Marja Ollila

Sustainability Specialist

As Castrén & Snellman’s sustainability specialist, my job is to help ensure that our sustainability work meets the high standards required from a forerunner in the legal services business. I see to our firm’s sustainability reporting and climate work, including carbon footprinting and emission reduction targets. I support our HR department in social responsibility work, such as monitoring our human rights impacts. An important part of my work is assisting our lawyers in incorporating sustainability considerations into their legal advice.

I began my working life in the corporate sustainability function of a Finnish technology firm, focusing on climate topics. I then followed my passion for languages working as a translator at Castrén & Snellman’s Translation Service for roughly a decade before returning to sustainability. I am also the translator into Finnish of several non-fiction books dealing with economics and the economy. This work has left me with an interest in the distribution of income and capital in its many forms.

I hold a M.Sc. (Tech.) in environmental management from the Helsinki University of Technology and a MA degree in French philology from the University of Helsinki.

Latest references

We acted as the legal and ESG advisor to Mérieux Equity Partners on the acquisition of a majority stake in Labquality through a leveraged buyout by its buyout fund, Mérieux Participations 4. Existing shareholders of Labquality, including Cor Group and the management, will reinvest a portion of their proceeds into the company in connection with the transaction. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Labquality is a Nordic player specialized in EQA, CRO activities and regulatory affairs, with a strong local presence in Central and Eastern Europe. The company provides a comprehensive array of services for the healthcare, medical technology, and pharmaceutical industries. The company, employing over 120 professionals and supported by a network of more than 150 external experts and consultants across its offices in Finland, Germany, and Poland, serves a diverse clientele of over 8,000 customers, including major pharmaceutical companies in over 60 countries. Mérieux Equity Partners (MxEP) is an AMF-accredited management company dedicated to equity investments in the Healthcare and Nutrition sectors. MxEP actively supports entrepreneurs and companies with differentiated products and services, giving them privileged access to its sector expertise and international network. The transaction will enable Labquality to pursue its buy & build strategy in Europe to accelerate its CRO activities while continuing strong and recurring growth in the EQA segment. Labquality will benefit from MxEP’s sector expertise and financial resources to achieve its ambition of becoming a leading European CRO and EQA platform, with fully integrated regulatory consulting capabilities to serve major customers across Europe.
Case published 4.12.2023
We successfully represented a panel of reinsurance companies in an international ad hoc arbitration. The dispute arose out of a reinsurance treaty under the terms of which the reinsurers had reinsured a portfolio of risks underwritten by the cedent. The parties disagreed as to whether the reinsurance provided coverage for a certain loss that had occurred because of the market turmoil caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The case involved highly complex legal and contractual questions requiring special expertise on reinsurance law and practice. The arbitral tribunal rejected the counterparty’s claims for reinsurance compensation against our clients in full. The amount in dispute was approximately EUR 34 million.
Case published 16.9.2025
We supported byFounders.vc as the Finnish counsel in their investment in DataCrunch Oy in a USD 64 million Series A funding round. DataCrunch provides scalable AI compute solutions from energy-efficient data centers in Iceland and Finland. byFounders.vc is the community-powered early-stage venture fund investing in globally ambitious teams connected to the Nordic and Baltic countries.
Case published 11.9.2025
We advised Springvest Oyj in organising a EUR 45 million Series A funding round for ReOrbit, a space technology company and a leading provider of software-first satellites. It’s the largest all-equity Series A round in Finland and one of the most significant deals overall in the European space and defence sector. The purpose of the funding round is to support ReOrbit’s growth. The round consisted of a private placement reserved for professional and institutional investors, which included, e.g. Icebreaker.vc, Expansion VC, 10xFounders, Inventure VC, Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company, and Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Company, and an EUR 8 million public share offering, which was oversubscribed within 4.5 hours. Springvest is a Finland-based investment firm that connects unlisted growth companies with investors. ReOrbit builds sovereign satellites and connected systems for national security.
Case published 9.9.2025
Castrén & Snellman advised the lead investors Ten Eleven Ventures and Tesi in the EUR 275 million Series B financing round of IQM Quantum Computers, the global leader in building quantum computers. The round is largest Series B round ever in Finland and the second largest in the Nordics. In addition to the lead investors represented by C&S, the round was participated by several new and existing investors, including pension funds Elo Mutual Pension Insurance and Varma Mutual Pension Insurance, strategic investors Companies of Schwarz Group and Winbond Electronics Corporation, and sovereign wealth funds EIC and Bayern Kapital. Ten Eleven Ventures is the original cybersecurity-focused, global, and stage-agnostic investment firm. The firm identifies, invests in, and helps grow top cybersecurity companies addressing critical digital security needs, leveraging its team, network, and experience to build successful businesses. Since its founding, Ten Eleven Ventures has raised over USD 1 billion and made over 60 cybersecurity investments across various stages worldwide. Tesi (Suomen Teollisuussijoitus Oy / Finnish Industry Investment Ltd) is a state-owned investment company with an industrial policy mission focused on driving economic growth, renewal, and investments. Tesi invests on market terms both in venture capital and private equity funds, and directly in startups, scale-ups, and large industrial projects. IQM Quantum Computers, founded as a deep tech spin-off from Aalto University in 2019, specialises in developing quantum computers utilizing superconducting circuits. The company designs and produces quantum processors at its facility in Espoo, providing computing solutions and optimizations tailored to both research and industrial applications. In addition to its Finnish operations, IQM has expanded its presence to Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Poland, Spain, Singapore, South Korea, and the United States.
Case published 4.9.2025
We represented Vapaus Group, a leading provider of employee bicycle benefit services, in its cross-border acquisition of Azfalte, a French corporate bicycle solutions company. The acquisition accelerates Vapaus Group’s international expansion and strengthens its position in sustainable mobility by combining Vapaus’s digital platform and circular-economy capabilities with Azfalte’s established enterprise programs and partner network in France. The transaction advances Vapaus’s growth strategy and increases its ability to help employers meet well-being and sustainability goals in one of Europe’s most dynamic cycling markets. Vapaus Group is at the forefront of sustainable mobility services and has been a pioneer in the employee bicycle benefit sector since 2020 with a vision to become the leading bicycle benefit service in Europe. Vapaus has automated the employee bicycle process through its technology platform, covering payroll, invoicing, logistics, insurance, and financing. Azfalte, founded in 2020, is a pioneer of corporate cycling in France, optimizing financing, tailored bikes, insurance, maintenance, assistance, training, and carbon tracking for the benefit of its clients.
Case published 1.9.2025
We advised Wise Group AB (publ) in its sale of all shares in Wise Group’s Finnish subsidiary Wise People Group Oy (“WPG”) to Tetos Oy. The sale involves the divestment of Wise Group’s Finnish operations, and the purpose for the transaction is Wise Group’s ongoing streamlining of its operations, with a focus on the Swedish market. Wise Group’s companies specialise in recruitment, consultant hiring, HR consulting and leadership development. Wise Group is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm’s Small Cap list, with offices in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Helsinki.
Case published 1.9.2025
We acted as legal advisor to OP Finland Infrastructure LP in connection with the conversion of the fund’s agreed EUR 50 million convertible bond into shares in Lounea Net Oyj in 2023. In connection with the conversion, the fund made a new additional investment of EUR 10 million in Lounea. As a result of the arrangement, OP Suomi Infra became a significant owner of Lounea Net Oyj with a 29% stake. Lounea is a Finnish optical fibre operator whose business consists of telecommunications infrastructure and ICT solutions. OP Finland Infrastructure is a fund investing in Finnish infrastructure. The fund is managed by OP Financial Group.
Case published 29.8.2025