Ari Korhonen

Overview

Ari Korhonen is a Finnish angel investor and entrepreneur with a focus on technology and software industries. He is the founder of Lagoon Capital, a single-family office established in 2007, which invests in early-stage and growth technology companies across sectors such as SaaS, fintech, gaming, and other software-enabled industries. Lagoon Capital deploys evergreen capital and offers hands-on operational expertise to its portfolio companies. Prior to his investment career, Korhonen co-founded Komartek Oyj, a software company specializing in energy and utilities, as well as real estate management. Under his leadership, Komartek expanded internationally and was acquired by WM-Data (now CGI) in 2004, where he served as Vice President. Following the acquisition, he transitioned to full-time angel investing, making investments in 54 companies over 18 years, participating in 165 investment rounds. Notable investments include DealDash, NinaData, Promo Republic, Laserhub, and Videobot, with successful exits from Small Giant Games, Sympa, Severa, Paytrail, Galton Voysey, Octo3, In4mo, The Switch, MariaDB, Miradore, Kiev, and Surveypal. Korhonen has been recognized for his contributions to the startup ecosystem, receiving the Business Angel of the Year award in Finland in 2014. He co-founded the Finnish Business Angels Network (FiBAN) and served as its Vice Chairman from 2010 to 2012. Additionally, he has been an active board member of the European Business Angels Network (EBAN) and Vice-President from 2012 to 2016, earning the EBAN Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He holds a Master of Science degree in engineering from Lappeenranta University of Technology and has been featured in several business magazines and blogs. Korhonen's investment strategy focuses on high-growth companies in the technology and software sectors, with a particular interest in FinTech, AdTech, E-Commerce, and Gaming. He is comfortable with technologies and business models such as SaaS, AI, IoT, and VR/AR. His approach combines financial expertise with an entrepreneurial mindset, aiming to drive innovation and sustainable growth in his portfolio companies.