Top Angel Investors in Finland
Finland's top angel investors include Ali Omar, Ilkka Paananen, Leena Niemisto, David Helgason, Risto Siilasmaa, Jyri Engestrom, and Mikael Hed, backing startups across medtech, gaming, healthtech, and climate tech. Finland ranks as the 7th country with the most vibrant startup ecosystem in Western Europe. The country has a population of 5.5 million and is known to be a hub for gaming, bioeconomy, clean and smart technologies.
AngelMatch tracks 600+ active investors in Finland, and many of them fund early-stage startups directly. Below is the list of the top 7 angel investors in Finland, along with their investment interests.
Top 7 Angel Investors in Finland
The following is a list of some of the top angel investors in Finland. Before diving in, note that the list features investors based in and outside Finland.
It is recommended to conduct in-depth research before applying to an investor meeting.
Ali Omar
LinkedIn: Ali Omar
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Medtech
Investment Stage: Early
Ali Omar is a well-known angel investor with a background as a medical doctor, private investor, and entrepreneur. He has made 50-plus investments, most of them at early stage.
Ali Omar usually funds startups in the medical and tech sectors. He prefers businesses that provide unique services and solve problems. Once invested, Ali Omar also guides his portfolio companies through different stages. He is an active participant in networking events and startup accelerators through which he makes most of his investments.
The investment range of Ali Omar typically runs up to $50,000. Some of his portfolio companies are:
Plain Complex: Plain Complex is a company that provides AI and deep learning powered software services. They also provide a roster management system, healthcare roster management, and a roster scheduling system for healthcare services.
MO Foods: MO Foods is a company located in Lohtaja. They produce domestic, completely herbal, and delicious plant-based dairy products in its home region of Central Ostrobothnia.
Alvar Pet: Alvar Pet is a company based in Helsinki, Southern Finland. They offer personalized meal plans based on the dog's individual needs, formulate their recipes using sustainable ingredients, and minimize CO2 emissions.
Ilkka Paananen
LinkedIn: Ilkka Paananen
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Tech, AI, and Digital Businesses
Investment Stage: Early
Founder and CEO of Supercell, Ilkka Paananen, is also an active angel investor in Finland. He has made around 40 startup investments through his family office, Illusian.
When funding startups, Ilkka Paananen prefers startups related to the software and gaming sectors. He prioritizes companies with a high ROI and strong business models that can easily scale internationally.
Once a startup has secured an investment, Ilkka Paananen also provides mentorship services to his portfolio companies. Thanks to his experience at Supercell, Paananen has in-depth knowledge of the games and consumer software industry.
Paananen typically writes checks in the $50,000 to $100,000 range. Notable portfolio companies are:
Arcane: Arcane (legally Arcane Intelligence) is a London-based AI co-pilot for marketers. It automates repetitive marketing tasks, such as campaign monitoring and reporting, across email, social, paid, and organic channels.
Noice: Noice is an audio streaming app. It offers songs, radio channels, podcasts, downloads, and voice recording features.
Getpaid: Getpaid is a digital payment platform that helps platforms and marketplaces gain value from payments across revenue potential, data, and business insights.
Leena Niemisto
LinkedIn: Leena Niemisto
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Healthtech and Biotech
Investment Stage: Early and Seed
Having a special interest in health technology-related companies, Leena Niemisto has been recognized as a Finnish Business Angel of the Year by FiBAN, the Finnish Business Angels Network.
Funding startups for almost a decade now, she invests in businesses that are producing something unique and leaving a positive impact. She highly emphasizes emerging technology and invests in startups with the lowest competition.
The investment range of Leena Niemisto is reported to lie between $25,000 to $500,000. Some of her portfolio companies are:
Nightingale Health: This is a health technology company that is transforming preventive care. They envision a world that prioritizes keeping people healthy rather than solely treating illnesses.
Surgify: Surgify is a medical technology company that develops surgical drill technology.
FinnAdvance: FinnAdvance is a biotechnology company that has developed microfluidic devices for in-vitro microvascular network generation.
David Helgason
LinkedIn: David Helgason
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Tech
Investment Stage: Early
David Helgason is an active investor across various startup stages, from idea to go-to-market. He has backed dozens of companies across the Nordics, Europe, and the US, with several notable exits.
Helgason invests broadly across Europe, favoring founders with unique ideas and strong growth potential, and has been a regular angel in the Finnish startup scene alongside his Unity Technologies and Transition Ventures work.
