FiBAN Board

Annukka Mickelsson, Chair

Annukka Mickelsson got excited about startup investing during the financial crisis when there was a lack of financing for potential ideas and competent teams. She saw a need for an ecosystem where brainpower meets capital/funding to build new growth. She became a FiBAN member in 2015 to learn in practice about startups’ growth paths. Today, the majority of investments are directed to data analytics and services. Annukka’s background is in the real-estate and financial sector as well as politics. She has long experience in team leading and board work.

Kim Väisänen, Vice Chair

​Kim is an angel investor with an entrepreneurial background and mindset. He became a full-time investor in 2015 after having sold his company to the London Stock Exchange and has today invested in almost 30 companies in different fields.  One of his portfolio companies is Framery that has grown fast and won the Internationalization Award of the President of the Republic of Finland. Kim describes his approach to angel investing as a co-entrepreneur. “I put a bit of my time, effort, and money and we try to make things greater, bigger, and better – together. I have always said that if you have been successful you have to share it and help the other well as politics. She has long experience in team leading and board work. ​

Elina Koivumäki

After 17 years in large Finnish law firms, Elina Koivumäki quit her partnership and founded her own law firm Lexperience in 2016. Elina specializes in legal issues related to sales, marketing, communication, social media, copyright, and data protection. In 2018 she started also as a co-founder of Growpolis, a new one-stop-shop platform, and ecosystem for B2B services, simplifying companies’ growth journeys. Since 2016 Elina has been an angel investor with e.g. Kyrö Distillery Company, Naava, and GraphoGame & Claned in her portfolio, and joined FiBAN in 2020. Elina works also as a professional speaker, moderator, and host, and is the author of the awarded “Marketing law” book series. Elina’s registered trademark is “It’s all about people” and she strongly believes in the importance of communication skills.

Eljas Repo

Eljas is an entrepreneur in the communications industry and running Repo Media. He is currently the Vice-Chair of the Pro Opera Association, a member of the Board of the Exchange Club, and the Chair of the Badminton Division. He is also a member of the Board of the listed company Ovaro Kiinteistösijoitus Oyj, a member of Taikina Capital, a board member of a few startups, and he is a Senior Advisor at Directors´ Institute Finland.

Esa Kinnunen

Esa Kinnunen started his career in international technology companies flying around the globe for a 15 years period. In late 2011, Esa moved on to the startup-entrepreneur phase, when he co-founded Nordcloud company and expanded it to the international market at a fast pace.  After a successful exit from Nordcloud, Esa continues as an angel investor and board professional in several fast-growing companies. His motto is “What would you do if you were not afraid of anything?”

Noora Fagerström

Noora is the co-founder of Jungle Juice Bar. After being an entrepreneur and a business angel for quite some time, she has now taken the role of being in the FiBAN board. Noora was awarded as The Growth Company Leader of the Year in 2019, and she has received the Veuve Clicquot New Generation award in 2016 for being a successful female leader. Her motto is “if you don’t take risks, you won’t achieve anything”.

Tuomas Pahlman

Tuomas worked for ten years in two co-founded startups. Both were sold to Public listed industrial buyers and after the second exit, he was teased to experience the fame and pain of corporate life and served a couple of years as a Global Head of Digital Development at Sealed Air Corporation. Now Tuomas is getting back to the scene as an angel investor, focusing on software, analytics, and sensor companies, but even more, he wants to actively mentor founder teams through pain and confusion of the early days.

Board 2021
Reima Linnanvirta, Chair
Annukka Mickelsson, Vice Chair
Esa Kinnunen
Kim Väisänen
Noora Fagerström
Saga Forss
Tuomas Pahlman

Board 2020
Reima Linnanvirta, Chair
Teemu Varpanen, Vice Chair
Noora Fagerström
Saga Forss
Annukka Mickelsson
Esa Mäkeläinen
Tuomas Pahlman

Board 2019
Janne Jormalainen, Chair
Reima Linnanvirta, Vice Chair
Saga Forss
Esa Mäkeläinen
Ali Omar
Markko Vaarnas
Teemu Varpanen

Board 2018
Janne Jormalainen, Chair
Sami Etula, Vice Chair
Pia Erkinheimo
Esa Mäkeläinen
Ali Omar
Torsti Tenhunen
Teemu Varpanen

Board 2017
Torsti Tenhunen, Chair
Pontus Stråhlman, Vice Chair
Anna-Kaarina Lipsanen
Esa Mäkeläinen
Mirja Laulajainen
Janne Jormalainen
Sami Etula

Board 2016
Jaakko Salminen, Chair
Torsti Tenhunen, Vice Chair
Anna-Kaarina Lipsanen
Kaisa Hernberg
Harry Brade
Juha Saarinen
Pontus Stråhlman

Board 2015
Jaakko Salminen, Chair
Anna-Kaarina Lipsanen, Vice-Chair
Aarne Sipilä
Ari Hyppönen
Harry Brade
Juha Kurkinen
Torsti Tenhunen

Board 2014
Riku Asikainen, Chair
Jaakko Salminen, Vice-Chair
Aarne Sipilä
Anne Berner
Ari Hyppönen
Juha Kurkinen
Pekka Vartiainen

Board 2013
Riku Asikainen, Chair
Jaakko Salminen, Vice-Chair
Ari Hyppönen
Jaakko Salminen
Marika Af Enehjelm
Pekka Vartiainen
Tapio Heikkilä

Board 2012
Juha Kurkinen, Chair
Ari Korhonen, Vice-Chair
Feodor Aminoff
Jussi Heinilä
Mammu Kaario
Riku Asikainen
Tapio Heikkilä

Board 2011
Juha Kurkinen, Chair
Ari Korhonen, Vice-Chair
Feodor Aminoff
Jussi Heinilä
Mammu Kaario
Riku Asikainen
Tapio Heikkilä

The Founders of FiBAN