Translink Nordic Tech Stars | #negotiator 356

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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