Our readers may recall that we heard from folks at Rovio Entertainment when they set up a Japan office early last year. If you are a resident in the startup community here in Tokyo, you may have seen their Japan country manager Antti Sonninen more than a few times.

Yesterday was the last chance where we could see him wearing a red Angry Birds sweatshirt. It’s because Sonninen joined a new startup today. Tokyo-based Beatrobo, the startup best known for its smartphone-enabled small gadget PlugAir, announced today that Sonninnen joined their team as COO.

Beatrobo has been led by their co-founder and CEO Hiroshi Asaeda since its launch in 2011. Upon Sonninen’s joining the team, they expect to strengthen the globalization efforts in their business operations.

From global gaming giant to Japanese startup

Sonninen has been serving Rovio as Japan country manager for more than a year. Since joining the company in Finland back in 2011, he has been seeing the rapid growth for over three years. When he joined Rovio, their entire headcount was about 70, but it has been grown up to 900 to date. In a response to my question about why he join Beatrobo at this time, Sonninen explained:

I’ve seen my colleagues have established local Rovio offices in Korea and China. I think Rovio will keep growing. I’d love to put myself in an early-stage startup. And I’d love to do what only I can do.

Prior to joining Rovio, Sonninen was running a startup providing a social network platform, which focused on helping non-governmental organizations coordinate their operations each others in developing countries. So he should be called an entrepreneur rather than a businessperson, and we can understand he wants to put himself in an environment which has a great potential in making a successful leap.

Sonninen added:

Beatrobo fundraised from Lawson HMV Entertainment in April. At that time, I had a chance to see Asaeda and we were jestingly talking and wondering if we could be working together. But this talk has become real.

Sonninen understands what a country manager or a local office for a startup is required in its global operations. Upon his experience as a country manager at Rovio, Sonninen will focus on embarking on a global expansion strategy and addressing issues around these business operations.

[Translation is still underway. Please check back later.]