Aggregate Markets

Japan… 🇯🇵 It was a valuable trip and gave me a much better overview of the market. My main takeaway: compared to Europe and the US, many yards are surprisingly small, but the potential is still clearly there. DIY is growing, customers are changing, and the market is moving — just in a very traditional B2B way, which means entering it will take time, trust, and patience. Beyond business, Japan was impressive in every way: incredibly safe, clean and organized. There are so many people, yet it never really feels chaotic or overcrowded. The metro system is spotless and efficient, the cities are full of greenery, and nature is integrated into the urban environment so well. Seeing children moving around independently also says a lot about the level of trust and safety in daily life. SushiTech 2026 also delivered some very strong top-level meetings and a great opportunity to understand the ecosystem better. Big thanks to Anu Puusaag from Tehnopol and Ilka Aaltio from Green Net Finland for organizing everything. 🙏 Special thanks to Jarkko 'Jake' Jussila, Yoko Yasuda for introducing potential local partners.

SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 on April 27-29 was incredible—twice the size of last year with innovations that felt straight out of the future! 🚀 I’m incredibly proud of our work at Tehnopol and thrilled that the #FinEstJapan project provided us the chance to participate, pitch, and network on such a global stage. A huge thank you to Nordic Innovation House Japan (Srinidhi Ashokkumar) for the collaboration, which gave our companies the chance to pitch and showcase at the Kiraboshi booth. A special highlight was seeing the Minister Liisa Pakosta of our 'small but mighty' nation at the grand opening, sharing Estonia’s ICT success and our 'AI leap' with the world. We also wrapped up with a fantastic seminar and networking session organized by Kenji Ozaki, providing our companies with invaluable new connections. Thank you to all the participating companies for making this a success! 🇪🇪🇯🇵 agata depka, Michael Opondo, Liina Amon, René Lasseron, Jurgo Preden, Khrystyna Didukh, Erik Mesikäpp 🇪🇪🇺🇸 from Estonia 🇪🇪 and Ulla Myllyniemi, Nina Mäkipää, Benoit Mantel, Lucas Nicoletti and Ilkka Aaltio from Finland 🇫🇮 . Special thanks to Jarkko 'Jake' Jussila and Yoko Yasuda and I’m endlessly grateful for everything you’ve done Oliver Ait.

✨ Come find us at Kiraboshi Bank Co., Ltd. booth at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 on April 27-29! 🔥 We have a wonderful line up of Nordic-Baltic startups, cities, R&D institutions, universities, cities and other ecosystem players! Imvi Labs Cetasol Openpoint AB Turbotic Bout HyperIn Helsieni Ecomiles Kontorva Aggregate Markets Spinnistart Fienta Stockholm Business Region Lunds kommun Helsinki Partners University of Helsinki Suomen ympäristöopisto SYKLI Oy VTT Copenhagen Capacity Nordic Asian Venture Alliance Enter Espoo Bird & Bird Malmö stad Tehnopol Sisu Factory Green Net Finland 🎤 Catch us for a special panel on the April 28th at 11:30 AM: Nordic Capitals: Europe’s Impact Hub and Unicorn Factory Speakers: Oliver Hall Konrad Szczęsny Sonja Malin Moderator: Kiyoko Hashiba 🎟️ Looking forward to meeting you all at SusHi Tech Tokyo 2026 on April 27-29

Thrilled to witness our FinEstJapan business delegation start here in Tokyo! 🇯🇵👋 This marks our largest delegation to Japan yet, featuring 6 Estonian and 3 Finnish companies. Great work on behalf of Tehnopol together with @GreenNet Finland. 🥢Our journey began with a networking dinner alongside our local partner, team Ciriot Inc. with Jarkko 'Jake' Jussila and Yoko Yasuda, who is connecting our startups with the Japanese market players. 🎌We then moved into intensive Go-to-market training and mentoring led by Richard Lyle and @Heidi Kimura at the Intralink office in Tokyo. 🎎Most recently, our founders and also me, representing Tehnopol, took the stage for a pitching session at Tokyo Innovation Base, organized by Nordic Innovation House - Tokyo (thank you Srinidhi Ashokkumar🙏 ) 👉Our startups from Estonia 🇪🇪 Aggregate Markets and Erik Mesikäpp 🇪🇪🇺🇸 Fienta with René Lasseron and Liina Amon Kontorva and Michael Opondo Lumos Strategies and Khrystyna Didukh Spinnistart with agata depka 👉And from Finland 🇫🇮: Ecomiles with Lucas Nicoletti Helsieni with Benoit Mantel Suomen ympäristöopisto SYKLI Oy with Nina Mäkipää and Ulla Myllyniemi Next stop: the Sushi Tech Fair! FinEstJapan is co-financed by Interreg Europe Central Baltic programme.

Quick recap on one of the most memorable export events. In October 2024, Chris Hulse and I spent one week in Chicago at the #Bridging4Growth, amazing program by Yi T., Evija Pudāne & Tehnopol, Anu Puusaag, alongside with hands-on work at Aggregate Markets in Indiana. We kicked things off in Chicago with the B4G program - packed days of sessions, conversations, and feedback. A highlight was working with our mentor Allan Luik to sharpen our pitch and clarify our positioning. We also connected with great people from the ecosystem, including the SECNORA® team and their mentor Daniel Kulig - a relationship that’s continued well beyond the program. After B4G wrapped up, I headed to Indiana for a week on the ground: visiting client sites, meeting customers, and diving into real operational and planning work at Aggregate Markets HQ. In the end of 2025, with support of Bridging4Growth we travelled to USA for 2 weeks to advancing key Aggregate Markets initiatives as part of our expansion strategy in the U.S. market. During this trip, we rebuild our strategy and review achievements – now we are on 20 new states. A solid mix of learning, relationship-building, and doing the actual work. Exactly how international expansion should feel. 🚀