Interview With Juho Hyytiäinen, Co-Founder and CEO of Way
Juho Hyytiäinen is the CEO and co-founder of Way, a company dedicated to transforming commercial fleet management with advanced digital infrastructure and data-driven solutions. In an exclusive interview with Eqvista, Juho shares the inspiration behind founding Way and outlines his vision for a more connected, efficient, and sustainable transport ecosystem.
Drawing upon a decade of experience in building AI-enabled products, Juho highlights the urgent need for reliable, user-friendly platforms that empower fleet operators to harness complex transport data. Under his leadership, Way consolidates fragmented fleet data into a unified platform, enabling accurate emissions reporting, seamless data sharing, and AI-driven operational insights. Backed by a recent €3 million pre-seed round, his team focuses on delivering cleaner, real-time data to help fleets operate sustainably and effectively. With a clear focus on delivering both sustainability and efficiency to the transportation sector, Juho Hyytiäinen continues to lead Way toward milestone achievements, driven by a relentless commitment to solving real-world problems for fleets and fostering long-term trust within his team and stakeholders
Hello Juho, welcome to Founder Spotlight; we’re excited to hear about your inspiration for co-founding Way and how your experience has shaped your vision for the company. Could you please describe the core problem in commercial fleet management that Way aims to solve?
Grateful to be here and thank you for having me! At its core, Way addresses the gaps of digital infrastructure for fleets to fully harness modern transport data. With electrification accelerating, emissions reporting becoming essential, documents digitizing and AI still being limited by poor data refinement, fleets need better technological foundations. Way brings fragmented data into one managed platform, enabling accurate reporting, easy data sharing, and smarter, AI-driven operations.
How do you see the fleet management industry evolving in the next 5 years, especially with the rise of AI and data-driven solutions?
Great question! When I reflect my 10 years building AI enabled products, I think the change for fleet management will come surprisingly fast. The want for more intuitive and user-friendly interphases among fleet operators has been clear for quite some time, here AI will offer much improved user experience compared to convoluted dashboards. Challenges on the technology side still remain, but clean, accurate data is a prerequisite for operationally usable products for fleets.
What were the biggest challenges you faced in launching Way, and how did you overcome them?
Starting a company is always tough, but what makes all the difference is getting out of your comfort zone, putting code to production and iterating fast with your early customers. It was challenging to find the right industry partners to build with but doing the hard work of deriving, delivering and delighting is always the right place where to spend time and effort.
How do you plan to use the recent €3.0 million in pre-seed funding to accelerate Way’s growth and product development?
We’re humbled and grateful to be backed by our many amazing investors and angels. We raised EUR 2.6M funding to hire a world-class team of technical and business talent, who are passionate about solving hard problems for a complex industry. With the funding, we’re able to bring together some of the leading minds in data, AI and the transportation industry.
How does Way help fleet operators with electrification planning and emissions reporting?
Our team is very experienced in what comes to electric operations. We make it possible for fleet operators to own and use their asset data regardless how tangled it is right now. With Way, operators can use their existing fleet data as a starting point for more accurate electrification planning, share performance data with OEM sales people for exact route performance analysis and to build their mixed operational dataset over time that gives them honest answers about how their electrification journey is progressing TCO-wise. We also partner with and promote leading open-source data exchange formats like iLEAP by the Open Logistics Foundation to help the cargo owners transparently gather and evaluate emissions performance data without proprietary data formats getting in the way of things.
In what ways does the platform contribute to smarter and greener transportation?
Smarter and greener transportation starts with knowing what’s actually happening on the road. The platform turns fragmented vehicle data into a shared source of truth not just for sustainability teams measuring emissions, but also for operations teams making daily decisions. By replacing manual reporting with real-time, trusted data, fleets can both meet carbon goals and run more efficiently. That’s the kind of progress we’re building toward.
What are the next big milestones for Way in 2025 and beyond?
Can’t give anything away yet but please stay tuned, and if you can come hear me speak at Trucking & Telematics Show in November.
Looking back, what has been the most rewarding moment in your entrepreneurial journey so far?
Oh, there have been many. But for me personally, the most rewarding moments are always when a customer is genuinely amazed by how well the solution our team has built captures their real-world problem. That’s the magic of building products.
What advice would you give to other founders about structuring and managing equity in a fast-growing startup like Way?
Two words, honesty and long-term alignment. Equity is ultimately about trust.Work with people and investors who understand and respect your mission and aren’t just optimizing for ownership. Keep the cap table clean, be generous but principled with your team. The rest will fall into place.