Check sizes for David Helgason typically scale from the tens of thousands of dollars into the low hundreds of thousands, depending on the deal.
Flowrite: Flowrite is a Helsinki-based AI writing tool that turns short prompts into ready-to-send emails and messages, built on top of OpenAI's language models.
Risto Siilasmaa
LinkedIn: Risto Siilasmaa
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Software
Investment Stage: Early and Seed
Risto Siilasmaa is a well-known angel investor, the founder and chairman of F-Secure, and former chairman of Nokia. He has been an active investor in several technology startups and usually invests at the early and seed stages.
Siilasmaa is known for a distinctive investment mindset: he has written that startups motivate him through "soft values" rather than "maximum returns" alone, referring to founders pursuing genuinely innovative ideas.
Aside from investment activities, Risto Siilasmaa also guides his portfolio companies through First Fellow Partners, the fund he founded. Some of his portfolio companies are:
The Upright Project: The Upright Project is a company that operates in the Business/Productivity Software industry. It develops a quantification platform that calculates the net impact profile of products and services.
Enevo: Enevo is a Finnish company that used wireless sensors and predictive analytics to optimize waste collection routes for municipalities and haulers, cutting operating costs for its customers.
Aiven: Aiven is a company that operates in the Database Software industry. It develops open-source data platforms that serve all the database needs wherever needed.
Jyri Engestrom
LinkedIn: Jyri Engestrom
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Consumer and Deep Tech
Investment Stage: Early and Seed
Jyri Engestrom is a well-known angel investor and a co-founder of Yes VC. Aside from being an angel investor, Jyri Engestrom is also an entrepreneur and has founded two startups, Jaiku (acquired by Google) and Ditto (acquired by Groupon).
During the investment process, Engestrom usually invests in the early stages, but his portfolio also has some seed-stage investments. Like most other investors, Jyri Engestrom also likes to invest in startups led by experienced entrepreneurs building products with strong scaling potential.
Some of his portfolio companies are:
Dapper Labs: Dapper Labs uses blockchain technology to bring new forms of digital engagement to fans worldwide. They are the creators of CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot.
Oura: Oura is a health technology company known for its wellness ring and app. The Oura Ring tracks key signals from your body while you sleep, delivering critical insights to help you build good habits, optimize your performance, and catch potential health issues early.
Mikael Hed
LinkedIn: Mikael Hed
Investor Type: Individual Investor
Investment Interests: Consumer, Gaming, and Sustainability
Investment Stage: Early and Seed
Mikael Hed is an individual angel investor, former CEO of Rovio, and also chairman at Kaiken Entertainment. He has invested in several businesses, and his portfolio spans consumer, gaming, and sustainability-focused startups.
Startup leaders can reach out to Mikael Hed through his LinkedIn or meet him through related startup events. He is usually active in attending startup accelerators and networking events, meeting with startup leaders, and hearing out their ideas.
Some of his previously funded companies are:
Naava: Naava is a nature-inspired technology company from the Nordics. It is a leader in living green walls and biological indoor air purification with proprietary software and patented technology.
CGTrader: CGTrader is a large source for licensable stock and custom 3D models, with millions of models on its platform and a large global community of designers and buyers.
Goodio: Goodio is a manufacturer and supplier of confectionery products. It offers vegan, organic, and gluten-free chocolates, bars, and flavors.
Wrap-Up
Finally, it needs to be well-understood that not every angel investor has a similar mindset.
That is why before pitching to angel investors, you need to strongly research their portfolio companies, their pitching preferences, and their individual investment interests. It also helps to make sure your startup is genuinely ready to pitch; this 15-point investability checklist is a useful place to start.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do angel investors in Finland typically invest?
Check sizes among active Finnish angels vary widely, from around $5,000 for smaller early bets up to several hundred thousand dollars for high-conviction deals. Many, including those active through individual angel networks like FiBAN, syndicate with other angels to spread risk across a round.
What industries do Finnish angel investors focus on?
Finnish angels are especially active in gaming, healthtech and medtech, climate technology, and software. Investors with operating backgrounds, such as former Supercell or Rovio executives, often favor consumer and gaming startups, while physician-investors lean toward healthtech.
How do I get in front of angel investors in Finland?
Most Finnish angels are reachable through their LinkedIn profiles, FiBAN membership, or Nordic startup events such as Slush and Arctic15. A warm introduction from a founder they have already backed is typically more effective than a cold email. See how the scene compares in Sweden and Denmark.
