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  • Jessica Richman (CEO), Zachary Apte
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  • Otso Mäkinen (CEO)
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  • Heikki Aura, Veli-Pekka Marin (CEO)
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  • Antti Aunio, Juuso Nissilä, Aki Backman (CEO)
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  • Urho Konttori (CEO), Klaus Melakari, Roope Rainisto, Niko Eiden
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  • Markus Melander, Petri Hienonen, Mikko Haavisto, Kimmo Rauma, Mika Leivo
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  • Antti Jäderholm, Jaakko Manninen, Kaarlo Kananen (CEO), Wendell Davis
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  • Elias Pietilä, Juhani Mykkänen, Lauri Andler, Mika Matikainen, Miki Kuusi (CEO), Oskari Pétas
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  • Harri Valpola, Jufo Peltomaa, Timo Taalas (CEO), Tuomas Lukka
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  • Antti Uusiheimala, Harri Hursti
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Startup Life

Supercell deal team in Tokyo

Ville posing with virtual Ben

Ilkka and Timur relaxing in SF

Some nice R&R in Italy

Jorma and Timo at Slush 2014

Fredrik Kekäläinen, entrepreneur

John, Jussi and David after a handshake deal

Brainstorming at Lifeline's

Nikolaj knows how to do conf calls

John having a island dinner with gaming entrepreneurs

Guillaume pitches hard, but Anil stays cool

Markus, Celine and Mikko at sea

Kristian interviews Ilkka and the creators of Game of Thrones in Barcelona

A chef explains Noma's philosophy

Our co-investors David and Ken during Supercell's board meeting

Mark, Jussi and SF flower power

Mikael Kolehmainen, entrepreneur

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Team

We are entrepreneurs who became investors almost by accident. We made a few angel investments together and, over time, realised that the Nordic market badly needed early-stage investors with entrepreneurial backgrounds. We also noticed that working with entrepreneurs is tremendously fun. In addition, we seemed to be able to help many of them realise their vision. We therefore became full-time investors and have never looked back.

We invest in early-stage companies that we are passionate about and that we believe we can help, often based on our experience as founders and CxOs of various companies.

  • Timo Ahopelto
    Partner

    Timo has worked in several industries, ranging from biotech to apps, digital media and process technology. He earned his entrepreneur MBA from CRF Health, a software and services company that he co-founded, developed into a global market leader and successfully exited in 2015. Timo’s free time flies with family, ice hockey, iron and in Lapland skiing-hikes.

    LinkedIn profile

  • Kai Backman
    Operator in Residence

    Kai is a builder of all things, but mostly things of software. He has worked on massive distributed systems at Google and founded Tinkercad and Airstone to create cutting edge products for emerging market segments. A tinkerer at heart he is particularly interested in advanced manufacturing and robotics. When needing a break he spends time with his family renovating a 19th century farmhouse using traditional craftsmanship.

  • Petteri Koponen
    Partner

    Petteri has founded five companies, including Jaiku and First Hop. In addition to the various startup CxO roles and board memberships, he has been the chairman of Supercell, Grand Cru and Everywear Games. Petteri has experienced public companies as a board member of Elisa, Finland’s largest telco, in addition to working for Google in Mountain View and London after its acquisition of Jaiku. In his free time, Petteri hangs out with his family, pumps iron, plays games, writes (toy) code, and enjoys books and movies.

    LinkedIn profile

  • Samuli Leppänen
    Associate

    Samuli has worked in analyst and controller roles in corporate treasuries, investment banking and startups. He holds a Master’s degree in Finance from Aalto University School of Business. Samuli enjoys spending his free time with family and friends, sports, movies and learning new stuff.

    LinkedIn profile

  • Juha Lindfors
    Partner

    Juha joined Lifeline in January 2016, and has been investing together with Petteri and Timo since 2010. Juha has been an active early-stage investor and he has long experience from the growth-focused private ownership model, working with the best private equity firms in the region. He was previously a partner with EQT, a leading private equity firm. Juha likes to spend his free time doing things with his family; he’s also a keen reader and an occasional runner.

