We’re excited to finally share the news: Vendep Capital has raised €80 million for our brand new Fund IV. The fund has already reached its €80 million target, with fundraising open until April 2026.
We’re proud of the strong support from both existing and new investors, including institutional LPs, family offices, and individuals who share our long-term vision and conviction in the future of SaaS.
Our new fund is strongly backed by our existing institutional investors, including Tesi, KRR, Sitra, Pension Insurance Company Elo, Saastamoinen Foundation, Gösta Serlachius Fine Arts Foundation and Teknologiateollisuus along with new institutional LPs as well as family offices and individuals who share our belief in the future of SaaS.
Since 2013, we’ve built one of the strongest SaaS track records in the Nordics, backing breakout companies such as AlphaSense, Hostaway, Leadfeeder, and Happeo. With a clear focus on early-stage B2B SaaS from pre-seed to Series A, and a particular interest in AI-first products, we have become one of Northern Europe’s leading B2B SaaS specialist investors.
With Fund IV, we will invest in around 20 early-stage SaaS startups across the Nordics and Baltics. Just like before, our initial ticket size ranges from €0.1 million to €3 million, and we remain committed to supporting our portfolio companies in later rounds.
“We are excited to continue our work. Nordics and Baltics today offer one of the most thriving grounds globally for building category-defining software companies, and Vendep is uniquely positioned to partner with the next wave of founders driving that growth”, says our partner Sakari Pihlava.
SaaS in the AI era
The launch of our Fund IV comes at a very interesting time for SaaS. While some claim the model is “dead” in the wake of agentic AI, we see the opposite: SaaS is evolving, and AI-first SaaS is its next chapter.
Most of the AI startups rely on the same foundations that made the SaaS business model so resilient in the first place: cloud infrastructure, recurring revenue, and data. These fundamentals remain essential even as AI agents and automation reshape software.
“SaaS isn’t always seen as the most flashy investment theme, but we see it as brilliant because it keeps outperforming,” says our partner Sami Ahvenniemi. “SaaS companies consistently deliver predictable recurring revenues and industry-leading margins. And with AI, SaaS is entering its most exciting era yet. Nearly every meaningful AI product today is delivered and monetised as SaaS.”
From hype to execution
The AI landscape is moving from hype to execution. The initial flood of startups, many funded on little more than a demo and a vision, is already hitting the wall of reality. In the next 12 months, many will not make the leap from interesting to indispensable.
The market is maturing, and so are expectations. What matters now is not who ships an AI feature fastest, but who builds something useful, repeatable, and defensible. We are leaving the “toy phase” as we like to call it.
The real opportunities lie in use cases that genuinely boost productivity. But achieving a lasting AI advantage in software is hard. It takes years of product development and iteration, not just an API key and a flashy demo.
“Building a truly sustainable AI advantage, something that makes your software meaningfully better, is brutally hard. It takes years. This isn’t about sticking an AI button on a screen,” says our partner Jupe Arala.
Our investment lens
Our investment strategy reflects this maturity. We are not chasing hype. We are backing strong, long-term businesses where AI is a lever for differentiation, not a crutch for growth.
In practice, this means we now scrutinize how effectively and creatively founders use AI to gain a competitive edge:
- Does it solve a real user problem?
- Is it integrated into workflows in a way that scales?
- Is there proprietary data or defensibility behind it?
We are cautious with pitches that rely only on model access, interface novelty, or generic productivity claims. The fundamentals have not changed: a great company is still a great business. Recurring revenue, defensibility, and real customer value remain the backbone of our thesis.
Looking ahead
We have already made two investments from Fund IV, one in Denmark and one in Finland. We will be sharing more about them soon.
In the meantime, if you’re a B2B SaaS founder in the Nordics or Baltics and you’re thinking about fundraising, we'd love to hear from you.
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