The people building the Control Layer

Founded in Helsinki. Built for global commerce.

Working with Expanly has been straightforward and effective. They took the time to understand our business and translated complex requirements into practical solutions, with persistence and a clear sense of responsibility.
Vladimir Tokoi

Vladimir Tokoi

CEO, Suojakalvotukku

Helsinki Entrepreneur of the Year 2022

Exceptional market understanding, commercial insight, and strong technological expertise. Results came fast and are already visible in customer value. This group has everything it takes to build the next global success story.
Samu Hällfors

Samu Hällfors

CEO & Founder, Framery

Expanly was born out of firsthand frustration

As ecommerce leaders, we experienced what happens when you build a business, know exactly what should grow, and watch ad platforms ignore it completely.

Performance looked fine on the surface. But we had no real control over where money went. The question was simple: What if we could teach the algorithms what actually matters?

Expanly is our answer

Founded in Helsinki and built for global commerce, we're building the Control Layer: the bridge between commercial strategy and advertising execution. Our team has spent over a decade in ecommerce, ad operations, and data engineering. We know the gap between business intent and platform behavior, because we lived it.

Why we exist

Google and Meta don't have your business data: your margins, your return rates, your strategic priorities. They never will. Expanly bridges that gap without sharing what shouldn't be shared. This isn't better optimization. It's business context they structurally cannot replicate. That's why we built the Control Layer.

Our team

We're builders, strategists, and problem-solvers working at the intersection of commerce, technology, data, and decision-making.

Michael Ovitz
Michael Ovitz
Chief Executive Officer
in
Samuel Backman
Samuel Backman
Chief Technology Officer
in
Simo Heiskanen
Simo Heiskanen
Chief Growth Officer
in

How we show up

We care deeply about clarity over noise, honesty about tradeoffs, and building systems that earn trust over time.

How we think

We believe the hardest problem in retail advertising isn't automation. It's making sure automation serves the business, not the other way around. That's why we start with your strategy, not ours. Every customer has different priorities. The system should reflect that, not force a template.

How we work

We're a focused team building systems meant to last. We build for clarity first. If you can't explain it, we don't ship it. If it doesn't change a decision, we don't build it. No busywork. No vanity metrics. Just work that matters.

The algorithm is ready to listen.