Our Insights

In 2009, the future of Rovio was at stake. With bankruptcy looming as a distinct possibility, there were only two choices left: succumb to failure or chart a new, unforeseen course – with a sprinkle of luck.

In 2004, 28-year-old Mikael Hed joined his younger cousin's mobile gaming venture to help them monetize the games. But in a time when cell phones were not yet smart and mobile games were not considered real games, finding a viable business model seemed almost impossible.

EGP is proud to announce an investment in Yazen, a service combining a multidisciplinary team of experts and lifestyle support with weight-loss medication to tackle obesity. Yazen raised an oversubscribed round of €19.5M Series A, and with a proven track record in Sweden, they will continue their success by scaling into European markets.

After steering Lukiolaisten Kirjakauppa for a solid decade, Asikainen found himself yearning for a change of scenery. However, much like many other long-time entrepreneurs, navigating the transition to a new everyday life after the exit often proves to be easier said than done.

Lukiolaisten Kirjakauppa, a book agency that Riku Asikainen started as a high school hustle in 1992, quickly grew to a million-mark business. For Asikainen, the main challenge became to try to sustain the momentum and navigate through a decade-long legal battle.

In recent years, numerous well-funded initiatives have aimed to digitize the beauty appointment industry. Despite these efforts, booking beauty appointments remains largely analogue in many parts of Europe. Planity has seized this opportunity to build a rapidly growing, efficient platform that addresses all the must-haves for businesses in the industry. We are thrilled to invest in Planity alongside esteemed investors such as Infravia, Revaia, Credit Mutuel, Bpifrance, Eiffel Investment Group and Alven.

Riku Asikainen grew up surrounded by computers, courtesy of his father’s IT business. However, instead of following his father’s tech-savvy footsteps to become an IT entrepreneur, Asikainen took the Bezos route (before Jeff himself) by becoming a book salesman.

By the early 2000s, Komartek had successfully solidified its presence in both national and international markets. However, the idea of an exit had never been strongly considered within the company. Ari Korhonen, the co-founder of Komartek, had pondered the idea of passing the company to the next generation, but it was a rather serendipitous twist of fate that eventually led him to exit.

The late 1980s and early 1990s marked a period of new product development and rapid market expansion for Komartek. However, as the severe economic depression of the 1990s hit Finland, similar to many companies, Komartek soon found itself grappling with a debt burden. But how did Korhonen’s decision to sell his company car rescue Komartek from the brink of bankruptcy?

Growing up in a farming family, Ari Korhonen became accustomed to hard work and an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age. Now, Korhonen shares how the energy crisis of the 1970s kick-started his career and what led him from the sugar beet fields to the helm of Komartek, a Finnish vertical software company that would soon become an international success story.