Samuli Pehkonen joins Startup Foundation as Interim CEO: "Finland should be where the world's best deep tech founders build"
Samuli Pehkonen steps in as Interim CEO of Startup Foundation to help reverse Finland's declining startup formation rate, with a focus on international talent and deep tech.
Samuli Pehkonen takes on the role of Interim CEO of Startup Foundation at a critical moment for Finland's startup ecosystem. A startup founder, growth operator for companies such as Realm and Flow AI, and former CMO of Slush, Samuli brings years of experience from both company-building and ecosystem-building.
His appointment comes as Finland faces a worrying trend: the number of new startups founded each year has continued to decline since many of today's leading Finnish growth companies emerged.
For Samuli, the thinning founder pipeline is the single biggest obstacle to reaching the ecosystem's shared 100x100 goal: building 100 Finnish Centaurs, growth companies that surpass €100 million in annual revenue.
He believes the path forward is clear.
"All the leading startup ecosystems have grown by becoming magnets for international talent. In the US, 59% of unicorns have at least one immigrant founder. Finland is a small country with an aging population, and we cannot expect to reaccelerate startup formation on home-grown talent alone,” Samuli argues.
The pattern is already visible in some of Finland's most promising growth companies, Samuli says: "ICEYE, IQM, and Verda were co-founded by people who moved here from abroad. We must do everything we can to make Finland the obvious choice for the next Rafal, Jan, and Ruben to land, stay, and build.”
Attracting talent starts with giving ambitious founders a clear reason to choose Finland. In deep tech, Samuli believes that reason already exists.
"These recent success stories are living proof that Finland can be the best place in the world to build deep tech. We have the research, engineering talent, and patient capital. Now it is about doubling down on our strengths and accelerating the momentum in clusters such as satellites and quantum,” he encourages.
At the same time, reversing the trend will require a joint effort across the entire ecosystem, from grassroots founder communities and growth companies to universities, investors, and the public sector.
"We need to direct more of our research and education resources toward the fields where we can genuinely lead, remove friction for international talent to choose and stay in Finland, create real incentives to build here, and much more. The collective to-do list is long, but that only means we need to get to work”.
However, Samuli also stresses that Finland cannot afford to become inward-looking. Global competition is more fierce than ever, and we must continue to learn from the world's leading startup ecosystems.
"The best way to raise your ambition level and clockspeed is still to spend time in Silicon Valley. A record number of Finnish startups, including deep tech founders, made it to Y Combinator in 2026, and we will keep helping more to get there, because they import the right mindset, networks, and capital back to Finland,” he adds.
Startup Foundation continues to advance its mission of creating more founders through grant programs for aspiring entrepreneurs and new not-for-profit initiatives that strengthen the startup ecosystem. This year, the Foundation will distribute over €280,000 in grants to early-stage entrepreneurs and new initiatives.
All of the Foundation's work serves the same long-term 100x100 goal.
"Reaching the goal would have a GDP-level impact, create a new wave of Finnish Decacorns, and potentially produce Finland's first startup worth €100 billion," Samuli concludes.
