Evli Private Capital has made a significant private equity investment in EWQ, a company driving digitalization and resource efficiency in the retail sector. Following the investment, Anni Ronkainen and Kia Aejmelaeus joined the company’s board at the beginning of November. Their extensive experience in building sustainable growth, retail, digitalization, and business development will help EWQ strengthen its foothold in the Nordic markets.
EWQ is the first investment of the new Evli Private Capital Fund I, focusing on themes of the green
transition. Evli’s investment provides EWQ with a solid ownership base and balance sheet, enabling
accelerated growth in the Nordic markets. As a result of this investment, the EWQ board is strengthened by two new members, Anni Ronkainen and Kia Aejmelaeus.
“In a rapidly growing company, the expertise brought by board members is crucial in steering international growth initiatives, including potential acquisitions. We now gain additional support in advancing digitalization and developing business and leadership. Success is often tied to customer satisfaction, so the board members’ experience in customer-centric approaches to product and service development is invaluable. We also gain reinforcement in our governance and sustainability matters, which are key drivers of value creation in today’s business,” says Stefan Svanljung, Chairman of the Board of EWQ.
Anni Ronkainen is an experienced technology expert specializing in digital transformation, data and
analytics utilization, and change management. She currently serves on the boards of several companies,
including Sitowise, Loihde, Posti, and Lassila & Tikanoja. She has previously worked as the Chief Digital
Officer and as a member of the executive management team responsible for the digital business
environment at Kesko, Country Manager for Google and CEO of the advertising agency group McCann
Helsinki. Additionally, Ronkainen was named Digital Leader of the Year 2020 and has been listed multiple
times among Talouselämä’s Women Decision Makers.
“It is exciting to be part of EWQ’s next growth phase. The company’s operations perfectly combine my
experience and interest in technology, data, and customer understanding. Through board work, I can
particularly bring a customer interface perspective to the development of new services. The new features
of the service portfolio are strongly based on customer needs. It is important to be present at customer
touchpoints from inspiration to the final purchase event. In the coming years, the focus should also be
strongly on leveraging the opportunities of artificial intelligence and machine learning,” Ronkainen states.
Kia Aejmelaeus has over 25 years of international experience in financial markets and leadership roles from startups to large publicly listed companies, including in the retail sector. She has been involved in
numerous demanding strategy projects, business development, mergers and acquisitions, and capital
raising. Additionally, Aejmelaeus has strong expertise in financial reporting, sustainability, and
communications. She is a Partner at Evli Private Capital.
“Evli is an active owner, providing EWQ not only with capital but also support in clarifying strategy,
internationalization, executing acquisitions, as well as access to a broad network of experts. The company,
with its technology solutions, is excellently positioned to benefit from market trends such as retail’s digitalization and journey towards lower carbon operations. A successful customer experience requires a comprehensive integration of the physical store environment and digital services. I look forward to the opportunity to support management in business development. Our common goal is to build EWQ into a Finnish success story,” Aejmelaeus remarks.
As a result of the investment, Evli becomes a significant minority owner of EWQ. The current entrepreneurs will remain substantial owners of the company. Continuing on the board are Stefan Svanljung, Fred Westerholm and Mikael Krogius.
For more information:
Stefan Svanljung
Chairman of the Board
EWQ Zone Oy
+358 50 4418 844
svanne@ewq.zone
EWQ Zone Oy
EWQ transforms the consumer experience in store and service environments into a memorable differentiator through digitalization. The company’s proprietary technology seamlessly integrates its device and service solutions, allowing consistent use of product, price, marketing, and queue status information across any digital platform. This enables effortless updates, efficient content management, and valuable analytics utilization. As a result, customers see increases in sales, efficiency, and employee satisfaction while reducing their carbon footprint. EWQ’s customer base includes the largest retail chains in the Nordic countries. A testament to the company’s strong commitment to sustainability is the highest-level Platinum certificate awarded by EcoVadis. The entrepreneur-led growth company employs 30 professionals in Finland and Sweden.
Evli Plc
We see wealth as an engine to drive sustainable progress. We draw on our heritage, broad expertise and Nordic values to grow and manage wealth for institutions, corporations and private persons in a responsible way. We are the best fund house in the Nordics1 and the leading asset manager in Finland2 offering a broad range of services including mutual funds, asset management and capital markets services, alternative investment products, equity research as well as Corporate Finance services. Responsible investing is integrated in every investment decision and our expertise is widely acknowledged by our clients. Evli has Finland’s best expertise in responsible investment3. Evli Group employs around 270 professionals and Evli has a total of EUR 18.7 billion in client assets under management (net 9/2024). Evli Plc’s B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd.
1 Morningstar Awards 2024 (c). Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Awarded to Evli for the Best Fund House in Finland and Sweden. Lipper Fund Awards 2023, 2024, the category Small Fund Companies.
2 Kantar Prospera External Asset Management 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 Finland. Kantar Prospera Private Banking 2019, 2020 Finland.
3 SFR Scandinavian Financial Research Institutional Investment Services Finland 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022. Kantar Prospera External Asset Management 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024 Finland.
