Askel Ventures

Acquiring boring businesses.
Building compounding value.

Micro private equity  ·  Nordic small business acquisitions
The Opportunity

A wave of succession transitions
no one is equipped to handle.

The silver tsunami is here. Across the Nordics, essential small businesses are profitable and resilient — but founder-led and approaching succession transition.
Structural gap in the market. These businesses are too small for traditional private equity and too operationally demanding for passive investors.
Modern tools, untapped. Many lack data visibility, scalable processes, and modern systems. AI and software now create practical efficiency gains in admin, sales, reporting, and operations.
Attractive entry multiples. Stable, cash-generative businesses available at 3–4× EBITDA — a pricing dynamic unavailable at scale in any other asset class.
The Model

We buy, operate, grow, and selectively exit —
then reinvest the proceeds.

Source & Acquire
3–4× EBITDA entry
debt + equity
→
Apply Playbook
Systems, AI,
commercial dev
→
Grow
Target 3× EBITDA
over 5 years
→
Sell at Premium
6–8× EBITDA
to passive buyers
→
Redeploy
Fund next acquisition
or return capital
Agentic AI sourcing. Our proprietary software system (a.k.a. Steve 🦔) monitors online signals — listing activity, job ads, owner interviews, trade press — to identify businesses approaching succession before they hit the market.
What we mean by boring businesses. Cash-generative SMEs in essential, non-glamorous services — laundromats, cleaning, waste collection, B2B trades. Resilient demand, low disruption risk, 400K–1.5M EUR revenue, 3–4× EBITDA entry. Unglamorous by design.
We sell when the Askel effect is fully realized — not because investors need liquidity, but because the next euro of value creation happens elsewhere. Portfolio exits fund future acquisitions and create natural investor liquidity.
Inspired by the Barbell strategy. Buying boring but profitable businesses, digitalizing them, and building a tech layer on top — stable cash flows on one end, asymmetric upside on the other.
Our Edge

The Askel Effect — a documented playbook
for transforming small businesses.

Experienced operators, hands-onAskel is founded by serial entrepreneurs who have built and run SMEs themselves. We don't just advise — we take the lead, with boots on the ground and a documented playbook to back it up.
Full digital transformation We take paper-operated, stale businesses and make them modern — full digitalization that frees people from administrative drag and unlocks productivity.
Commercial development We kickstart modern sales and marketing — proactive outreach, digital channels, and systematic lead generation — alongside pricing discipline, customer mix optimisation, and revenue quality. Areas previous owners typically left untouched.
The AI Layer We deploy the latest AI technologies — from agents to computer vision — not for the sake of it, but to solve specific, real-world operational problems. This is where asymmetric upside gets built.
The Growth Engine Replacing ad-hoc processes and spreadsheet operations with a modern, proven tech stack. A repeatable Growth Engine — documented and improving with every acquisition.
From owner-led to professionally-led We recruit dedicated operators for each business — often replacing the outgoing founder — and build around them: stronger governance, clearer operating cadence, and the systems to scale without founder dependency.
The Askel Effect in Numbers

How boring becomes extraordinary.

2× 4× 6× 8× 10× EBITDA MULTIPLE Askel path Market (no intervention) APPLY PLAYBOOK Buy here Sell here Next buyer's territory Owner-led Operator-led Management-led C-level EBITDA: €250k ~€450k €1.5m €5m
EBITDA growth
€250k → €1.5m
Multiple expansion
3–4× → 6–8×
The mechanism
De-risk the operation. Grow the business. The market reprices both.
Illustrative figures. Actual multiples vary by business, sector, and execution.
The Team

Founders with deep tech and
business building experience.

Varia Wahlroos-Kaitila CEO
Acquisition & Commercial Value Creation
Founded 5 companies across agency, SaaS, and venture-backed startups. Built a marketing business from 0 to €2M ARR, sold a company, and led negotiations with banks and institutional partners for the first acquisition.
Niklas Slotte CRO
Deal Execution & Revenue Scaling
Serial entrepreneur with experience building and leading multiple businesses, including scaling an international company to €8M ARR. Brings sharp commercial judgment, team leadership, and hands-on ownership during roll-up execution.
Mikael Ylinen Board
Operational Depth & Industrial Understanding
Entrepreneur and long-term board operator with broad end-to-end business understanding. Brings practical experience in production environments, hardware, and the operational realities that determine whether acquisitions hold together.
Mike Solomon CTO
AI Systems & Software Leverage
PhD in Mathematics, Stanford graduate, and full-stack AI systems builder. Develops the internal software and AI agents that increase sourcing capacity, accelerate diligence, and create operating leverage across the portfolio.
10 companies founded
€8M ARR scaled internationally
Stanford · Hanken ×2 · PhD Mathematics
AI & full-stack systems
VC-backed + traditional business experience
The Investment

Preferred equity in Askel.
Raising up to €1M.

Instrument
Preferred equity in the Askel holdco via private placement.
What you're buying
Layer 1: Asset value — Melers, our first acquisition.
Layer 2: Cash flow from a growing portfolio of profitable businesses.
Layer 3: Dedicated hands-on founding team.
Layer 4: A proven playbook for sourcing, acquiring, and developing SMEs.
Layer 5: Proprietary AI platform — including Steve 🦔, our sourcing agent.
Use of funds
Next 5 acquisitions to reach efficient compounding scale — the point where portfolio cash flows and exit proceeds create a self-funding flywheel.
Financial target
Grow portfolio companies 10–20% per year. Exit at 6–8× EBITDA. Target holdco IRR of 25–35%.
Liquidity
Portfolio exits generate holdco liquidity starting from year 3. Secondary transfers available with company consent (ROFR). A strategic acquisition of the holdco provides a full exit for all shareholders.
Minimum ticket
€100,000. Closing on a rolling basis.
Askel Ventures

Acquiring boring businesses.
Building compounding value.

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Micro private equity  ·  Nordic small business acquisitions