In the early days, much of the work was done without pay, learning new things hands-on and building the business step by step. Operations began in Hämeenlinna, even though customers from the very beginning were located all across Finland. During the first couple of years, the company succeeded in acquiring its first listed clients: Exel and Pöyry.
The first company, Ambient Factor, provided internet connections and built online services at a time when many were still wondering what the internet could even be used for. In 2000, Ambient Factor merged with Kotisivutehdas, forming Ambientia. This became the starting point for determined growth built on expertise, in house development and profitability.
In the early 2000s, Ambientia expanded to Tampere, Joensuu, Helsinki and Turku. Growth was driven by both organic development and selected acquisitions, such as Codezilla Oy in Joensuu, which strengthened the company’s software development capabilities. Ambientia also became a forerunner in collaboration platforms and information management, pioneering the use of for example Atlassians' Jira and Confluence solutions. The company invested especially in usability, integration and security, for example through Red Hat technologies. This period also marked the beginning of more than 25 years of cooperation with Konecranes.
In 2009, Ambientia adopted a group structure and strengthened its position as a partner to global technology companies. In the following years, the company achieved significant partnership levels with Atlassian, Microsoft, IBM and Liferay, and expanded to Sweden. Growth was rapid but controlled: revenue increased, the number of employees grew, operations remained profitable without external financing, and new clients such as Meyer, Finnair, F-Secure and Stockmann joined the portfolio.
During the 2010s, Ambientia began building its public sector business more systematically. The city of Hämeenlinna, the company’s very first client in 1996, had long been the exception, with most public projects handled alongside other work for more than fifteen years. In the same decade, the group expanded its competence in eCommerce, data analytics and artificial intelligence through acquisitions and partnerships. The acquisition of Insolo laid the foundation for the eCommerce business, which later grew into a key area covering Magento and Shopify expertise. At the same time, the organisation developed: in 2019, Johan Sandell was appointed CEO, and founder Ville Availa moved into a transformation leadership role focusing on key clients and stakeholders. By this point, the company had already surpassed the milestone of 200 employees.
In the 2020s, Ambientia Group has continued to renew itself and sharpen its strategic focus. Public sector operations were transferred to the HiQ Group in 2024, with around one hundred Ambientia employees moving outside the group. Since then, Ambientia has strengthened its focus on private sector digitalisation, eCommerce and data driven industrial operations. Olli Porola was appointed CEO at the end of 2024.
By 2025, the group had built new growth platforms in partnership with international players: Shopify operations were combined with Shero Commerce to form a Nordic entity, the acquisition of Asensiot brought deep expertise in predictive maintenance, and the Atlassian business will become part of the European Communardo Group through a strategic ownership arrangement in early 2026, with Ambientia becoming one of Communardo Group’s owners.
In spring 2026, Ambientia Group celebrates its 30th anniversary. It is a story of entrepreneurship where a small beginning evolved into an international expert organization built with its own work, without external capital, and with a constant drive for renewal.
