Joel Aaltonen

Senior Associate, Member of the Finnish Bar

Services

Data & Technology

Contact details

I work in our Data & Technology team, primarily focusing on technology-related contractual matters and disputes.

I regularly advise our corporate clients across various industries on outsourcing and other ICT agreements, cloud services, distribution agreements, subcontracting, and licensing. Technology and its continuous advancement have always been close to my heart. I believe that my strong ICT understanding and legal expertise add particular value to our clients. Besides ICT-related agreements, I also have broad experience in other strategic commercial contracts within the corporate world.

Before joining Castrén & Snellman, I worked as a technology lawyer for several years at another Finnish law firm, and prior to my graduation, as a legal trainee at leading global ICT and technology companies.

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Latest references

castren snellman general atlantic iceye

General Atlantic – ICEYE’s EUR 1 Billion Series F Funding Round

We advised General Atlantic as the lead investor on ICEYE’s EUR 1 billion series F funding round, valuing the company at over EUR 10 billion. ICEYE raised EUR 450 million (USD 520 million) in a primary Series F funding round led by General Atlantic. Additional investors included Solidium, Tesi, Varma, Ilmarinen, Lifeline Ventures, Nokia, Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and TCV. Together with a secondary placement, the total fundraising exceeds EUR 1 billion. ICEYE is the world leader in sovereign intelligence from space, providing continuous monitoring capabilities to detect and respond to changes in any location on Earth. The company operates the world’s largest and most advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite constellation. General Atlantic is a leading global investor with more than four and a half decades of experience providing capital and strategic support for over 885 companies throughout its history. As of March 31, 2026, General Atlantic manages approximately USD 126 billion in assets across its investment strategies. We advised General Atlantic on this transaction in collaboration with the international law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.

General Catalyst – ICEYE’s EUR 150 Million Series E Funding Round

We advised General Catalyst as lead investor on ICEYE’s EUR 150 million series E funding round, valuing the company at EUR 2.4 billion. ICEYE is the world leader in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite systems and operates the largest SAR constellation globally. Its technology delivers objective, near real-time Earth observation in any weather or light conditions, enabling governments and institutions to manage risks and respond faster. General Catalyst is a global investment and transformation company, partnering with leading entrepreneurs to build toward global resiliency and applied AI. Its portfolio includes companies such as Airbnb, Snap, Stripe, Mistral AI, Hubspot, Anduril, Helsing and Legora. We advised General Catalyst on this transaction in collaboration with the US law firm Goodwin.

PwC – Public tender in Kela’s Eepos procurement process

We are proud to have provided legal assistance to PwC in the successful public tendering process for the comprehensive renewal of Kela’s benefits processing systems. Kela is the Social Insurance Institution of Finland, and this project is a significant cornerstone in modernising Finland’s social security infrastructure. PwC was selected as Kela’s strategic partner to implement a comprehensive overhaul of the benefits processing systems, digital services, customer relationship management, and information exchange platforms. The project aims to meet the demands of the future digital environment and enhance customer experience through the adoption of Salesforce technology. The new systems are expected to simplify benefit processes, enhance user experience for both customers, employees and other stakeholders, and ensure adaptability to future legislative changes. Castrén & Snellman provided strategic legal support to PwC throughout its successful bidding process, which was carried out through a competitive negotiated procedure. We extend our warmest congratulations to PwC for their successful bid and look forward to seeing the positive impact of this project on Finland’s social security system.

Shareholders – Sale of the Suomen Autohuolto Group

We advised the shareholders of Suomen Autohuolto Oy in connection with the sale of the company’s entire share capital, to SAKA Finland Group Oy. Suomen Autohuolto Group is one of Finland’s largest companies specializing in brand-specific automotive maintenance and has locations in Oulu, Tampere, and from July, also in Järvenpää. The transaction is subject to final approval by the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (KKV).

Natural Resources Institute Finland – AI training

We delivered two tailor-made AI workshops for the lawyers at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). We discussed the AI revolution and its impact on lawyers’ ways of thinking and working, and left the participants with practical solutions for enhancing and streamlining their work with Legora. Our AI-specialist lawyers prepared use cases tailored to Luke and the needs of public administration, which Luke received for its own use following the workshops. These use cases covered topics such as: utilising legal sources and the organisation’s own data to maximise AI results building and leveraging AI workflows AI-enhanced contract drafting based on a large volume of documents. The workshops sparked wide-ranging discussion on the role and benefits of AI in legal work. Participants appreciated how clearly and comprehensively our experts were able to present the nature and benefits of AI specifically within a legal context. ‘The workshops provided excellent support for Luke’s goal of leveraging AI responsibly and gave us concrete and ready-to-use practical takeaways,’ says Hannu Laitinen, Luke’s Senior Vice President, Administrative Affairs.

Finnish Construction Management Consultancy — District Court Dismisses charge in occupational safety offence case concerning a safety coordinator

We successfully represented a Finnish construction management consultancy and a safety coordinator employed by the company in criminal proceedings concerning an alleged occupational safety and health offence. The prosecutor sought a penalty for an alleged breach of occupational safety regulations. The charge arose from a fall accident at a construction site where our client acted as the safety coordinator appointed by the developer. We assessed the scope of the safety coordinator’s duties in relation to the responsibilities of the main contractor, as well as how our client had fulfilled their obligations in practice. We demonstrated that our client had acted with due care and in full compliance with their duties throughout the planning, preparation and execution of the construction project. The District Court of Eastern Uusimaa dismissed the charge against our client. The Court held that our client, in their capacity as safety coordinator, had duly fulfilled the occupational safety obligations incumbent on the developer during the planning and preparation phases of the construction project and had not been aware of the fall protection deficiency identified at the site. The judgment is final insofar as our client is concerned.

Efima – Sale of financial management services business

We advised Efima Oyj on the sale of its financial management services business to Rantalainen as part of its strategic focus on fully concentrating on the delivery of business applications as well as data and AI solutions. As a result of the transaction, customer contracts related to financial management services and 65 experts working in these services will transfer to Rantalainen. The transaction will be carried out as a transfer of business, and the experts will move to the new owner as existing employees. Efima is a Finnish digital company that supports the sustainable growth of large and mid-sized companies by streamlining their business processes and by creating competitive advantage through the innovative use of artificial intelligence and data. The company has nearly 200 experts based in Helsinki and Tampere.

Ugly Duckling Ventures – EUR 6.5 million funding round of Skyfora

We advised lead investor Ugly Duckling Ventures on the EUR 6.5 million funding round of Skyfora. The round also included Eviny Ventures, LUMO Labs and EIC Fund, alongside non-dilutive funding from Business Finland. The investment will support the commercial scale-up of Skyfora’s weather intelligence solutions, the expansion of partnerships with telecom operators, forecasting providers and meteorological institutions, and the continued growth of the team. Skyfora is a Finnish company developing high-resolution weather data solutions using patented technology that extracts atmospheric data from GNSS receivers embedded in existing infrastructure, such as telecom networks. By unlocking previously untapped data sources, Skyfora enables the next generation of AI-driven weather forecasting and supports improved decision-making across weather-sensitive industries. Ugly Duckling Ventures is a Copenhagen-based venture capital firm focused on early-stage Nordic B2B technology companies, with an emphasis on medtech, resilience tech and business services.

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