7. VC & Growth exits: Back to normal following two weak years
The number of exits in the venture and growth stage continues to rise after several years with activity well below historical levels. Four out of five exits involved ICT companies.
Compared to the last couple of years, the number of VC-backed exits increased in 2021, with 87 transactions. However, exits in the segment have decreased in the previous decade. Between 2011 and 2016, the exit level was between 79 and 122. From 2017 onwards, the number has been between 48 and 87 exits (see graph below)
"In 2021, we were back to normal following two weak exit years. In the same period, the number of deals has increased significantly. This coincidence can result from many factors, including increased holding period or new fund managers who have not made any or many exits yet", says Joachim Høegh-Krohn, CEO at Argentum.
Increasing: In 2021, VC funds made 87 exits from Nordic companies. Following a decreasing trend in the last couple of years, this constituted a minor upswing.
Notable exits in the VC & Growth segments
Among the most significant exits, all companies are in the ICT sector. One of them is the Swedish fintech company Tink, acquired in June by Visa in a trade sale valued at 1.8 billion euros. SEB Private Equity, Eurazeo, Creades, Insight Equity and Dawn Capital were among the investors that exited the company.
Further on, Workday acquired the Danish software company Peakon in January. Many VCs were involved in Peakon, including EQT Ventures, Atomico Ventures, Idinvest Partners, Balderton Capital, Sunstone Capital, Creandum Management and SEB Private Equity. The company was sold for 700 million dollars.
"EQT Ventures has helped the company through three finance rounds since our initial investment in 2017. We have also assisted in getting Peakon user cases and traction in the market through our 10,000 employees who use the platform passionately. We are delighted with it", says Magnus Tornling, Partner and Head of EQT's Global Industrial Tech Sector Team.
Other notable venture exits during the year include:
- In March, the employee scheduling service Planday was sold in a trade sale worth 248 million dollars to Xero Limited. Creandum, SEB Venture Capital and Idinvest Partners exited the Danish company.
- In July, Strossle, a digital content distribution platform, was sold for 200 million euros to the Dutch company Azerion. The Swedish venture fund Spintop exited the company formerly known as Sprinkle.
- In November, the food delivery company Wolt was acquired by DoorDash in a trade sale that valued the company at approximately 7 billion euros. Among the sellers were KKR, Tiger Global, DST Global, Coatue Management, Highland Europe, 83North, EQT Ventures and EQT Growth.
- eEquity announced the trade sale of price comparison website PriceRunner to Klarna in November. The transaction valued the company at approximately €900 million.
Majority of exits involved tech companies
In the venture segment, most exited companies involved companies in the ICT sector, as many as 79 %. Compared to the average share in the last ten years, this represented a 31 % increase (see the total sector overview above).
The second-largest sector was health care and life sciences, with a share of 11 %. Large exits include Forendo Pharma, which five venture funds exited in November when Organon BioSciences acquired the company in a deal worth 954 million dollars.
Looking at the country share, most divestments were made in the Finnish market for the first time in our tracking (39 exits). VC-backed exits in Sweden are below trend, down to 27. In 2021, twelve exits involved Danish companies, and nine exits involved Norwegian ones (see graph below).