Aki Karja is the Head of Fairstead Ventures. Prior to joining Fairstead, Aki was a Senior Strategy Advisor at Gemic, Inc., a progressive New York-based strategy consultancy, where he helped Fortune 500 companies design, pilot, and launch new businesses primarily in proptech. Since 2018, Aki has been actively involved with several start-ups either as an investor, advisor or a founder. Between 2006 and 2018, Aki held senior positions at three long-short equity hedge funds including Newbrook Capital, Millennium and Royal Capital, where he was a partner. Aki was an Investment Analyst in Blackstone Group's Private Equity division from 2004 to 2006, and began his career as an Analyst in the Investment Banking Division of Morgan Stanley in New York in 2001. Aki received his Master’s degree in Finance from the Helsinki School of Economics.

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