Ari started as an entrepreneur already in mid-1980’s and, after having successfully sold his company Komartek to WM-Data (currently CGI), he became a full-time angel investor. Ari has invested in 39 companies and 9 venture capital funds, holding several board positions and being a senior advisor of many companies. He has been recognized many times as one of the most influential and successful angel investors of Europe. His portfolio includes success stories such as exited Small Giant Games, Paytrail, Sympa and The Switch, as well as current DealDash, MariaDB, Klevu and Miradore.
The verticals Ari is currently the most interested in include FinTech, AdTech, E-Commerce, and Gaming. He feels the most comfortable with technologies and business models such as SaaS, AI, IoT, and VR/AR.
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.
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