Valona Appoints Mikko Katila as CSO

Helsinki, February 28^th, 2024

Valona, a recognized leader in AI-driven competitive and market intelligence solutions, proudly announces the appointment of Mikko Katila as the company’s new Chief Sales Officer (CSO). This recent executive move comes five months after Valona repositioned itself in the global marketplace through a successful rebranding, formerly known as M-Brain.

Mikko Katila will spearhead Valona’s sales globally, advancing the benefits of AI-enabled market and competitive insights to equip companies with data-driven business decisions and unlock a competitive edge. This new appointment further solidifies Valona’s market presence and its commitment to delivering outstanding value to its enterprise customers.

“We are excited to bring Mikko Katila onboard to advance our strategic plan to be among the winners in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered business decision-making globally.”

Kimmo havu, Ceo at valona intelligence

“We are excited to bring Mikko Katila onboard to advance our strategic plan to be among the winners in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI-powered business decision-making globally,” says Valona CEO, Kimmo Havu. “Mikko’s understanding of the domain, track record in leading growth, and dedication to customer value will strengthen our global position and accelerate our growth.”

With over 20 years of leadership in technology, software, and analytics, Katila’s has specialized expertise in analytics and SaaS businesses, covering international sales, marketing management, operations, and strategy. He has effectively founded and scaled up sales organizations both in Europe and globally. Before joining Valona, Katila held the position of Head of EMEA sales at Revionics, a global leader in SaaS price optimization solutions. Prior to that, he had a nearly two-decade-long tenure at SAS Institute, marked by experience in various management roles, culminating in his position as the Global Head for Retail Business Development.

“Being recognized as a leader by Forrester in their Wave™ 2023 report motivates me to further drive Valona’s sales and help more companies access our solution globally. Valona’s advanced AI is transforming market perspectives and shaping the decision-making in the enterprise market.”

Mikko Katila, Chief Sales Officer at valona intelligence

“Joining Valona is an incredible opportunity. With leading-edge AI we empower businesses globally to grow, expand, enhance products, and manage risk,” says Mikko Katila. “Being recognized as a leader by Forrester in their Wave™ 2023 report motivates me to further drive Valona’s sales and help more companies access our solution globally. Valona’s advanced AI is transforming market perspectives and shaping decision-making in the enterprise market.”

As the new CSO, Katila will continue to be based in Germany where he has resided for the past 14 years. In his global role, he will lead Valona’s sales teams across Europe, the UK, and North America while also being part of Valona’s executive team.

About Valona

Valona Intelligence is the only all-in-one solution for the market competitive intelligence (business). Formerly known as M-Brain*, the company has been the recognized market leader since 1999. Valona combines the power of generative AI and analyst expertise and provides businesses with the most crucial insights to enable impactful business decisions.  

Valona’s platform empowers businesses to grow, meet their growth targets, expand into new markets, enhance their product development, and win over competition. It serves companies with the right understanding of their global markets. For instance, by delivering the right data at the right time, Valona equips its customers with critical risk management capabilities, including the ability to anticipate competitor threats, reduce regulatory fines, prevent, and anticipate supply disruptions, and avoid poor decisions based on scattered intelligence. 

Valona sends over 200k news alerts serving over 350,000 business users every day, with insights from hundreds of thousands of trusted industry-specific sources globally in over 100 languages. All translated into clean business summaries in English and presented in clear formats easy to share.  

Having a global team across Americas, Europe, and Asia, Valona provides leading Fortune 500 companies with foresight to shape the future resulting in real business growth. Companies like Goodyear, HSBC, Bosch, Philips, and Cintas have trusted Valona as their market intelligence solution, service, and content provider.  

Valona is acknowledged by Forrester in 2023 as the premier global platform for market and competitive intelligence. 

Discover more at www.valonaintelligence.com  

Media Contact: 

Kati Tammisto  
CMO, Valona  
kati.tammisto@valonaintelligence.com 
+358 40 775 7162