  • Ilkka Paananen
    Advisor

    Ilkka, the CEO of Lifeline’s portfolio company Supercell, is a games entrepreneur with 10+ years of experience in growing organizations from the founding team to a size of few hundreds. Before Supercell, Ilkka was a President at Digital Chocolate, running its Studios in Helsinki, Barcelona and Silicon Valley. In his free time, Ilkka enjoys time with his family and tries to find time for sports, music and books.

    LinkedIn profile

Latest News

Follow us at Twitter: @hoopeekoo, @ipaananen and @timomj

  • RT @ClashRoyale: 2v2 Cannon Cart Challenge starts now! Get 1 free entry and unlock this new card early! ???? https://t.co/LndfoJqvzJ

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @HCTPS: Tasan 3 viikkoa Turun kiekkokauden alkuun! ???? Tsekkaa TPS Cupin aikataulut ja hanki lippusi NYT: https://t.co/MPssKTksAT #HCTPS h…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ClashRoyale: Introducing a New Card: Unlockable in tomorrow's 2v2 Cannon Cart Challenge! https://t.co/3ITbMRiuQG

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @InkaM: Great stats and analysis on #Helsinki as a startup hub. Time to open doors for talent to boost growth. https://t.co/DFdYQSJEyh

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @rsiilasmaa: Samoin valmistuminen suomalaisesta yliopistosta => automaattinen työlupa. https://t.co/0OvKnk5RRl

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @InkaM: Juuri näin. Jousto helpottaisi erityisesti startup- ja kasvuyritysten rekrytointeja. https://t.co/fuI37e0RdR

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ClashRoyale: Celebrate your 2v2 buddy by making a video with them! Go here: https://t.co/8ulvotBMqw https://t.co/dmEsSfcdZZ

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ernotaur: Google Spent 2 Years Studying 180 Teams. The Most Successful Ones Shared These 5 Traits @MSchneiderTwts https://t.co/FABfY19r…

    Timo Ahopelto
    @timomj

  • RT @TietoSuomi: Miten Helsingistä tehdään kansainvälinen #startup-keskus? Kuuntele podcastimme, mukana @tanelitikka ja @timomj https://t.co…

    Timo Ahopelto
    @timomj

  • RT @MikaIhamuotila: Suomessa parhaat puheenvuorot tulevat politiikan ulkopuolelta. Lue tämä Slush-vaikuttajien haastattelu. Samaa mieltä ht…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @suviaherto: @filsdeproust @YrjoAho @juhamac @pvesterbacka @arilanamaki @Pia_Pakarinen @MariaZeroOne @Vapaavuori @tluoma Annamme muille…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @YrjoAho: @pvesterbacka @juhamac @arilanamaki @Pia_Pakarinen @MariaZeroOne @Vapaavuori @tluoma @filsdeproust Mikä estää #Suomi a tekemää…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @YrjoAho: @juhamac @pvesterbacka @arilanamaki @Pia_Pakarinen @MariaZeroOne @Vapaavuori @tluoma @filsdeproust Perheellisiä ja firmoja vet…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @juhamac: @pvesterbacka @arilanamaki @Pia_Pakarinen @MariaZeroOne @Vapaavuori @tluoma @filsdeproust Tehdään mieluummin sitä infraa, joka…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ilkkakivimaki: Rohkeasti kohti uusia mahdollisuuksia. Meillä on Suomessa kaikki tulevaisuuden avaimet omissa käsissä - käytetään niitä…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

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Contact Us

We would love to hear from you!

To get to touch with us, please send a short email to either Timo or Petteri at firstname (at) lifelineventures.com

Our lair:

Pursimiehenkatu 26 C (7th floor)
00150 Helsinki