# Markko Vaarnas

> Markko Vaarnas is a seed investor at Takeoff Partners (Helsinki) backing Internet and Software. See 2 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Fund: [Takeoff Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/takeoff-partners)
- Location: Helsinki, Finland
- Total investments: 2
- Last investment: Feb 2020
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markko-vaarnas-77b413/
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/VaarnasMarkko
- Website: https://x.com/VaarnasMarkko

Markko Vaarnas is a seed investor at Takeoff Partners in Helsinki focused on Internet and Software. Markko Vaarnas is specialized in internationalizing B2B software and service companies. His experience accumulates from Global Intelligence Alliance Group (GIA), a company he co-founded in 1995 and successfully exited in late 2014. At the time that the company was sold, GIA had 10 offices across 4 continents, and a vast majority of the 15 mEURrevenue came from outside its home market, Finland. In January 2015, Markko co-founded Takeoff Partners with the mission to create positive impact to people and the society by helping business owners to grow their businesses internationally. He executes this mission through serving as a part-time advisor, coach and angel investor for growth companies, as well as a consultant and interim leader for targeted internationalization projects and programs.In his various roles, he wants to share his experiences on how to internationalize B2B software and service business, and more specifically help companies to build strategic business plans, conceptualize offerings, improve customer experiences, raise finance and facilitate the implementation of new market entries.During his time at GIA, Markko became one of the global thought leaders in Market Intelligence. He is the author of the book “The Handbook of Market Intelligence” published by Wiley in September 2011, and has presented and facilitated workshops in numerous international conferences. http://bit.ly/HandbookMIMarkko graduated from the Helsinki School of Economics with a Master's degree (International Business). He is married with three children, and speaks fluent English and Finnish, and is also able to converse in German and Swedish. In his free time he enjoys playing soccer and coaches a junior soccer team.

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Internet | 2 | 100% |
| Software | 1 | 50% |
| Education | 1 | 50% |
| E-Commerce | 1 | 50% |
| Photography | 1 | 50% |

6 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Seed | 1 | 50% |
| Convertible Note | 1 | 50% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Howspace | Howspace is a digital facilitation platform that helps you deliver powerful organizational change initiatives, learning programs, and workshops. Howspace adapts to your way of working. You can build the workspaces to match your tried and tested processes. Edit the looks of your workspace, manage the participants access levels, move content around,and add new pages as you go along. | $1.8M | Convertible Note | Feb 06, 2020 |  |
| UPGRD Photos | UPGRD is a turnkey solution for sports franchises and entertainment brands who want to engage their fans and sell more fan merchandise. |  | Seed |  |  |

2 of 2 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Midinvest Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/midinvest-management) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Business Finland](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/tekes) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

## About Takeoff Partners

VC Fund · Helsinki, Finland

Takeoff Partners are experienced growth advisors and private investors that focuses on internationalizing B2B software and services.Takeoff Partners provide advisory and coaching services that leverages their experiences in growing businesses. The portfolio businesses of the company are Meetingpackage.com, LATO Tools, Tellybean, Enbrite.ly,Cuckoo Workout, and Havusport.Takeoff Partners is located in Finland and the company was founded in 2014 by Markko Vaarnas.

2 contacts available at Takeoff Partners.

| Name | Title | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kim Väisänen | Senior Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/kim-vaisanen |
| Markko Vaarnas | Managing Partner | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/markko-vaarnas |

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## FAQ

### What does Markko Vaarnas invest in?

Markko Vaarnas invests primarily in Internet, Software and Education startups, most often at Seed and Convertible Note stage. Most of the 2 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Finland. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### When did Markko Vaarnas last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Markko Vaarnas closed in Feb 2020. Shizune tracks 2 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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