Juuri Fund I has successfully exited Profinder
Ilkka Oyj has acquired all outstanding shares of Rootfon Oy (“Profinder”), a portfolio company of Juuri Fund I, in a transaction closed on 29 November 2024.
SaaS company Profinder provides the most comprehensive and the highest quality target group data in the market through its B2B and B2C services. The acquisition is in line with the strategy of marketing and technology services business area of Ilkka, expanding its services to sales technology and data services.
The story of Profinder begins in 2017 as part of LeadDesk Oyj continuing for two years. Private equity company Juuri Partners has been developing the business of Profinder as the majority owner since 2019. The company has been focusing on its recurring revenue services for the past few years. The growth of Profinder has been fuelled by the increasing demand for sales and marketing tools as well as an up-to-date database combining various sources to meet the demand. The service is enabled by an intuitive cloud-based platform that can be integrated to CRM systems.
The net sales and EBITDA of Profinder for the period of January-September 2024 were 5.1 million euro and 1.9 million euro, respectively. Over 80 % of revenue is recurring. The company’s market area is Finland, and it has circa 1 300 business customers. Profinder has 28 employees.
“This acquisition is a significant step on the digital growth journey of our group strategy and enhances significantly our capabilities to comprehensively serve our customers. With the help of the target group services of Profinder we further strengthen our position as sales and marketing partner for our customers,” the CEO of Ilkka Olli Pirhonen comments.
“The SaaS-platform developed by Profinder enables scaling of the business and an increasing profitability going forward. Ilkka, as the new owner, wants to continue to promote this development,” Pirhonen continues.
“Profinder of today was created in connection with our investment, when we acquired the subsidiary of LeadDesk, at the time known as LeadCloud, that simultaneously acquired the data business of Fonecta. The value creation strategy was based on utilizing the growing demand of digital sales tools through the development of a market-leading cloud-based platform integrating to several different CRMs and transforming the business to a SaaS model. We were able to execute successfully the various value creation actions together with the capable management and personnel of Profinder. The company gained an excellent new owner through the transaction executed today,” concludes Tommi Asmala, Partner of Juuri Partners.
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Profinder is a Finnish data services company dedicated to helping its clients grow their business through the use of data. Profinder produces, aggregates, and analyzes consumer and business data. The company was established when Juuri invested in LeadCloud, which acquired Fonecta’s data business through a business transaction. As a result of the merger, Profinder was formed—a company offering an even broader range of data sources and services.
