Vartiainen Joins Sunstone Capital

Pekka Vartiainen has joined Nordic venture capital firm Sunstone Capital as a venture partner. He previously was head of Nokia mobile phones in the United States.

PRESS RELEASE

Nordic venture capital investor Sunstone Capital announced today that Helsinki-based Pekka Vartiainen, former head of Nokia Mobile Phones Americas in the United States, has joined Sunstone Capital as Venture Partner. He contributes to the Sunstone team his unique insight from building and managing world-class operational and sales organizations on three continents, and will act as Sunstone's spearhead for investment opportunities and business partnerships in both Finland and the global wireless space.

Pekka Vartiainen brings to the Sunstone team more than 20 years of pioneering mobile industry experience. In addition to his extensive operational, managerial and industrial skill base, Pekka enjoys a deep knowledge of distribution channels ranging from manufacturing to retail sales, as well as expertise in forming strategic business partnerships and negotiating global alliances with major industrial players.

Pekka currently serves as Partner and Chairman of the Board of Iqua Ltd, a Finland-based Bluetooth device developer founded by former Nokia top executives. Prior to that, he served with Nokia in positions of increasing seniority in Asia, Europe and the United States, most recently running Nokia Mobile Phones Americas in the United States where he also served as a member of Nokia Mobile Phone's Global Management Board. He began his career with Nokia Cellular Systems in the 1980s, where he established and developed the Thailand country organization, and eventually headed the multi-billion Euro EMEA operations of Nokia Telecommunications until 2000. Following more than a decade working with mobile infrastructure systems in Asia and Europe, Pekka then made the shift to the business-to-consumer market when he joined Nokia Mobile Phones in the USA.

“I'm excited to be joining Sunstone's Technology Ventures team, and looking forward to working closely with them. Their combination of international industrial and investment skills, wrapped around a truly global business development strategy, is in my opinion unique in the Nordic landscape,” says Pekka Vartiainen.

“We're honored to have Pekka Vartiainen join Sunstone Capital as Venture Partner. His global mentality, deep industrial knowledge and extensive contact base are a perfect complement to the Technology Ventures team. With Pekka on board, our formal venture partner and advisor network now comprises international industrial experts in Finland, Sweden, USA and UK, across all our core focus areas,” adds Jimmy Fussing Nielsen, Managing Partner, Sunstone Capital Technology Ventures.

Sunstone Capital Technology Ventures' formal network of Venture Partners and Advisors now consists of:

– Pekka Vartiainen, Venture Partner (Finland). Wireless infrastructure and handsets.

– Juha Christensen, Venture Partner (USA). Wireless applications / services, digital media and Internet. Entrepreneur, industrial thought leader and a key pioneer in the development of mobile operating systems and wireless applications.

– Christer F