Sesame Summit 2026 – application open

Tom Henriksson - OpenOcean

Meet OpenOcean: From MySQL Roots to Backing Tools That Help Enterprises Adopt AI

Finland is known for putting the younger generation at the forefront of its tech scene, and its iconic Slush conference is run by students. But it doesn’t forget the people who put the country on the startup map, such as seasoned venture capitalist Tom Henriksson.

Now a general partner at pan-European VC firm OpenOcean, Tom has been involved with venture investing and startups since the mid-nineties, with some notable successes.

In particular, he and his current partners played a pivotal role in the creation and growth of MySQL. “And we had an amazing exit in 2008 to Sun Microsystems,” he recalled. The one billion exit “was one of those early European unicorn stories,” and led to the creation of OpenOcean.

With offices in Helsinki and London, the firm has grown its funds incrementally since its early days. “In April we had a first close of our fourth fund, about €100 million, and we’re trying to get to €135 million,” Tom said.

In a conversation recorded during Slush 2024, Tom talked about MySQL and his later involvement with MariaDB and Nokia, but also about his interest in data-intensive software.

While its meaning has evolved in the age of AI, data-intensive software is still a key area of focus for OpenOcean, alongside intelligent enterprise automation and marketing tech (martech).

Where OpenOcean is investing

OpenOcean’s strategy is influenced by the awareness that the foundational layer of AI is being built by companies such as Mistral AI that require large amounts of capital. “With a small fund, you, you can’t go in there,” Tom said.

“What we do see, however, as that innovation is proliferating super quickly, is that enterprises have a huge problem in adopting technologies, in particular AI, also in enterprise automation. So we love solutions that actually help enterprises take them into use.”

One side of this is horizontal. “Be it for instance, something that enables engineers to do the work of data scientists because there’s not enough data scientists, or be it something that enables you to implement technology without disturbing the engineering flow because then the iterations can be quicker.”

The other side is vertical, with applications that focus on use cases within a specific sector. “And you probably have access to unique data because you only work with that vertical,” Tom said, giving the example of Cambri. Backed by OpenOcean, the Finnish startup raised an €8 million Series A last October for its vertical value proposition.

Thanks to product launch data sets in the food and beverage sector, Cambri came up with an AI-enabled consumer insights and platform used by household brands such as Coca-Cola and Heineken that can predict if a new product will be successful.

This is a win-win, Tom said: It “reduces waste in the world because they’re not launching crappy products that nobody wants and put plastic out in the world, but obviously makes also the corporates more profitable and more efficient.”

Examples aside, Tom shared additional context that makes this episode a must-listen if you are hoping to raise funding from OpenOcean, or more generally curious about the Nordics. Spoiler alert, it will also leave you longing for an invite to the legendary poker tournament that the VC firm holds every year during Slush.

you might also like

Events Startup
blank

Last week, I spent three days at Bits and Pretzels in Munich — a startup-focused event with a distinctly Bavarian flavor. Think Oktoberfest meets startup conference, complete with dirndls, lederhosen, and more beer than you might expect. As someone building an AI-powered event platform, I went in with a specific mission: Observe how startups actually market themselves at events. Here’s what I discovered: GoodBytz: The power of good demos What they did: Robotics startup GoodBytz set up a booth where its robots prepared kaiserschmarrn (a traditional German dessert) all day long. Why it worked: Nothing beats seeing a product in action. While other booths had brochures and demos, GoodBytz’s robots were actually cooking. The smell, the movement and the end result stirred together an experience that people will remember and talk about. The lesson: If you have a physical product, show it in action. The old writing adage generalizes well: Show, don’t tell.  Let people see, hear and touch the product. WeRoad: The bathroom hack What they did: Posted “Missing Investor” flyers in bathroom stalls with QR codes pointing to their website. Why it worked: Pure genius. Every startup at the event was looking for investors, but the “Missing Investor” headline, while a bit on the nose, proved irresistible. Plus, bathroom stalls are one of the few places where people have 30 seconds to actually read something. The lesson: Think about where your target audience’s attention will remain undivided. Sometimes, the most effective marketing leverages the most unexpected places. Emqopter: Visual impact matters What they did: Designed a bright orange booth that displayed their drone prominently. Why it worked: In a sea of grey, white, beige and brown, Emqopter’s bright orange booth was impossible to overlook. The drone was real, too, and proved a real conversation starter. The lesson: Your booth is competing with hundreds of others. Make it visually distinctive and ensure your product is the hero. Quests: Community building using the product What they did: Created a busy, branded booth with accessories (toy car, traffic cones, a bulletin board) and used their anti-loneliness app to build communities among founders at the event. Why it worked: Quests used their product to solve a real problem right at the event, and the busy booth design generated energy and curiosity. The lesson: Use your product to solve a problem at the event — if it’s possible, of course. Demonstrate your value in real time. Dyno: Event-themed marketing What they did: Distributed branded electrolyte packs with the tagline “Your hangover ends. Your pension lasts – with Dyno.” Why it worked: Dyno aligned its messaging perfectly with the Oktoberfest theme. Every attendee was thinking about beer and hangovers, so Dyno’s goodies were quite relevant. The tagline was clever, memorable, and directly addressed a pain point most people at the event might have to deal with later. The lesson: Tailor your marketing to the event’s theme and culture. The more you tie your messaging and product to the context, the more memorable you become. So, what did I learn? Event marketing is about more than just showing up and setting up a booth; you have to understand your audience and create experiences that people will remember. Here’s what really struck me: most startups and even big companies don’t know how to leverage events properly. They book the booth, show up and hope for the best; maybe they bring some branded pens and a pop-up banner. Then they’ll go back home and wonder why they spent €5,000 in exchange for 50 business cards that never convert. The startups that stood out at Bits and Pretzels understand something fundamental: event ROI isn’t about booth size or location; it’s about strategy, creativity and planning. None of the startups above improvised on-site, or planned something the night before the event in their hotel rooms. They laid everything out 4-6 weeks before the event. A solid pre-event strategy is what separates successful event marketing from expensive booth rental.  But what matters most for early-stage startups is that you don’t need a massive budget to stand out. WeRoad’s bathroom stall hack probably cost €50 to print the flyers. A standard booth package at Bits and Pretzels would go for €3,000 to €5,500. The ROI difference is staggering when you compare the cost per meaningful conversation. That’s the difference between simply spending money and investing smartly. Building Sesamers has taught me that helping startups find the right events is only half the equation. The other half is helping them understand how to maximize ROI once they’re there. Good props aren’t a marketing expense; they’re opportunities to meet customers, investors and partners, and strike up engaging conversations.

Events + 1
New Materials
blank

Lios Group, the Irish startup behind SoundBounce, was a winner of JEC Composites Startup Booster 2018, and has been making significant strides since taking home the award.

New Materials
New Materials
blank

Tree Composites aims to accelerate the energy transition with innovative composite joints.

New Materials

Subscribe to
our Newsletter!

Stay at the forefront with our curated guide to the best upcoming Tech events.