Translink Nordic Tech Stars | #negotiator 356. Interviews with participants of Translink Corporate Finance Nordic Tech Stars event in Helsinki, attended by premier investors and Nordic SaaS and technology companies. The event took place at Savoy restaurant.
00:00 Sami Miettinen intro to Translink Nordic Tech Stars
00:32 Guests from Paris: Marc Irisson (Translink) & Elie Hodara (InfraVia)
01:04 Shout-outs: Lyyti, Vastuu Group, M&M Growth Partners
01:41 Interview: Marc Irisson – trends in B2B tech/TMT
02:14 Polarized M&A market; deal volumes US vs. Europe
02:50 Polarization inside tech: what it means
03:15 Flight to quality accelerates since 2023
03:53 Multiples: 20× EBITDA / ~10× ARR for top assets; others lag
04:36 PE dry powder; opportunities for strong-KPI SaaS
05:01 Good vintage analogy for investing/exits
05:25 Nordic SaaS quality & Rule of 40 call-out
05:57 Nordic/Finnish leadership & international scale
06:53 Petri Hollmén (Lyyti, Vaaka Partners portfolio)
07:33 Hitting the Rule of 40 sustainably
07:59 NPS & eNPS stay high while scaling
08:25 5M+ ARR club; revenue levels
09:01 B2B SaaS positioning; international expansion
09:33 Finnish business community & Turku angle
10:09 Tero Nummenpää birthday party with Lyyti
10:54 Harry Brade (M&M Growth Partners)
11:22 AlphaSense: ARR journey & valuation milestone
11:54 SiloAI: early stage to breakout
12:17 Flexible tickets; strong AI focus
12:57 Vertical vs. horizontal AI plays
13:33 SaaS multiples: vertical vs. horizontal (market view)
14:13 Entry expectations vs. realized outcomes
14:32 Spinning off SiloGen (product vs. services)
14:57 Compute, LLMs, and infra as value drivers
15:25 Niilo Pirttijärvi (Inven)
15:54 AI-driven B2B analytics; who it serves
16:18 Market/platform analysis use cases
16:44 Funding rounds (pre-seed → Series A)
17:10 Notable investors such as Tuomo Vuolteenaho
17:31 Global ARR mix (US/EU/ROW)
17:57 Rule of 700 growth quip
18:15 Product investment & scaling
18:32 CAC/NRR/churn & profitability lens
18:57 AI ecosystem/community notes
19:21 B2B SaaS model durability
20:02 Growth vs. cash flow; metrics that matter
20:32 Gross margin, usage costs, CAC multiples
20:55 Building customer success at speed
21:11 Founding team split & coding ambitions
21:41 Pekka Vanne (Vastuu Group)
22:00 Hartwall Capital partnership
22:24 ~90% recurring revenue profile
22:43 Consulting components at onboarding
23:04 Mission: responsibility & ESG enablement
23:22 Meaning of Vastuu, culture
23:40 International guests & go-to-market
24:00 Growth in Finland; expanding offerings
24:26 M&A as an internationalization lever
24:46 First acquisition done; more considered
25:13 Elie Hodara (InfraVia Partners)
25:36 Flexible minority/majority; pure B2B software; GIP platform support
26:06 Team footprint; value-add (search, cyber, legal)
26:35 Sector themes; why Finnish SaaS scales early
26:52 Capital-efficient mindset & early structuring
27:09 What founders seek (scaling support)
27:25 Biz-dev help; Scandinavia & Europe
27:44 Depth across Finland (not just Helsinki)
28:33 Rule of 40: useful proxy, not a hard screen
29:07 Tracking over hold; context matters
29:49 Translink Corporate Finance in tech space
30:20 Contact www translinkcf dot com or fi
30:52 Subscribe to Translink SaaS Valuation Quarterly
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