Power shift – how Korkia went from traditional investment services to the forefront of the global renewable energy revolution

This is the story of a radical business transformation. It goes how the story often goes, starting by recognizing a need to pivot, spotting an opportunity, grabbing onto it, and putting all our efforts into drastically changing our business model, vision, and operational environment. This is the story of how a Finnish, traditional investment services provider, Korkia, transformed itself into one of the fastest growing renewable energy companies in Europe – with over 18 GW of solar, wind and energy storage projects underdevelopment and operations in 9 countries across Europe, North- and South America.

In short, the financial services market was and is under disruption. Technological development has made investing a lot easier, cheaper, and more accessible. While marginals for investment service providers were getting thinner, regulatory requirements were getting heavier, adding to already substantial costs of running business and making it a distribution and volume game. The industry in Finland had seen many small asset managers choose consolidation. We chose to specialize and become a niche investor.

While stock prices ran at their all-time-highs, the private equity market was hot, Finland was experiencing a startup-boom (new Slush-era) and investors were looking for attractive alternative investments. In 2017 we launched our first solar energy fund which invested in the construction of solar PV plants in Spain. Our toes had been dipped into the renewables market and we had started to see we were onto something big.

After the first fund came another, again investing in solar energy. We were getting familiar with the market, building relationships, listening carefully to quiet signals, and keeping our eyes open for attractive opportunities. Curiosity, opportunism, and determination to succeed – those were the key drivers pushing the team forward.

We met like-minded people and formed a partnership. Together, we built a unique business model: We started forming joint ventures with local developers, where in exchange for providing development capital to their whole project portfolio we were granted exclusivity to their projects. We opened 2-3 new markets per year and kept iterating our model after every deal. In no time, thanks to our clients and investors, our side venture became our main business.

The final decision to make the strategic shift is never easy. It means taking risks, jumping into the unknown, and having to say goodbyes to colleagues and clients without whom we would not be here today. Still, with strong belief in our chosen strategic path, in 2023 we completed the transformation by fully restructuring our organization and operations, including four corporate M&A deals. We launched our sixth investment vehicle in renewables and raised capital to invest in our growth. We welcomed new team members and put our collective efforts into understanding our current position and optimizing our ways of working, laying the groundwork for the exciting chapters that lie ahead.

Our recently conducted personnel survey ended with the question ‘What was the coolest thing that happened last year?’ – and knowing how much we had been through as a team I was emotional when reading the answers. We not only survived but thrived.

WRITER

Anna Idänheimo​

Chief People Officer