Framery and Cactos chosen as winners of the 2025 Building Growth competition

The winners of the Growth Builder 2025 competition, organized by the Finnish Venture Capital Association (FVCA) and PwC, are Framery in the buyout category and Cactos in the VC category. Each year, the competition seeks the most inspiring growth story among portfolio companies backed by private equity and venture capital investors — stories where growth has been built together with the investor in a long-term and impactful way.

The final of the Growth Builder 2025 competition took place, as usual, at the association’s main annual event, the PE-VC Summit, on Thursday, October 9th. This year, the competition was renewed with two separate award categories: VC and buyout. The goal of the update was to highlight the distinctive growth stories of both VC- and buyout-backed companies.

The winners were selected by an annually rotating jury of external experts. This year’s panel consisted of Talouselämä journalist Katja Boxberg, Hanken School of Economics Professor of Practice Markus Wartiovaara, and State Pension Fund CEO Timo Löyttyniemi.

In Framery’s case, the jury was impressed by the company’s broad market reach, strong adaptability, and already well-established growth trajectory. The company has demonstrated significant growth, driven by close and productive collaboration with Vaaka Partners.

For Cactos, the jury was convinced by the team’s strong expertise and excellent ability to sell and advance their product even at an early stage of growth. The company also stood out as one of the best presenters in the final. Cactos has been supported by Superhero Capital, which took the stage at the event, as well as by the U.S.-based Union Square Ventures.

Alongside the winners, the competitive final featured Netox and Elcoline in the buyout category, and Norrin and M-Files in the VC category.

“It’s wonderful to see such a wide variety of inspiring growth stories emerging from Finnish businesses. The Growth Builder competition highlights that growth doesn’t happen by chance — it’s the result of collaboration between entrepreneurship, expertise, and private equity investment,” says Jussi Lehtinen, Partner at PwC.

“The winners and finalists demonstrate that in Finland, growth can be built systematically and effectively. Framery and Cactos perfectly represent what the Growth Builder competition aims to celebrate — the growth potential created through skilled ownership and close collaboration between investors and companies,” comments Anne Horttanainen, Managing Director of the Finnish Venture Capital Association.

The Growth Builder competition has been organized for over ten years, and its list of past winners includes many success stories such as ICEYE, Virta, Swappie, Smartly.io, and Kamux.

Additional information:
Anne Horttanainen
Finnish Venture Capital Association, Managing Director
anne.horttanainen@fvca.fi
+358 40 510 4907

Jussi Lehtinen
PwC/Strategy&, Partner
jussi.lehtinen@pwc.com
+358 20 787 8756