Humainic
- Service: AIKA combines the tacit knowledge of people and the power of AI, facilitating better solutions and smoother collaboration in everyday work.
- Year of establishment: 2024
- Mission: The first AI tool on the market that helps companies implement staff know-how for shared use.
Mari Stenberg, the founder of the AI tool company Humainic, could be called quite a visionary. The company’s story began when Mari was working in the Netherlands, selling aircraft engine parts. She wondered what could happen if the team innovated and developed things more together. Inspiration struck and Mari went to the head of the company and suggested that they could work together to develop new solutions for clients to increase turnover. To Mari’s surprise, the head of the company saw a big business opportunity in the idea and decided to take the concept forward.
Inspired by feedback and her experiences, Mari returned to Finland, obtained the Leading Business Transformations MBA degree at Haaga Helia and learned how to get people on the same page. Eventually, through her studies in pedagogy, Mari realised that there was something missing in both the world of education and the business sector to get teams to co-develop and work together more effectively in a way that delivers value to the company and its clients. As her thesis work, Mari developed a team training model that later became the core product of her company, AIKA. With AI came new opportunities, and Mari no longer only thought about training teams, but about harnessing the know-how of the entire organisation in work to create value and implementing it for everyone to utilise.
“I felt that I was on the verge of something big, but I didn't know how to take the next step. Business Helsinki gave me concrete advice on how to take the business forward.”
In practice, the AIKA tool developed by Mari is a platform that serves as a thinking sparring partner for individuals and a facilitator of meetings and information for teams. From the very beginning, a business adviser of Business Helsinki was involved to help Mari with all matters related to starting, developing and growing the company.
Business Helsinki’s business advisory service helped Mari create a completely new and scalable business model and assemble a team. A growth path planned together with the business adviser helped Mari finally bring the product to the market. She participated in Business Helsinki’s Accelerator programme, through which she has found networking and pitching opportunities for her company, among other things.
The company has now been in business for over a year, and the first pilots and team trials have been successfully completed: AIKA has positive effects on team collaboration and efficiency, as well as on business opportunities for companies. The journey that started from an idea in the Netherlands has finally reached a concrete destination, and the human-centred vision for AI inspires and motivates many.
Mari is also proud of the multicultural team that she has assembled, consisting of talent from all over the world with ages ranging from early twenties to retirement age. The future looks promising and the team is constantly innovating new features for their product in response to the market and client feedback. The journey has led to a company that will soon be ready for sales and investments. The search for the first paying clients is on!