In the first ever article published on ArcticStartup.com on September 20th, 2007 we announced funding for Aito Technologies from Conor Venture Partners. In the verge of our anniversary, we had a quick chat with Jari Mieskonen from Conor Ventures who made the investment in the first article.
ArcticStartup: What do you remember about the article?
JM: I had just landed to Conor Venture Partners when ArcticStartup published our that time latest investment into Aito Technologies Oy. It was a good time to publish a new partner into vivid Conor team on the same opening.
ArcticStartup: Now – ten years after – do you have some update for us?
JM: Aito was eventually merged with Canadian listed entity Exfo. Since that we have made several new and follow-on investments. The latest new deal being Blackwood Seven in Copenhagen and latest follow-up investment we did into Tactotek in Oulu. In the middle, we did Neo4J (Malmo/ Valley) and few others. Conor is still one of the few venture investors who do deep-tech and code-tech deals.
ArcticStartup: What has changed over the years?
JM: It is easier to establish a software or app startup since you can avoid costly computing hardware investment thanks to cloud services. On the other hand, there is fierce competition on these services and solutions. The winner of next BIG thing can be you – your nearest neighbour or a kid on the other side of the cyber universe.
ArcticStartup: What advice would you give to startup entrepreneurs?
JM: Be brave – choose competent partners – and be careful out there. Winter is coming and only fittest will survive!
