Allan Martinson

Who is Allan Martinson?

Allan Martinson is an Estonian technology entrepreneur and investor. He is currently managing partner of MTVP, a tech investment company, and co-founder of several tech startups.

Martinson was the founder and CEO of Baltic News Service, a leading news agency in the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Launched in 1990 as a startup by Estonian students in Moscow, it quickly grew into a leading regional news organization with almost 200 employees. In 1994 BNS received investments from Dow Jones Telerate and Swedish Bonnier media group. In 2001, the company was sold to Finnish Alma Media.

In 1998, Martinson became the CEO of MicroLink, the leading IT and technology holding in the Baltics. Launched as the Estonia's leading PC assembler, it had diversified into systems integration and internet access services. Martinson launched aggressive expansion strategy of Microlink which was funded by four rounds of private equity placements from Baltic Investments Fund, Baltic Republics Fund et al. The company merged with or acquired 15 other companies in 1998-2000 such as Estonia's No 2 IT company Astrodata, Latvia's IT market leaders Fortech and VAR, 7 internet service providers in all three countries etc. The company became the Baltics' leading IT services and systems integration group with annual sales of 60 m EUR and almost 600 employees. In 2005, MicroLink's IT service operations were sold in trade sale transaction to three Baltic incumbent telecoms.