Finnish tech unicorn RELEX Solutions’ founders launch €100M charity foundation: Know more

The co-founders of Helsinki-based RELEX Solutions, Michael Falck, Mikko Kärkkäinen, and Johanna Småros, along with one of RELEX’s first employees, Marko Nikula, announced on Thursday that they have formed a new charity named “RELEX Foundation for a Better Future.”

The founders contributed nearly €100M in RELEX Solutions shares as well as €10M in cash to the new foundation.

RELEX Foundation’s chairman of the board, Marko Nikula, says, “It’s important for us to reinvest RELEX Solutions’ success into causes that accelerate positive impact in the world. RELEX Foundation is on a mission to help build societies where people want to live their lives. We support and advance initiatives that preserve the environment, mitigate climate change, and drive more equal societies.”

What to expect from the foundation?

The new foundation will provide capital for projects and organisations addressing some of the largest issues facing the planet. The foundation’s strategic priorities between 2023 and 2025 will be to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss, lessen inequality and poverty, and encourage early intervention to lower the risk of marginalisation for young people.

The foundation hopes to have a big influence as it provides money to various stakeholders, such as philanthropic and non-profit organisations, foundations, and research groups. 

Though the foundation will act as an independent organisation, a yearly impact assessment will be made. 

RELEX Foundation is distinct from RELEX Solutions except for its name. Marko Nikula says, “RELEX Solutions and its success has enabled us to establish this foundation. We wanted to keep RELEX in the foundation name to honour the work of our previous, current, and future RELEX Solutions employees.”

RELEX Solutions is a tech unicorn that raised €500M in 2022, a record amount of funding in Finland, for its AI-driven, cloud-based supply chain and retail planning platform.

About RELEX Solutions

Founded in 2005, RELEX Solutions’ data-driven software automates and optimises supply chain, merchandising, and operational decisions for retailers and consumer packaged goods companies.

The company says, “We drive record-high product availability, increased sales and margin, improved sustainability, and the best return on investment in inventory, space, workforce, and capacity.”

RELEX Solutions’ Living Retail platform delivers AI across all retail functions and at retail scale, eradicating siloes, rigidities and inefficiencies along the way, says the conpany. The company claims the platform also helps companies to harness the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of data-driven algorithmic decision-making to achieve their goals. 

This is done by using AI-driven demand forecasts to automate smarter, data-based decisions across core processes in stores and distribution and fulfilment centres, from allocations and replenishment to planograms and workforce planning.

Some of its clients include leading brands like Dollar Tree and Family Dollar, Stokke, Rite Aid, Sprouts Farmers Market, AutoZone, and PetSmart.