Vendep Capital, a Finnish enterprise capital agency recognized for its deal with early-stage B2B SaaS firms, has raised its fourth fund at €80 million to assist the subsequent technology of SaaS founders throughout the Nordics and Baltics, significantly these constructing AI-first merchandise.
The spherical is backed by a number of main Nordic and European buyers, together with the state-owned funding firm Tesi, the Pension Insurance coverage Firm Elo, and household places of work and angel buyers. Though the fund has reached its preliminary goal, it stays open to new buyers for a restricted interval.
Since launching in 2013, Vendep has constructed a powerful observe file in figuring out SaaS firms with international potential. With nearly €200 million beneath administration, they’ve led over 35 investments, together with well-known names similar to AlphaSense, Hostaway, Leadfeeder and Happeo. The agency continues to prioritise early-stage B2B SaaS from pre-seed to Sequence A, with a rising emphasis on AI-native startups from the outset.
“We’re excited to proceed our work. Nordics and Baltics at present provide one of the vital thriving grounds globally for constructing category-defining software program firms, and Vendep is uniquely positioned to associate with the subsequent wave of founders driving that development”, mentioned Sakari Pihlava, founding associate of Vendep.
The fund arrives at an vital second for the SaaS sector. Though some critics have advised that SaaS could also be dropping relevance because of the rise of AI, Vendep sees the {industry} getting into a brand new chapter. In keeping with the workforce, SaaS stays the spine of how AI merchandise are delivered and monetised. The agency believes that the mixture of cloud infrastructure, recurring income fashions and data-centric architectures gives robust foundations for AI-driven software program, whilst automation and clever brokers reshape how merchandise function.
“SaaS isn’t at all times seen as probably the most flashy funding theme, however we see it as sensible as a result of it retains outperforming,” mentioned Sami Ahvenniemi, Common Associate at Vendep. “SaaS firms constantly ship predictable recurring revenues and industry-leading margins. And with AI, SaaS is getting into its most fun period but. Practically each significant AI product at present is delivered and monetised as SaaS.”
Fund IV is about to put money into 20 early-stage SaaS startups throughout the Nordics and Baltics, with ticket sizes starting from €0.1 million to €3 million. Vendep may also present follow-on capital in later rounds to assist its portfolio scale internationally.
“AI helps firms resolve issues at scale and get smarter with each use case, however the fundamentals haven’t modified. What’s new is that AI brokers are turning SaaS merchandise into methods that act independently, with people in a supervisory function. Nice companies nonetheless win by constructing long-term defensibility, and that can by no means change,” Ahvenniemi continues.
