We are a Finnish private equity investor focused on cultivating small and mid-sized service companies for success. We employ our exceptional experience in digitalization, branding and consolidation to help them establish market leadership in their field. Saari (English: island) gains advantage from the strengths of its community – on the capabilities, experience and commitment we bring to the table. We provide the required resources to complement the company’s strengths and serve as pilots over the next critical stage of growth.
Saari Partners, established in 2018, is a Finnish fund manager for the Saari I & II private equity funds. The funds invest in Finnish small and mid-sized service companies with entrepreneurial drive and the potential to achieve competitive advantage through the means of digitalization, branding and consolidation.
Our team has outstanding hands-on operational experience in marketing, branding, digitalization, finance and M&A. Our portfolio companies are chosen on their potential to gain maximum competitive advantage from our substantial expertise. We actively seek out ambitious entrepreneurs with the will to take their company to the top. While we invest in majority share, we believe in close collaboration with the entrepreneur to achieve shared success.
Saari Partners is a proud member of Finnish Venture Capital Association and we comply with quidelines set to promote transparency in private equity and in venture capital industries. Saari Partners is under supervision of Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority and is a Registered / Licensed AIFM.
Saari I and Saari II Funds are managed by Saari Partners Oy, owned by the partners.
Saari I -The team members of Saari Partners will all work in close cooperation with the company leadership to add value within their respective competence areas. In addition to monetary resources, we provide strategic planning resources as well as hands-on knowledge regarding business design, service design, digitalisation, branding and process development, among others. .
Founding Partner /
Digitalisation
mikael@saaripartners.fi
+358 45 1200011
Mikael is passionate about developing organisational culture and transforming business through digitalisation. He has led several successful digitalisation projects and worked as a management consultant as well as CIO for Oral Hammaslääkärit Oyj and Turvatiimi Oyj. Mikael brings tech and digitalisation competence to the team.
Managing Partner / Brand & Marketing,
Go-To-Market
mia.sirkia@saaripartners.fi
+358 40 8600240
Mia has worked in various roles in developing branding, sales and go-to-market. In her previous job she was responsible for the B2B marketing unit at brand agency Hasan & Partners, and has been developing brands and marketing for industrial, service and technology companies. Mia’s role in the team is to build value through customer centric thinking, branding and marketing.
Partner /
Finance & Operations
hanna.henell@saaripartners.fi
+358 40 5257081
Hanna has extensive experience of finance and funding in supporting business operations. Prior joining Saari she lead turnaround services in KPMG where she both had the business lead role and worked in challenging Interim CFO engagements. Before joining KPMG, she worked in Glaston and Delta Motor Group in versatile finance and treasury roles. Hanna’s strengths are to understand the requirements of business operations and to turn challenges into potential.
Founding Partner /
M&A, Transactions
ben.wrede@saaripartners.fi
+358 40 5105940
Ben’s work history includes 10 years as CEO of Atine Group with in leading role in all M&A transactions. Ben has extensive experience in board work and supporting the company leadership/management to achieve their goals. Ben’s focus in the team is transactions, acquisitions and board level influencing.
Founding Partner / Finance and Process development
pirjo.kiiski@saaripartners.fi
+358 40 5691330
Pirjo has extensive knowledge of everything financial, as well as business analytics and logistics. Pirjo’s past work experience includes being the Nordic CFO of L’Oreal, Lumene’s CFO. She has also worked within the finance sector, Evli and at the Bank of Finland. Pirjo’s strengths are financial processes, data driven decision making and management team sparring.
Saari Partners follows The International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines (IPEVG) to determine the value of its portfolio companies. We follow the Investor Reporting Guidelines of Invest Europe to report to our investors. Reporting is done quarterly.
We comply with all the rules and recommendations for sustainable finance, as set out by the EU, the FVCA, the UN and Invest Europe.
Sustainable finance is a far larger topic for us, however, and we believe that to be truly profitable and value-adding in the long term, sustainability is a must.
We strive to build a culture of trust, transparency, and responsibility within our own operations, as well as within the companies we work with. Sustainability is a way of working, rather than a checklist.
Read more (in Finnish 🇫🇮):
Investment year: 2018
Revenue: 3,9 M eur (2021)
Industry: Building safety inspections, repair and SaaS-service
Safetum manages building safety for over 10.000 Finnish buildings.
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Investment year: 2020
Revenue: 5,6 M eur (2021)
Industry: Home cleaning services
Lempi Kodinhoito was acquired from Stella Kotipalvelut and will start as an independent business as Saari Partners’ portfolio company. Lempi name and web site was launched during summer 2021.
Investment year: 2021
Revenue: 18,1 M eur (2021)
Industry: Electrical systems and component design & manufacturing
Investment year: 2022
Revenue: 5,0 M eur (2021)
Industry: IT consulting and software development
Geniem is a software development and consultancy company. Geniem specialises inWordPress and JavaScript technologies, and is among the top 3 WordPress providers in Finland. Geniem has its headquarter in Tampere, employing 90 people.
Are you running a service business company with 5-15 Meur turnover? Don’t hesitate to be in touch to chat whether this is the place for your company.
For companies | Contact us
Investment year: 2018
Exit year: 2022
Revenue: 14,6 M eur (2021)
Industry: Air ventilation services
Cervi is the market leader in air ventilation industry and it currently employs almost 200 persons in the Helsinki, Tampere, Turku and Kotka areas.
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14.12.2022 / Saari Partners
With Saari II, Saari Partners continues to focus on finding inspired entrepreneurs and great Finnish SME service sector companies…
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10.11.2022 / Saari Partners
Cervi, a specialist in ventilation, clean indoor air and cooling, gets a new partner and shareholder as Saari I…
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24.06.2021 / Saari Partners
Saari Partners invests in Navix together with its current management, aiming to capture growth in the European markets. Navix…
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08.01.2021 / Saari Partners
Home cleaning business from Stella starts as an independent business, when private equity fund Saari Partners acquires it from…
Read moreWith team from Saari, you will get not just capital but also width of competence to support your growth. The experience from different functions is at your service for development projects as well as supporting daily operations. We always begin the cooperation with joint business plan and joint target setting.
We believe value can be achieved through business operations, not just financial engineering. We believe in investing in culture, customer centricity and technology, to generate growth and profitability.
Cooperation should be fun and built on trust and transparency. This forms a foundation that gets us through even the tough times as a team.
Combining two top teams has resulted growth in casual and innovative way. I couldn’t think of doing anything else, anywhere else than this.
Energy and professionalism. These are factors, which I value most while working with Saari team. Professionalism is seen through tough targets and clear plans towards these targets. Energy is tangible with culture that supports trials, successes and active listening. Personally Saari team is more of a sparring partner than excel-driven investor.
Cooperation with Saari team is very pragmatic and result driven. The team’s diverse background offers companies a strong support for developing both operative issues and strategic agenda.
Experienced and capable partners at Saari truly help me and my team in developing the business in a positive way. Respect and sincerity build trust and courage, which enables us to move towards ambitious targets. I know help and support is always available when needed.
The experience, values and competence of Saari Partners makes a winning team when combined with the trust and support they offer for the company. When adding to the list agility and hands-on experience in various functions, means that operative management gets full support for ambitious growth and change.
Business ID: 2726866-4
Laivanvarustajankatu 5, 00140 Helsinki
info@saaripartners.fi
firstname.lastname@saaripartners.fi
+358 40 8600 240
Laivanvarustajankatu 5, 00140 Helsinki, Suomi
