Quuppa, the fast-growing Finnish provider of Real-Time Locating Systems (RTLS), today announced that Sammy Loitto will step in as the company’s new CEO.
Loitto, who holds an MBA and a Master’s in Industrial Management, will switch from his current position as Senior Vice President of Sales at Bittium to start in his new role at Quuppa on August 1st. Current Quuppa CEO and company founder Kimmo Kalliola will continue as a Member of the Board. Kalliola will also head the company’s strategic development and cooperation projects, with the goal of achieving a further leap in growth.
Quuppa is the leading technology provider for indoor positioning technology. During its relatively short history, the company has grown to an annual revenue level of 10 million euros, expanded its workforce from five to fifty, and opened new sales offices on three continents.
“Our goal is to grow from 10 to 100 million euros within the next five years and become the market leader. To support this kind of exceptional growth, we need a CEO with experience in developing a global product business and building an organisation to support it. Sammy Loitto’s previous achievements in similar tasks speak for themselves,” says Kimmo Kalliola, Quuppa founder and current CEO.
“I am happy to become the new CEO at Quuppa and I feel excited by the possibility of getting to lead a company that is at such an interesting stage in its history. Quuppa has already proven its growth capabilities, it has a highly competitive product portfolio, and its technology know-how is top-notch. The recently completed funding round has placed Quuppa in a prime position to grow further towards becoming market leader,” says Sammy Loitto, incoming Quuppa CEO.
Before his current spell at Bittium, Loitto worked in various leadership and sales positions at companies, including Gryphon Secure, Jolla, and Airbus.
Kalliola will continue with the company and concentrate on exploring new ways for Quuppa technology to become part of various automation systems of the future.
“Our technology has fantastic potential because we are able to locate targets with a centimetre-level accuracy and apply any type of radio signal to do this. For example, we would be able to provide self-driving vehicles with a highly accurate, camera and radar-independent steering system that works even in snowy, rainy or foggy conditions,” says Kalliola.
”A great number of other possible use cases can be found in the fields of building automation, healthcare, retail, logistics, and drones. In my new role, I will work together with chip manufacturers and other technology manufacturers to explore these possibilities,” Kalliola says.
Quuppa recently completed a 20 million euro funding round. Investors included the Finnish growth company focused private equity investor Bocap, and Tech Consulting Group TCG. Both of these investors have strong previous experience in helping technology companies achieve international success.
Quuppa already has more than 200 partners all over the world, with the company’s systems used in manufacturing, healthcare, smart buildings – and even in sports. The global mobile operator Orange is using Quuppa technology. In the field of smart offices, Quuppa has partnered with Haltian to create solutions for TietoEvry and Halton, amongst others. In sports, Quuppa technology is employed in Wisehockey’s smart puck system which follows the puck and the players in real time during an ice hockey match. The system is used in the Finnish Liiga’s top-division and in the international KHL league.
For more information:
Sari Arjamo-Tuominen
Vice President, Marketing
sari.arjamo-tuominen@quuppa.com
+358 40 728 5575