IThe Case
Overview
Askel Ventures at a glance.
Company
Askel Ventures Oy, Evergreen HoldCo
Strategy
Micro private equity. We buy, operate, grow, and selectively exit. Building a portfolio of 20–25 companies within 7 years.
Sectors
Cleaning, laundry, waste collection, maintenance, funeral homes, elderly services, industrial trades — and beyond. Essential blue-collar industries, not limited to these.
Geography
Nordics · Finland (primary) · Sweden (secondary)
Deal profile
Revenue €500K–3.5M · EBITDA min. €100K+, 20% margin · entry ≤€1M · 100% ownership
Platform
Steve — proprietary AI sourcing system, live and sourcing today. Broker network of 70+. AskelOS — our operating system running the acquisition and portfolio-management process.
Advantage
Documented operational playbook + AI sourcing — no passive PE competes here. Hyper custom software development capability. Experienced founders.
Round
Raising up to €1M, ordinary shares in top-level HoldCo, min ticket €100K
Liquidity
Growing dividend payouts from Year 4 · IRR target +20%
IIThe Engine
Find
How we find acquisition targets
before they reach the market.
20+
active brokers
100+
deal pipeline YTD
31-point
screening process
<100 days
first close
Sourcing
Weekly
→
Screening
Active
→
IC
Selective
→
DD
Rigorous
→
Acquired
✓
Steve — AI sourcing agent. Scans marketplace listings and finds weak signals — owners nearing retirement, flagged through social media and public news — scored against thesis fit.
Broker network. 20+ active brokers working with us, access to off-market deals, and a live deal pipeline of 100+ cases YTD.
Rigorous process. 31-point screening, an Investment Committee decision process where 3/4 must agree, and a repeatable Due Diligence template for every deal.
IIThe Engine
Case Study
Proof-of-concept: Melers Oy.
Deal overview
Industrial laundry for elderly care and hotels & consumer dry cleaning, Turku region — operating since 1967 (founded 2001). 100% acquisition, closed Jan 2026 in <100 days.
Business snapshot
Revenue ~€490K, EBITDA €115K (23% margin). 60/40 B2B/B2C mix. Team of 7. Acquired at ~3.5x EBITDA.
Financing
€400K purchase price — 55% bank loan (OP, Finnvera-backed), 25% seller financing, 20% founder equity (cash). No outside capital needed.
Value-creation plan
New modern branding, AI-enabled ERP, standardized sales & marketing operating practices, new outbound sales system, growth-minded operator. Target: min. +10% YoY EBITDA growth.
12-Month Plan
M1
M2
M3
M4
M5
M6
M7
M8
M9
M10
M11
M12
M13
Knowledge Transfer
Recruitment
Sales & Marketing SOPs
Digital Transformation
Knowledge Transfer (Mo 1–3) and Recruitment (Mo 2–5) run first, followed by Sales & Marketing SOPs (Mo 3–8) and Digital Transformation (Mo 8–13). The key goal for the first 6 months: don't break the company or lose customers.
IIIThe Ask
The Team
Why this team
builds the boring business portfolio.
Varia Wahlroos-Kaitila CEO
FindGrow
What: runs deal screening and seller negotiations, structures every acquisition, then leads boots-on-the-ground knowledge transfer, hires the first operators, and sets up sales & marketing systems once that's done.
Why: built several marketing businesses, and one to 0→€2M ARR. Personally closed the bank financing on Melers.
Niklas Slotte CRO
FundGrow
What: runs revenue operations and financials, then drives growth after close — builds revenue-enabling software (like the sales CRM), and runs business development and outside financing (Business Finland, Momentum) through a revenue lens.
Why: built 5 companies, including scaling one to €8M ARR internationally through to exit — understands financial engineering and growth financing from the operator's side, not just the banker's.
Mikael Ylinen Board
FindGrow
What: understands heavy machinery and logistics inside out — machinery condition, lease-vs-upgrade economics — and codes, turning hardware and equipment data into insights that make sure new software actually works on the floor.
Why: built 3+ hardware- and logistics-heavy businesses, including designing and building a factory, and sits on the board of a company he's run for over 10 years. He knows where acquisitions actually break.
Mike Solomon CTO
Grow
What: builds and runs Steve, the AI sourcing system, plus the internal software stack across the portfolio.
Why: PhD Mathematics and Stanford graduate, full-stack AI systems builder. He's the reason this scales fast past deal #1 without headcount scaling with it.
10 companies founded
€8M ARR scaled internationally
Stanford · Hanken ×2 · PhD Mathematics
AI & full-stack systems
VC-backed + traditional business experience
IIIThe Ask
The Ask
Equity in Askel Ventures.
Raising up to €1M.
Instrument
Ordinary shares via private placement — same share class as founders, no preference stack.
What you're buying
Layer 1: A dedicated founding team, building a 25 company portfolio.
Layer 2: A proven sourcing & acquisition playbook.
Layer 3: Asset value — Melers & Auran Pesupojat Oy.
Layer 4: Cash flow from a growing portfolio.
Layer 5: AskelOS + Steve AI 🦔
Layer 2: A proven sourcing & acquisition playbook.
Layer 3: Asset value — Melers & Auran Pesupojat Oy.
Layer 4: Cash flow from a growing portfolio.
Layer 5: AskelOS + Steve AI 🦔
Use of funds
Next 5 acquisitions to reach compounding scale.
Minimum ticket
€100,000. Closing on a rolling basis.
Dividend timeline
Predictable payouts starting Year 4, distributed pro-rata to shareholders. IRR target +20%.