HappySignals raises €12M to transform IT decision-making with human-centric data and AI

Helsinki, 22.04.2024 – HappySignals, the Human-Centric IT Experience Management company, secures a €12M round led by Mandatum Asset Management and with participation from existing investors Nauta and Vendep Capital. The investment will fuel sales, marketing, and product development for global expansion in the growing IT Experience Management (ITXM) market.

Understanding employee experiences with IT, making data-driven decisions, and improving IT operations and outcomes in the right areas is more crucial than ever for large global enterprises.

HappySignals is helping organizations transform their IT and Services to become more human-centric by leveraging employee experience data and AI. This allows them to make informed decisions and focus on what truly matters. By prioritizing employee happiness and productivity, organizations save money and drive increased business value. Companies like PepsiCo, Fujitsu, and Reckitt transform their IT to a value creator by focusing on delivering services that enhance business operations and employee experiences.

Sami Kallio, the CEO and co-founder of HappySignals, highlights the investment’s significance:

“IT organization's primary role is enhancing efficiency and satisfaction across the entire organization through effective IT support and tools. Historically, IT has concentrated on technical and process metrics, which essentially measure how IT functions rather than the value it creates or could potentially create.”

”In IT language, we are talking about moving away from SLAs (service level agreements) and starting to focus on XLAs (experience level agreements). IT should continue to measure the traditional metrics, but the three pillars of IT—People, Process, and Tech—should always be considered in that order. This is where we help IT organizations gather and analyze employee experience data to make better decisions,” he continues.

The lead investor, Mandatum Asset Management’s Growth Equity team, is a Nordic growth equity investor who focuses on the scale-up phase of Nordic growth companies.

“We are thrilled to have led the funding round in HappySignals, which will enable a further acceleration of their international growth journey. With its human-centric approach, we believe that HappySignals has found a solution to a problem that has not been solved in the market before. Indeed, their blue-chip customers are a true testimony to the quality of their approach and solution. The investment in HappySignals is an excellent addition to our second vintage growth equity fund. We are excited to partner with the founders, management and other owners to accelerate the growth of the company’s already significant international operations”, says Rami Salonen, Investment Manager, Mandatum Asset Management.

HappySignals was founded in 2014 by three Finnish IT innovators, Sami Kallio, Pasi Nikkanen, and Sami Aarnio. They believe only the human-centric approach offers real end-user insights and the context required to understand what matters most for improvement prioritization. Taking a human-centric IT experience approach helps organizations to drive better decision-making because it highlights the improvement opportunities that matter most to end-users. HappySignals IT Experience Management platform and ITXM Framework transform IT in large enterprises, making both IT teams and their end-users happier every day. By prioritizing employee happiness and productivity, organizations save money and drive increased business value.

For additional information:

HappySignals:

Sami Kallio
CEO and Co-founder, HappySignals Oy
Tel: +358 50 566 3852
Sami.Kallio[a]happysignals.com

Mandatum:

Alexander Antas
Head of Private Equity, Mandatum Asset Management
Tel. +358 40 533 0986
alexander.antas[a]mandatumam.com

Niina Riihelä
SVP, Communications, brand and sustainability, Mandatum plc
Tel. +358 40 728 1548
niina.riihela[a]mandatum.fi

About HappySignals
HappySignals is the leading SaaS company for IT Experience Management, empowering enterprises to improve employee experiences. HappySignals enables IT leaders to get a real-time understanding of the experiences they deliver to end-users across all IT services. IT leaders use experience data to make informed decisions to improve employee happiness and productivity. HappySignals discovers the experiences of millions of employees in 130 countries. Customers have been able to make employees happier and increase productivity by 26%. Find out more: www.happysignals.com

About Mandatum
Mandatum is a major financial services provider that combines expertise in wealth management and life insurance. Mandatum offers clients a wide array of services covering asset and wealth management, savings and investment, compensation and rewards as well as pension plans and personal risk insurance. Mandatum offers services to corporate, retail, institutional and wealth management clients.

Mandatum’s subsidiary, Mandatum Asset Management (MAM), is a Nordic asset manager. MAM offers discretionary and consultative asset management for institutional and other professional investors and manages a variety of investment products within its core areas of credit, private equity, real estate and equity selection. MAM’s GE team focuses on the scale-up phase of Nordic growth companies with a proven business model and ambitious management teams. For more information: mandatum.fi/en/group, mandatumam.com

About Nauta
Nauta is a pan-European venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B software companies with offices in London and Barcelona. With over half a billion assets under management and a team of 20 people, Nauta is one of Europe’s largest B2B focused VCs. As a sector-agnostic investor, Nauta’s main areas of interest include B2B SaaS solutions with strong network effects, vertically focused enterprise tech transforming large industries, as well as those leveraging deep-tech applications to solve challenges faced by large enterprises. Nauta has led investments in more than 80 companies, including Brandwatch, Spotted Zebra, Mercaux, Holded, Techspert, MishiPay, Wecover, AppFollow, ifeel and Cledara. Find out more at www.nautacapital.com

About Vendep Capital
Vendep Capital is a Finnish venture capital firm investing in early-stage B2B SaaS companies across the Nordics and Baltics. The team consists of nine experienced professionals, bringing together over half a century of collective venture capital experience and decades of hands-on involvement in international software businesses. Vendep Capital manages assets of over €111 million and is dedicated to supporting startups that create innovative platforms with the potential to transform their respective industries. Vendep Capital has led 30 investments, including AlphaSense, Hostaway, Happeo, Leadfeeder, and AppFollow.
For more information, visit www.vendep.com