Meet Our Growing Team

13.2.2025 | About Gorilla, Announcements

The Goril­la team is expan­ding, and we’re proud to int­ro­duce Tee­mu Huh­ta­la, our new Ope­ra­tions Mana­ger and the first ‘hired help’  to join our team along­si­de the partners.

“Explo­ring new oppor­tu­ni­ties and gai­ning insights from the inves­tor’s pers­pec­ti­ve is exciting.”

This is how Tee­mu desc­ri­bes his jour­ney at Goril­la Capi­tal, whe­re he recent­ly star­ted in a ver­sa­ti­le new role as an ope­ra­tions mana­ger. His path to this point has taken him from the world of pro­fes­sio­nal sports to the heart of the star­tup sce­ne and ulti­ma­te­ly to beco­ming a finance expert.

His path in the busi­ness world began at Tam­pe­re University.

“Busi­ness stu­dies felt like the natu­ral choice.” 

He specia­lized in accoun­ting and finance, comple­ting his master’s the­sis on fun­ding deci­sions in startups—a clear indica­tor of whe­re his career was headed.

His first major role in the busi­ness world was with a Fin­nish star­tup cal­led Sulapac. 

“After joi­ning a star­tup, your res­pon­si­bi­li­ties grow quickly,” Tee­mu recalls. 

He spent near­ly six years the­re, star­ting as a cont­rol­ler and even­tual­ly beco­ming acting CFO. In addi­tion to over­see­ing financial mana­ge­ment and sys­tems, he played a key role in rai­sing capi­tal from investors.

After his time at Sula­pac Tee­mu tran­si­tio­ned to an auto­ma­tion industry growth com­pa­ny as a busi­ness cont­rol­ler, whe­re he mana­ged financial and admi­ni­stra­ti­ve ope­ra­tions for just over a year. Ulti­ma­te­ly, his path led him to Goril­la Capital. 

“Ami, an old col­lea­gue from my time at Sula­pac - now a part­ner at Goril­la, reac­hed out to tell me about an open posi­tion. Once I lear­ned more about the com­pa­ny, I imme­dia­te­ly knew this was the right fit for me.” 

At Goril­la Capi­tal, Tee­mu deve­lops inter­nal proces­ses and sup­ports the company’s part­ners in their invest­ment activities. 

“My goal is to ensu­re that all proces­ses rela­ted to invest­ment ope­ra­tions are as efficient and stream­li­ned as possible.” 

He is also in char­ge of financial mana­ge­ment, cont­ract docu­men­ta­tion, and comple­ting key processes.

Tee­mu finds that lear­ning new things and deve­lo­ping his skills are the most rewar­ding aspects of his work. 

“It’s fasci­na­ting to gain insight into the investor’s pers­pec­ti­ve and unders­tand how invest­ment deci­sions are made. At the same time, I can leve­ra­ge my pre­vious expe­rience and apply it in this new environment.” 

The broad sco­pe of his role also pre­sents challenges. 

“Mana­ging the big­ger pic­tu­re requi­res atten­tion to detail and preci­sion, but it’s also what makes the work so fulfilling.”

Accor­ding to Tee­mu, Goril­la Capital’s cul­tu­re is pro­fes­sio­nal yet approachable. 

“The team is made up of high­ly inde­pen­dent pro­fes­sio­nals who take res­pon­si­bi­li­ty for their areas. We avoid unneces­sa­ry jar­gon and aim to com­mu­nica­te clear­ly and unders­tan­dably. I think this is one of Goril­la Capital’s grea­test strengths.”

In his free time, Tee­mu enjo­ys spen­ding time with his fami­ly. He is also an acti­ve sports ent­husiast who plays ice hoc­key, golf, ten­nis, and skis in the winter. 

“Staying acti­ve is essen­tial for kee­ping both my body and mind fresh.”

Alt­hough Tee­mu has only been at Goril­la Capi­tal for a short time, he has alrea­dy lear­ned a lot. 

“Using limi­ted part­ners­hips as part of fund struc­tu­res was part­ly new to me and inc­re­dibly inte­res­ting. This is exact­ly what moti­va­tes me—learning new things and having the oppor­tu­ni­ty to grow wit­hin such a dyna­mic organization.”

“Tee­mu was a natu­ral choice for our team, seam­less­ly blen­ding with our cul­tu­re whi­le brin­ging valuable exper­ti­se. His expe­rience with star­tups through Sula­pac, com­bi­ned with his CFO background, is a sig­ni­ficant asset. Pai­red with his strong work ethic and atten­tion to detail, Tee­mu is a per­fect fit for the role”, his col­lea­gue Ami Rubens­tein sums up.

Lyhen­nel­mä uutis­kir­jee­seen ja Linkkariin:

“Explo­ring new oppor­tu­ni­ties and gai­ning insights from the inves­tor’s pers­pec­ti­ve is exciting.”

That’s how Tee­mu Huh­ta­la desc­ri­bes his jour­ney at Goril­la Capi­tal, whe­re he recent­ly star­ted as Ope­ra­tions Mana­ger. With a strong background in star­tup finance and fun­drai­sing, Tee­mu is now focused on opti­mizing invest­ment proces­ses and ensu­ring smooth ope­ra­tions behind the scenes.

“Mana­ging the big pic­tu­re whi­le kee­ping an eye on the details is challenging—but that’s exact­ly what makes the work so rewarding.”

Welco­me to the team, Teemu! 👏