Kaj-Erik Relander (born 21 June 1962) is a Finnish businessman and investor. He became well-down during his short tenure as the CEO of the Finnish telecommunications company

Sonera Telia Company AB is a Swedish Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in S ...

, during which the company lost over 3 billion euros as a result of unsuccessful deals in German

UMTS The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a 3G mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. UMTS uses Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, wideband code-division multiple access (W-CDMA) radio access technolog ...

licences, Currently he is a board member at DU - telecom operator in Dubai, UAE. Relander is a board member at BookIT Oy, which is a Finnish mobile transactions

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

-company, member of the board at SES, a satellite operator in Luxembourg, member of the board at Starzplay Arabia, a streaming video service operating in Middle East and North Africa. Advisory board memberships include Limestone, which is a Finnish cloud based service platform for fund managers and Mustard Seed, a London-based

impact investment Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an a ...

fund and advisory services company. Relander is a founding partner of SEQ Capital Partners, a technology and internet services investment partnership based in Zurich, Switzerland. He is working as a senior independent with

Mubadala Development Company Mubadala Investment Company PJSC (), or simply Mubadala, is a state-owned global investment firm that acts as one of the sovereign wealth funds of the government of Abu Dhabi. The company was established in 2017 when then-named Mubadala Developme ...

, which is the Sovereign Wealth Fund of Abu Dhabi Government. Relander holds the chairmanship of Investment Committee at Apis Partners, which is a private equity fund focusing on fintech for midmarket in Africa and Asia. Additionally he works as an independent advisor to certain family offices in Abu Dhabi and Zurich. Relander is keen supporter of charity work and serves as a Chairman at Refugees United Foundation. From 2009 to 2013, Relander worked as a Chief Investment Officer for

Emirates Investment Authority The Emirates Investment Authority (EIA) is a sovereign wealth fund of the federal government of the United Arab Emirates. It was established in 2007, and the EIA has actively sought unique investment opportunities locally, regionally and internat ...

(EIA), which is the Sovereign Wealth Fund of UAE Federal Government. From 2006 to 2009, Relander worked for the

venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...

firm

Accel Partners Accel, formerly known as Accel Partners, is a global venture capital firm. Accel works with startups in seed, early and growth-stage investments. The company has offices in Palo Alto, California and San Francisco, California, with additional ope ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He is best known for his tenure in the Finnish telecommunications company

, where he was CEO for six months in 2001 before forced to resign after the company lost billions of euros due to unsuccessful deals in UMTS licenses. In 2002, Sonera merged with the Swedish telecommunications company Telia. In 2005, Relander was convicted by a Finnish court of having violated communications

privacy laws Privacy law is a set of regulations that govern the collection, storage, and utilization of personal information from healthcare, governments, companies, public or private entities, or individuals. Privacy laws are examined in relation to an ind ...

between 1997 and 2001, with the court finding he had ordered an unlawful review of employee phone logs in order to determine who had leaked confidential company information to media. More than 80 Sonera employees, including several board members, had been cited as plaintiffs in the case, in which six senior Sonera executives were charged.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Relander, Kaj-Erik 1962 births Living people Finnish investors 20th-century Finnish businesspeople 21st-century Finnish businesspeople Finnish chairpersons of corporations