Markko Vaarnas of Takeoff Partners joins the FiBAN Board of Directors

Finnish Business Angel Network (FiBAN) has elected a new board of directors for 2019. Markko Vaarnas accompanies six other board members to lead FiBAN to another successful year of business angel investing.

FiBAN is a large Finnish non-profit association of private investors. They aim to improve the possibilities for private investments in unlisted potential growth companies. The association is very active and has been extremely successful in what they do, mainly because of the FiBAN network being one the biggest and most active business angel networks in Europe, with over 650 approved members and 100 events annually. FiBAN has also received the Internationalization Award 2017 from Sauli Niinistö, the President of the Republic of Finland.

The new board of directors of FiBAN was elected on November 20^th 2018 during the fall meeting. Markko Vaarnas will join six other experienced and enthusiastic business angels to form the new board, focusing in leading the organization and striving towards a future of increasingly successful business angel investing.

“I’ve been an active member of FiBAN for four years already and thus it’s very interesting to get inside the inner circle. I’m eager to see what’s happening in the field of early stage investment in Finland and I’m sure I’ll gain some new perspective this way”, Markko says in anticipation.

Eficode acquires Takeoff Partners’ portfolio company Avoset

Takeoff Partners has concluded a successful exit as one of its portfolio companies, Avoset, is acquired by Eficode, a key player in Finland among the Atlassian partner businesses.

Software company Lenio successfully completed a €390k funding round, including investment from Takeoff Partners

With the new funding and a larger network of experts inspired by Lenio’s offering and its potential to create success for SMEs, the company is now well placed to continue growth serving domestic clients and further down the line, setting sights abroad.

After surpassing the milestone of 1,000 board meetings, Markko Vaarnas sits down to discuss how growth companies can get the most out of their boards

This fall, Markko Vaarnas surpassed the impressive milestone of having sat in 1,000 board meetings throughout his career. With experience from both sides of the table—as the CEO as well as a board member—he shares his thoughts on how board work has change

With an impressive growth trajectory and a new acquisition, Avoset has become a power to behold among Atlassian consultancies

Avoset, one of Takeoff Partners’ portfolio companies, has rapidly expanded its clientele in Finland. Now, it has acquired a fellow Atlassian consultancy Polar Shift to further enhance its offering, particularly in cloud migration.

We asked CollectiveCrunch Co-CEO Rolf Schmitz about startups and external advisors—you need to recognize your gaps and have the humility to seek outside insight

Takeoff Partners’ portfolio company CollectiveCrunch has jumped on an impressive growth trajectory in the recent years. Co-CEO Rolf Schmitz believes part of the success lies in the founding team’s willingness to seek external advice when needed.

Company culture carried HUONE through the pandemic—it’s a critical resilience factor investors and business leaders should pay attention to

Within the meetings and events industry, the lockdowns caused by the pandemic ended the story of many companies. At Takeoff Partners’ portfolio company HUONE, CEO Evon Blomstedt and her team steered their business through this challenging period.