Antti Heikki Rauhala

Antti Rauhala is a Finnish executive and investor with more than 25 years of international business experience in CEO, CFO and board roles across Finland and globally. He holds an M.Sc. (Econ.) and, per aggregated profiles, a master's degree from Aalto University with a background in operations management from the former Helsinki University of Technology (Teknillinen korkeakoulu, now part of Aalto). Over his career he has been involved in roughly 65 M&A transactions.

Before his current role he served as CEO (toimitusjohtaja), Managing Director and partner at Pikespo Invest Oy Ltd — founded in 1984 and described as one of the pioneers of Finnish private-equity/capital investing. Pikespo made 50+ investments over its history, focusing on minority stakes in growing SMEs and on ownership arrangements and generational transfers of small and medium-sized companies in the Pirkanmaa and Häme regions. Earlier in his career Rauhala was CFO and Deputy CEO of the Bronto Skylift Group and Operations and Finance Director of UPM Group's RFID business.

At the end of 2022 Pikespo Invest wound down its traditional capital-investment activity and the same corporate entity (business ID 0588514-3) was rebuilt as Auroora Yhtiöt Oyj, a Finnish serial acquirer / long-term industrial owner. Rauhala leads Auroora as Group CEO and Chairman of the Board, and holds a significant ownership stake (reported at ~1.55 million shares). He also chairs or has chaired the boards of several portfolio and associated companies, including OAC Finland Oy, Mustavuori Oy, W2E Oy and Homeros Oy.

Auroora's model is to permanently hold profitable SMEs and reinvest their cash flows into new acquisitions in selected segments. The group has grown to 20+ companies employing several hundred people, with turnover expanding from around €130 million to a reported €205.2 million in 2025, and it has signalled ambitions to go public.

• Invests in profitable, cash-flow-generating SMEs, not early-stage startups — the "seed/angel" framing in the stub does not match the firm's stated practice.
• Historically took minority ownership positions and specialized in ownership arrangements and generational transfers (sukupolvenvaihdos) of family/founder-owned companies.
• Strongly regional and hands-on: Pikespo's tagline in a Finnish PE-association member feature was *"Teemme työtä kädet savessa, kanssayrittäjinä"* — "We work hands-on, in the mud, as co-entrepreneurs" — signalling active, partnership-style ownership alongside founders.
• Under Auroora, the thesis is that of a serial acquirer / "compounder": permanent ownership of acquired SMEs, developing them through committed ownership and reinvesting group cash flow into further acquisitions in selected industrial/B2B segments.
• Emphasis on long-term ownership ("retains its subsidiaries permanently, providing a platform for their growth") rather than fixed-horizon fund exits.