Aalto Founder Talks #6: Peter Sarlin, Founder of AMD Silo AI, NestAI, Qutwo

Silo AI started as a bold bet, a private AI lab built from scratch in Helsinki, bootstrapped for years, and quietly becoming the biggest AI lab in Europe. In 2024, AMD acquired it for €665 million, the largest AI acquisition in European history. Now Peter is doing it again, pushing into quantum computing with his latest venture, Qutwo.

Peter Sarlin sits down with us to unpack the building blocks behind a career that looks, from the outside, like a series of unlikely leaps - and from the inside, like the only logical path forward.

Why this Founder Talks matters

Most founders pick a lane. Peter picked the frontier every. single. time.

He left a tenured academic career to build a company when no one was funding European AI. He bootstrapped when everyone said you couldn't. He sold for €665 million when most people hadn't even heard of Silo AI. And now, before the ink is dry, he's already betting on what comes next.

But here's the question we're going to ask: was any of this actually a risk?

Because when you look closer at Peter's journey, from his years in academia, to building Silo AI, to founding Qutwo, a pattern starts to emerge. Curiosity compounding into conviction. Research turning into product. Bold moves that, in hindsight, were never random.

This is a session for anyone who's standing at a crossroads and wondering whether the unconventional choice could be the right one.
 

Founder Talks is a new event series about entrepreneurship for all startup curious minds. Enjoy the fireside chats where well-known Finnish and international founders share their journey, interviewed by students from Aalto University. If you join us in Marsio, make sure to stay for the networking and small bites after the event!