Helsinki Incubators Alumni Abbis: Reinventing the First Step of Pet Care

begins, as many Finnish ideas do, in a sauna. That is where , a veterinary student with a habit of noticing inefficiencies, first floated the idea that would become Abbis. Across from him sat , a finance graduate with a background in consulting, who, by his own account, “didn’t know yet what it would become, but knew it was worth looking into.”

Henrik and Antti, now co-founders of Abbis, do not present themselves as visionaries in the grand sense. They speak instead in practical terms: about routines, conversations, small observations that accumulate into something larger. They are joined by a third co-founder, , whom they met during Pathways, the University of Helsinki’s pre-incubator program.

Together, the team forms a kind of triangulation: veterinary expertise, financial strategy, and operational experience. Since then, the team has expanded further, welcoming a fourth member, CTO , who brings dedicated technical expertise, as well as working alongside interns who have contributed to the company’s development. But if there is a common denominator, it is proximity to the problem. “As a team, we understand both vets and pet owners, we are pet owners ourselves,” Henrik says. “That gave us a strong starting point.”

Abbis, at its core, is deceptively simple. It offers preventive lab testing for pets, paired with accessible medical information: an attempt to bring the logic of human preventive healthcare into the veterinary world.

“Our goal is simple,” Henrik says. “To make pets, vets, and owners all happier. That’s the core of Abbis.” The idea did not emerge fully formed. It was tested, stretched, and occasionally contradicted by reality. What distinguishes the team, perhaps more than their idea, is the way they work together.

“Being friends helps,” Henrik says. “Communication is very direct, since we can be honest with each other and still know we’ll be fine.” Antti adds, “Open communication is key. If people hold things in, it becomes a problem later.”

It is a dynamic that resists polish. There is a sense, in conversation, that the company is still being built in dialogue, iterative, occasionally messy, but persistent. External validation arrived gradually, then all at once:  Demo Day at the Journeys incubator of the University of Helsinki brought attention, and since then, conversations multiplied. 

And yet, for all the metrics and projections, what seems to matter most to them is something less quantifiable. A feeling, perhaps. A reaction. “The most important thing we found,” Antti reflects, “is that pet owners are actually waiting for a solution like this.”

What began as a hypothesis (something plausible, even intuitive) slowly hardened into something closer to certainty. Through surveys, interviews, and long conversations with strangers, a pattern emerged: rising costs, fragmented information, and a lingering sense among pet owners that they were always reacting too late.

“We saw that people are actively looking for something to help with better care,” he continues. “Our solution is a very natural answer to that need.”

In the early stages of a company, the idea is only part of the equation. The rest, as Henrik notes, is perception. He has spent time refining how Abbis is presented: distilling something complex into something that feels inevitable. “If you believe in what you’re building,” he says, “that feeling transfers to others.”

To understand Abbis, however, one has to imagine not the founders, but the user. A small dog, perhaps a Chihuahua, aging gently, moving a little slower than before. The owner notices something vague, something difficult to name. In another context, this might lead to a late-night search, an anxious scroll through conflicting advice.

Abbis proposes something more structured. Instead of uncertainty, there is data:

“You would use our service alongside traditional veterinary care,” Henrik explains. “If you’re looking for information, instead of just Googling and getting uncertain answers, we provide verified, vet-reviewed content.”

The process unfolds in layers: preventive lab testing through partner clinics, followed by results delivered through a digital platform: tracked, stored, made legible over time. What emerges is not just a snapshot, but a history.

“You can monitor things early,” he says. “Organ health, blood values, indicators before something becomes serious.”

The ambition isn’t to replace veterinarians, but to move care earlier, giving owners a clearer starting point and vets better data from the outset. “We’re supporting them,” Henrik says. “If you already have diagnostic data, the vet can focus on the right things immediately.” It’s a modest idea on the surface, yet it raises an obvious question: why hasn’t this existed before? As Henrik puts it, that realization is the “aha” moment.

For Antti, success isn’t about scale or valuation, but about behavior. “Success means creating a new layer before visiting the vet,” he explains, something more reliable than Googling or asking a friend. Over time, that layer could evolve into a deeper, continuous understanding of a pet’s health. Henrik frames it more broadly: 

“We want to make pet healthcare more personalized, like human healthcare.”

Their way of building reflects that same openness. Rather than locking into a narrow path too early, they leaned into experimentation, talking to people, testing ideas, and adjusting as they went. “Just do things,” Henrik says. “Talk to people, ask questions, share your ideas.” It’s a process shaped less by neat strategy and more by repetition, iteration, and gradually recognizing patterns.

One of the clearest signals came from early users. After interviews, the team sent small thank-you packages, simple gestures that unexpectedly led to something bigger. “Some of them actually pre-ordered,” Henrik recalls. “They sent us money in advance.” It wasn’t validation from investors, but from real pet owners choosing to trust the idea before it fully existed.

Over the past few months, team members, including Antti and intern Aaban, have worked on the project full-time. There’s also been an element of chance along the way. “Sometimes things just align,” Henrik reflects, moments where timing, conversation, and opportunity come together in ways you can’t fully plan.

Now, that momentum is turning into something tangible. The website is live, and they’ve already secured their first paying customers, an early but meaningful signal that the product resonates in the real world.

Most recently, Abbis has taken an important step forward by launching with its first partner clinic, in Vantaa. At the same time, discussions are ongoing with additional clinics, signaling growing interest and laying the groundwork for broader expansion.

For now, Abbis continues to move forward: testing, learning, and building. The direction is clearer, but still evolving. What the rest of 2026 holds remains open, shaped by the same mix of effort, iteration, and curiosity that got them this far.

As Henrik recalls from those early conversations, some users reacted with immediate recognition: “Is this the solution I’ve been waiting for?” That feeling, that something so straightforward could make a real difference, is what continues to drive them.