Mika Salmi is a Finnish-American entrepreneur, and executive in technology and media.
Biography
Mika Salmi is Managing Partner at Lakestar, a venture capital firm that invests in outstanding digital and technology entrepreneurs worldwide. Investments include Airbnb, Blockchain, FiveAI, GoEuro, HARRY’S, Klarna, King, Opendoor, Oscar, Revolut, Skype, SoFi, Spotify, Taulia, and many more. Previously he was a senior advisor at The Raine Group, an investment and advisory firm focused on the media, entertainment and sports industries. He also serves on the Boards of INSEAD, , Pixvana, CreativeLive, and and actively advises numerous startups. Prior to Raine, he served as CEO of CreativeLive.. He joined CreativeLive after founding MadRaces in 2010 and selling it to Betaworks in 2011. MadRaces was a mobile app that created social competitions for sports and other activities. It preceded Strava, which is similar. From 2006 to 2009, Salmi promoted new media as president of global digital media for MTV Networks/Viacom. While there he managed worldwide operations, strategy, and deals with over 1,800 employees for 30+ brands, 400 websites, and 80 mobile channels. Salmi was CEO and founder of Atom Entertainment, which was purchased by Viacom for $200 million in 2006. In 1998 Salmi founded AtomFilms, an online film and humor site, which featured artists such as Jason Reitman and JibJab. Atom had three brands – AtomFilms, Shockwave, and AddictingGames – which together had over 40 million monthly active users. AtomFilms was one of the first and largest online video companies and was the YouTube of its day. Shockwave was the largest game brand on the internet and was complemented by AddictingGames, which was the fastest growing casual games website. Before founding Atom, Salmi worked at RealNetworks. Salmi began his entertainment career in the music business, working at Sony Music International, EMI Music and TVT Records. While at TVT Records he saw multi-Platinum selling and Grammy winning artist Nine Inch Nailsopening for another band, and asked for a demo tape. He worked with TVT's head of A&R, Kitty Overton, and with Steve Gottlieb, the founder of TVT, to sign the band. Salmi has been an active angel investor on his own and also with Sequoia Capital and Accel. Other companies where Salmi is serving or has served on the board of directors include Sulake, Inkd, Elisa, Blinkbox, Image Metrics, Shockwave KK, and Propel Renewable Fuels. Regularly included in lists of industry trailblazers, Salmi has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Hollywood Reporter, Forbes, Fortune, Wired and numerous international publications. He has been profiled by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Newsweek, USA Today, Business Week, and several other US and foreign newspapers. Salmi has appeared on television news programs and morning talk shows, including ABC News, BBC News, CNN, CNBC, and The Today Show, and has delivered high profile keynote speeches around the world. Salmi has an MBA from INSEAD.
