Founding Partner & Advisor of Maki.vc
Maki.vc (Web3)Check size: Maki Fund III currently states €300K–€3M initial tickets in pre-seed and seed rounds below €5M, with follow-on reserves. This is the active firm's range, not Ilkka's personal or current new-deal authority; his stated remit focuses on existing portfolio companies.
Ilkka co-built Maki around entrepreneurial DNA, technical depth, non-consensus first-round decisions and Nordic founders with global category ambition. His documented portfolio work spans gaming, smartphone diagnostics, industrial ultrasound, simulation and glasses-free mixed reality—teams translating difficult science or engineering into a product with striking customer value. His current role is portfolio advisor rather than the lead for new investments.
Exceptional technical founders, scientific or engineering breakthroughs, fast execution, a meaningful customer problem, evidence that hard technology can become usable and scalable, global ambition from day one and teams able to define a category rather than follow consensus.
Maki's current founder page rejects hands-off capital seekers, local-only growth, uncertainty about venture scale and Series A-or-later entry for new investments. Ilkka's advisory remit also means unsolicited new deals should be routed through the active team rather than assuming he leads them personally.
For a new Maki investment, use the firm's live pitch channel and address the active team: Nordic domicile, pre-seed or seed round below €5M, requested €300K–€3M, product, customer obsession, technical edge, global category path and team. Approach Ilkka specifically only where his portfolio or operating experience is relevant and do not imply personal check authority.
Connect scientific or engineering performance to product usability, customer workflow, validation, manufacturing or deployment and scalable economics.
State what the market misunderstands, why the technical founder sees it differently and which early evidence can resolve the disagreement.
Use the region's technical and research strengths while designing customer acquisition, talent and capital for international leadership from day one.
Separate existing-portfolio advice and founder support from the active partnership's responsibility for new sourcing and investment decisions.
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Ilkka Kivimäki co-founded Maki.vc in 2017 after building and scaling technology companies across Europe and the United States. He helped assemble a Nordic operator network including founders behind Skype, Wise, Supercell, Small Giant Games and Smartly. In Maki's current succession structure he is Founding Partner & Advisor, working closely with existing portfolio companies across its first three funds.