Funding the next horizon of learning

Focus

Sparkmind.vc is the first Nordic venture capital company focused on the learning sector. We invest in teams transforming early childhood, K12, higher, secondary and vocational education as well as corporate and lifelong learning. Our geographical home field is Europe, while we can also selectively do investments outside the region. We invest from seed to international growth phase with single investments up to €5m.

If you can deliver better learning outcomes, increased access, improved process efficiency or actionable insight from data, we would love to hear from you.

Team

We are driven by passion for learning and entrepreneurship. With versatile backgrounds, we offer you 50 years of relevant experience in the learning industry, growth entrepreneurship and venture capital.

Partner

Kai Talas

Kai is a learning industry and edtech specialist with extensive experience in strategy, business development, VC and M&A. His career covers companies from tech startups to listed multinational corporations. Prior to Sparkmind, Kai led strategy, venture investments and M&A at Sanoma Learning, Europe’s leading learning company.

kai@sparkmind.vc
+358 40 179 2044

Partner

Vesa Laakso

Vesa is a VC professional with broad skillset for developing startup and growth phase companies. Being an experienced board member and an advisor, his strongholds are strategy and financial planning. Before joining Sparkmind, Vesa launched and ran the Finnish operations of NFT Ventures, a leading fintech venture capital company.

vesa@sparkmind.vc
+358 40 052 3127

Managing Partner

Marko Kyyrönen

Marko has broad experience of the investment services industry, also being an asset management entrepreneur himself since 2009. Prior to Sparkmind, he has established several sector-focused private capital funds, and has served as a CEO of an alternative fund management company working closely with early stage companies and SMEs.

marko@sparkmind.vc
+358 44 506 9740

Click to see our advisory board

Advisor

John Martin

K12 publishing, Europe

Member of the Board

Janne Rainvuori

General legal & compliance, contract law  & disputes

Member of the Board

Oskari Lehtonen

EdTech entrepreneurship, seed & VC investing and VC growth strategies

Investment Committee

Katriina Valli

AI, robotics and automated information management and technology trends

Investment Committee

Peter Lindström

Impact investing & measurement, international investment markets & relations

Investment Committee

Elise Tarvaine

International education sales, growth execution & strategies and pedagogical content

Investment Committee

Saga Forss

Deal execution, M&A, exit planning & execution

Investment Committee

Pekka Mattila

Entrepreneurship, management, leadership and international marketing

Full-stack digital platform and services for driving schools
Vertical software and marketplace for childminders
Conversational AI coaching for company cultural transformation

News

more news

Submit pitch deck

SPARKMIND.VC
MIKONKATU 9
00100 HELSINKI , FINLAND

we request to direct media contacts to our managing partner marko kyyrönen,
marko@sparkmind.vc
+358 44 506 9740