Rovio's SVP Of Marketing Ville Heijari To Open Helsinki PlayHaven Office

    As Helsinki solidifies itself as the european gaming capital, PlayHaven, a lifetime value maximization platform for mobile games has hired Rovio SVP of Marketing Ville Heijari to start PlayHaven’s international expansion. PlayHaven offers game companies the ability to acquire users, understand performance, and monetize through their platform that offers internal cross-promotion, virtual goods, rewards, and user segmentation. This sort of targeted technology and consulting for games is a growing industry up here, with Copenhagen-based GameAnalytics recently raising $2.5 million (story to come) and Helsinki-based Metrifiy also in this area.

    PlayHaven’s customers include Booyah, Digital Chocolate, Glu Mobile, Game Circus, Namco Bandai, Natural Motion, Nickelodeon, Playtika and Sega.

    “I’ve seen first-hand the challenges that mobile developers face uncovering valuable user insights,” said Ville Heijari, General Manager of Europe at PlayHaven. “I’m excited to join PlayHaven as we are uniquely positioned to help developers both draw these insights and take smart actions that move key performance metrics for mobile games.”

    “2013 will be the year of international expansion for PlayHaven,” said Andy Yang, CEO of PlayHaven. “With our network currently reaching over 115 million monthly active users in more than 200 countries and territories, we’re thrilled to bring Ville on board to help us better serve our mobile game developers worldwide. His experience at the heart of the mobile gaming industry will be incredibly valuable to both our partners and our team.”

    PlayHaven will also open a Berlin office.