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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    Acquired by Quest Analytics

  • Fredrik Schauman (CEO)
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  • Rudi Skogman (CEO), Juha Jokela, Samu Hautala, Olli Gunst
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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), Christopher Carstens
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  • Heather Anne Halpert, Linda Avey (CEO), Mitsuharu Hadeishi
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  • Harri Valpola (CEO), Antti Rasmus, Timo Haanpää, Mathias Berglund, Tapani Raiko
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  • Kai Karttunen (CEO), Marusa Filic
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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

  • Sakke Järvenpää
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  • Ari Ketola (CEO), Veikko Latvala
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  • Fredrik Kekäläinen (CEO), Johan Engström
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  • Aki Järvilehto (CEO), Markus Tuppurainen, Mika Tammenkoski
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    Exited to Supercell

  • 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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  • Hannu Lepomäki, Jorma Eloranta, Esko Aho, Eera Industrial Development
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  • Hannu Rajaniemi (CEO), Nikolai Eroshenko, Carina Namih
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  • Pekka Laurila, Rafal Modrzewski (CEO)
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  • Janne Haverinen (CEO)
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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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  • 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

  • Ville Mujunen (CEO), Jari Jaanto, Antti Laakso, Heini Björk
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  • 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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  • Sebastian Nemeth (CEO), Katharina Schilli, Otto Markkanen
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  • Nikolaj Nyholm (CEO), Jakob Lund Kristensen
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  • Mika Kasanen (CEO), Atte Kekkonen, Kari Kasanen
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  • Istvan Csanady (CEO)
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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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  • Pasi Vainikka (CEO), Juha-Pekka Pitkänen
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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

  • Sami Marttinen (CEO), Jiri Heinonen
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  • Antti Ritvanen, Harri Hallila (CEO), Juha Haaja
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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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    Acquired by Vaisala

  • 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

Founding story:  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.

What we do:  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
    Founding 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
    Partner

    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
    Founding 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
    Partner & CFO

    Before joining Lifeline Ventures, Samuli worked in various finance roles in corporate treasuries, investment banking and startups/SMEs. 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. Joined Lifeline in May 2016.

    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 previous 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 @AYisGOD: The Clash Royale League World Finals Made Me Believe in Esports https://t.co/eV6QCT8ACE via @pastemagazine Extremely good art…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @AppStore: Get familiar with Brawl Stars and all its awesomeness. https://t.co/LtUPeBFiKv

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @elinalepomaki: Kymmenen syytä, miksi tarvitsemme keväällä myös talousvaalit. #eduskuntavaalit https://t.co/4S6nEYM8Au https://t.co/Wq5P

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @DonaldPJames: I was pleased to join @SlushHQ Chairman Timo Ahopelto on stage to kick off this afternoon’s Executive Track. We’ll be loo…

    Timo Ahopelto
    @timomj

  • RT @filsdeproust: Elina maalaa isoa kuvaa. Lisäisin, että olemme törmäämässä omiin resurssirajoitteisiimme. Ilmastovaalien lisäksi tarvitaa…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • ... and now #1 in downloads in the U.S. as well! So humbled & grateful for our passionate players! We have a long &… https://t.co/Ii0C0Hu7kj

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • Even if I do not personally think about Brawl Stars as battle royale game, it was very nice to read this article :)… https://t.co/lIlVtcktBT

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • Hei kaikki, ja varsinkin yli 30v koodauksesta kiinnostuneet! Toinen hieno koodauskouluhanke alkamassa, ottakaahan s… https://t.co/zXzXRbKLSY

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @sannigrahn: Avoimen, kansainvälisen Suomen puolesta. Kielten opetus aikaistuu ensi vuoden ekaluokkalaisilla alkamaan heti 1. luokalla.…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ClashofClans: In case you missed the BIG news, @BrawlStars has gone GLOBAL! 🎉 Join or start a Band with friends to share tactics and f…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @gamesfirst: Meet the Speakers #2 Gabriel Rivaud quit a career in law to join Voodoo. After working as Publishing Manager and setting up…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @hackJunction: So, what kind of projects did our #Junction2018 hackers create during the weekend? The variety and creativity across all…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @ipaananen: Strong start for Brawl Stars in Japan and in Korea - #1 in downloads in both countries! https://t.co/0DNxh92H9M

    Petteri Koponen
    @hoopeekoo

  • RT @TribeGaming: 🚨 GLOBAL LAUNCH IS HERE! 🚨 Want to play Brawl like a pro? We're giving away a @Razer Phone 2 + a Kraken Pro v2 headset! 😍…

    Ilkka Paananen
    @ipaananen

  • RT @pvesterbacka: Walking on water :) #FinEstBayArea #heartofeurasia https://t.co/zViz93l14l

    Timo Ahopelto
    @timomj

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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