Kristian Ranta

{{short description|Finnish musician}}

{{puffery|date=September 2021}}

{{Infobox musical artist

|image = Kristian-Ranta-2009.jpg

|image_size = 250

| name = Kristian Ranta

| background = solo_singer

| alias = Kride

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1981|5|13|df=y}}

|birth_place =Helsinki, Finland

| origin = Vihti, Finland

| instrument = Guitar, vocals

| genre = Melodic death metal

| years_active = 2000–present

| label = Century Media

| associated_acts = Norther

| website = [http://www.northerband.net Norther's Website]

}}

Kristian Ranta, also known as Kride, was the guitarist of the Finnish melodic death metal band Norther,{{cite web |url=http://www.norther.net/ |title=Home |website=norther.net}} until their break up in 2012.{{cite web |url=http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=771 |title=BLABBERMOUTH.NET - NORTHER Get "Released" into Finnish Top 5 |accessdate=2011-02-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070318001758/http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=771 |archivedate=2007-03-18 }} Kristian has composed most of Norther's best known songs including Frozen Angel, and is also credited for renaming the band (originally called Requiem).{{Cite web|url=http://www.getreadytorock.com/pure_metal/norther_interview.htm|title = Get Ready to ROCK! Interview with Kristian of Finnish metal rock band Norther}} Ranta has played the guitar on all the band's full-length albums, the most recent being Circle Regenerated (2011) and N (2008), and contributed clean vocals to the Solution 7 EP, Till Death Unites Us, the No Way Back EP and N. He has formed an experimental side project named Gashouse Garden with Children of Bodom drummer Jaska Raatikainen.

Kristian has also acted, along with his band mates, in a Finnish film called Vares 2. Norther and Kristian also composed a title track for this film called Frozen Angel, for which a music video, featuring images of the movie, was made. He was also interviewed in a TV documentary about Finnish heavy metal bands - Promised Land of Heavy Metal - (2009).{{Cite web | title=Featured Faces | url=http://www.promisedlandofmetal.com/featuredfaces.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080604165535/http://www.promisedlandofmetal.com:80/featuredfaces.html | access-date=2025-02-16 | archive-date=2008-06-04}}

Kristian was a co-founder and CEO of a Finnish diabetes technology company called Mendor{{Cite web | url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/european-tech-tour-names-nordics-most-promising-high-growth-technology-companies-selected-companies-stand-to-benefit-from-10-billion-in-investment-capital-96372779.html | title=European Tech Tour Names Nordic's Most Promising High Growth Technology Companies; Selected Companies Stand to Benefit From $10 Billion in Investment Capital | website=PRNewswire}}

until he left the company in November 2015.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

Later in 2015 Kristian co-founded a company called Blooming to work on stress reduction at workplaces. Blooming was featured in TechCrunch in March 2016.{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/14/blooming-stress/|title = Blooming measures your heart and brain to reduce stress at work| date=14 March 2016 }} Kristian was also featured in the biggest newspaper in Finland called Helsingin Sanomat in the summer of 2016 (text in Finnish).{{cite web| url = http://www.hs.fi/raha/a1467948471710| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160709041859/http://www.hs.fi/raha/a1467948471710| archive-date = 2016-07-09| title = Metallikitaristista tuli terveysalan startup-yrittäjä – "Jos rikot rajoja, aina tulee lunta tupaan" {{!}} Yrittäjyys {{!}} HS}}

With the lead of Kristian as its CEO, Blooming changed its name in 2016 to Meru Health and focused on building a digital treatment solution for depression and anxiety. In 2018 Meru Health got accepted to a famous startup accelerator in Silicon Valley called Y Combinator{{Cite web|url=https://blog.ycombinator.com/6-companies-from-the-yc-summer-2018-batch/|title = 6 companies from the YC Summer 2018 Batch}} and has appeared on number of mainstream media publications such as TechCrunch,{{Cite web|url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/25/meru-health-wants-to-make-mental-health-care-more-accessible/|title = Meru Health wants to make mental health care more accessible| date=25 June 2018 }} INC {{Cite web|url=https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/a-genuinely-smart-creative-way-to-treat-depression-right-from-your-smartphone.html|title=A Genuinely Smart and Creative Way to Treat Depression--Right from Your Smartphone|date=12 June 2018}} and MobiHealthNews.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/palo-alto-medical-foundation-taps-meru-health-digital-therapeutic-depression|title = Palo Alto Medical Foundation taps Meru Health for digital therapeutic for depression|date = 24 August 2017}}

In 2018 Kristian started his own featured blog on Forbes magazine.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/11/28/mental-health-is-a-growing-concern-here-are-some-ways-entrepreneurs-can-cope/#68efc1c194e0|title = Council Post: Mental Health is a Growing Concern: Here Are Some Ways Entrepreneurs Can Cope|website = Forbes}}