Expanly, a company that directs the dynamic advertising of online stores, is aiming for international markets after only six months of existence. The startup has already attracted major online retailers as customers and a wide range of internationally accomplished investors. The invention also received the Innovator of the Year 2025 award.
In the digital advertising of e-commerce, power has shifted to advertising platforms. Platforms like Google and Meta largely determine how advertising budgets are allocated and which products are shown to consumers. The challenge is that the platforms' algorithms do not recognize products that are strategically important for the merchant's business, such as new arrivals or high-margin campaign products.
The founding trio came together to solve the problem. Michael Ovitz, an experienced marketing director, was frustrated with the inefficient flow of million-dollar budgets. At the same time, Simo Heiskanen, while leading growth marketing at Swappie, had identified an opportunity to solve the problem with technology. Their visions merged when they were joined by experienced technology leader Samuel Backman, whose expertise was key to building a scalable and robust product. A shared vision was born: to return control to the retailers.
"Expanly's team combines exceptional market understanding, commercial insight, and strong technological expertise. They have achieved results in a short time that are already reflected in customer value and satisfied customers. I believe this group has all the prerequisites to build the next global success story from Finland."
Samu Hällfors (Framery, Founder & CEO)
During its short lifespan, Expanly's solution has been met with enthusiasm. The product is already used by nearly 20 major Finnish retailers, such as Tokmanni, Varusteleka, and Reima. One of Expanly's customers is Scandinavian Outdoor, which increased its revenue from advertising by 32%.
"Not only have product sales increased significantly, the cost per sale has gone down. Expanly helped us to accelerate our sales during promotions without breaking the account structure."
Kuutti Haapanen (Scandinavian Outdoor, Head of Ecommerce & Marketing)
As the economic climate tightens, an increasing number of retailers are looking for ways to ensure that every advertising euro generates measurable results, regardless of the channel.
Investors with Wolt and Swappie backgrounds to accelerate Expanly's international growth
The first funding round brought Expanly 600,000 euros to accelerate its growth. With the support of Tempo funding from Business Finland, the company will next open the Swedish market and aims to expand to other Nordic countries and later to the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and the United States.
Renowned investors with strong international backgrounds also believe in the company's rapid growth.
"Expanly solves one of the fundamental problems of scaling an e-commerce business. Too often, the effectiveness of a marketing budget suffers when advertising automation doesn't understand the merchant's strategic business goals. What's special about Expanly's product is its ability to give control back to the merchant in a simple and intelligent way."
Henrik Pankakoski (Wolt, Head of Northern Europe business operations)
List of investors:
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About Expanly
Expanly is a Finnish technology platform founded in 2025 that accelerates the sales of strategic products for online stores. The platform enriches product feeds with daily updated business intelligence and tells advertising platforms which products are most important right now. This way, automation highlights profitable products, adjusts visibility according to inventory, and reduces advertising waste.
Founders:
Michael Ovitz, Chief Executive Officer
Michael has extensive expertise in e-commerce and its management. He has worked in digital marketing leadership since 2014: first leading client projects in marketing agencies and since 2019 in in-house leadership roles in organizations. Michael has been responsible for marketing at, among others, Verkkokauppa.com, Mehiläinen, and Foodora. In his most recent role, he was a member of Foodora's management team.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ovitzmichael/
Simo Heiskanen, Chief Growth Officer
Simo Heiskanen has over ten years of experience in scaling international e-commerce businesses. He has built and led teams in fast-growing companies such as Swappie, Finnish Design Shop, and the Swedish Babyshop Group. Through this experience, Simo has gained deep and practical expertise in digital commerce strategies, internationalization, and data-driven growth leadership.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/simoheiskanen/
Samuel Backman, Chief Technology Officer
Samuel Backman has been building software since 2012 and has progressed from a developer to a team leader and technology director. His early years at Frantic and JCO Digital provided a broad practical foundation for web and application development. He quickly progressed to a position of responsibility for client projects at Qvik and earned the Senior title. At OP, he led the technical implementation of the group-level design system. At Mavericks Software, he was first responsible for the technical implementations of customer accounts and later rose to become the company's CTO. Since 2023, he has been working as a freelance IT consultant.
