IIThe Engine
What Is a Boring Business
Our thesis, in six traits.
01Real, proven cash flow
10+ years old, real customers, profitable with 20%+ margins — no story, just proof.
02Essential, not optional
Customers can't skip it, even in a downturn — cleaning, waste, laundry, maintenance.
03Recurring, not one-off
Contracts and repeat relationships, not project-by-project revenue.
04Asymmetric upside built in
Old, non-digital industries where the right software could unlock outsized returns — upside that isn't priced into the deal, and isn't required for it to work.
05Undermanaged, not broken
Profitable today, run on paper and spreadsheets — not systems. We look for customer registries of 500+ contacts sitting untouched by any marketing.
06Succession-ready
The owner is ready to hand over — a clean, structural opening, not a fragility.
IIThe Engine
The Opportunity
This isn't one deal.
It's a structural wave.
73,000+
Finnish entrepreneurs aged 54+
34,000
intend to sell to an outside buyer within the decade
20,000+
viable businesses at closure risk — no suitable buyer exists
Not one country's problem. Finland, Sweden, and Estonia all face the same demographic wall — this opportunity doesn't disappear if one market tightens.
Not one sector's problem. Cleaning, laundry, waste, maintenance, trades — essential services spread across an entire category of the economy, not one lucky find.
Real businesses, real cash flow. These are decades-old, profitable, cash-generative operations — not turnarounds, not distress. The only reason they're available is an owner ready to retire.
IIThe Engine
What We Do as a Company
We Find, Fund & Grow Companies
IIThe Engine
Find01 / 03
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
Fund02 / 03
How we finance our acquisitions.
Leverage
Each acquisition is financed with senior bank debt (50–70% of purchase price), supplemented by seller financing, alongside equity. Without leverage, €1M in equity buys one deal — with it, it funds our next five.
Skin in the game
The founders personally financed the equity for both initial acquisitions and personally guarantee a portion of each loan.
Cost of capital
Combined €412K in acquisition debt carries a ≈7.73% weighted-average effective rate (incl. fees and Finnvera premiums) — an estimated €121,900 in lifetime financing cost across both loans.
Financial target
Grow portfolio companies 10%/yr. Selectively exit at 6–8× EBITDA.
Finnvera guarantees
Our first two acquisitions — Melers and Auran Pesupojat — use Finnvera guarantees covering 70% of the bank loan.
Exit strategy
Three paths to liquidity: sell individual companies at 5–6× entry value (EBITDA growth + multiple expansion), hold for dividend income, or exit the whole portfolio in a single roll-up sale.
Financing partners
IIThe Engine
Grow03 / 03
The Askel Playbook. How boring
becomes extraordinary.
Recruitment
Our job: hiring and enabling the right operators — CEOs and managers. We incentivize them to run and grow the business day-to-day, without the founder or Askel's involvement.
Marketing & Sales
Our job is to set up: standard operating procedures for outreach, lead generation, and conversion — systems that turn one-off effort into repeatable growth.
Software & AI
Our job is to develop hyper custom software: ERPs, CRMs, and AI agents for each business. This is where asymmetric upside gets built. These can be rolled out as separate products for everyone to use globally.
Buy
3–4x EBITDA
Owner-led
→
De-risk & professionalize the operation
Exit
6–8x EBITDA
Management-led
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 size 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.
Backed by
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 size 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 Vision
Compounding toward €50M+ in revenue.
One acquisition is proof.
A portfolio is the business.
A portfolio is the business.
Askel Ventures, LLC
Industrial Laundry
Melers Oy
Auran Pesupojat Oy
Company 3 Oy
Company 4 Oy
Industry 2
Company Oy
Company Oy
Company Oy
Company Oy
Industry 3 (Sweden)
Company AB
Company AB
Company AB
Company AB
Industry 4
Company Ltd
Company Ltd
Company Ltd
Company Ltd
Not a thesis — a trajectory already underway, with acquisition #1 (Melers) cash-flowing and #2 (Auran Pesupojat) closing. Selective exits of mature companies at premium multiples fund the next wave.
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%.
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%
IThe Case
3x Why
Why we exist. Why now.
Why you should invest.
Why we exist
Finland has 20,000+ profitable small businesses about to lose their owner to retirement — and no buyer built for businesses this size. We exist to be that buyer.
Why we're raising now
The succession wave is peaking this decade, multiples are still rational, AI has made custom software development near-zero cost — the single biggest lever behind our upside — and deal #1 already proves the model. We're raising to fund the next 5 acquisitions — to speed up the compounding of the portfolio, and before this space gets crowded.
Why you should invest
We've built the sourcing engine, the screening and DD framework, Marketing & Sales systems, and a live, cash-flowing case — this isn't a thesis you're betting on, it's a system already running.
IIThe Engine
Why This Matters To You
Real cash flow. Real ownership.
Downside protection. You're buying into profitable, cash-generating businesses from day one — not a pre-revenue bet.
Asymmetric upside. Digitalization and AI unlock multiple expansion no one else at this deal size is pursuing.
Alignment. Same share class as the founders. No preference stack, no games.
A liquidity path, on a compounding timeline. Dividends from Year 4, exit optionality at 5–6× as the portfolio matures — this is patient capital, not a quick flip.