Penneo’s way to rapid growth and strategic exit to Visma

Less than two years after Viking Venture became the largest shareholder in publicly listed Penneo, the company was acquired by Visma in a strategic exit. The sale marked a record-setting premium percentage on the Danish stock exchange with a 110% premium. Since its founding, Penneo has consistently delivered strong growth in an attractive market. We sat down with Penneo CEO Christian Stendevad to hear his perspective on scaling a public SaaS company and how Visma’s acquisition came to life behind the scenes.

Header image: Christian Stendevad, CEO at Penneo

Strong product-market fit from day one

Since launching in 2014, Penneo has stayed laser-focused on one mission: simplifying digital signing. They’ve had a clear strategy to go towards auditors and accountants with a product that fits the market exceptionally well. The company has seen steady, healthy growth, driven by long-term customer retention and consistent expansion.

– The key driver of our growth has undoubtedly been a great product and product–market fit. We’ve solved a real problem for our customers that delivers clear, tangible value in efficiency and compliance. Beyond attracting new customers, we closely monitor the performance of our existing customer base. While there’s always some churn, we’ve consistently succeeded with upselling, cross-selling, and expanding usage over time, says CEO Christian Stendevad.

A clear Go-to-Market (GTM) strategy for expansion

From its headquarters in Copenhagen, Penneo has scaled across the Nordics and built a strong presence in Belgium.

– When entering a new market, our strategy has always been to start with auditors and accountants before expanding into other industries. A key part of that playbook is integrating our solutions with the local ecosystem before launching our sales efforts on a broad scale. In the early days, we run all the sales out of our Copenhagen office. But when we entered Belgium, we hired a local country manager and eventually built a dedicated sales team. That move proved highly successful and since then we’ve followed the same model in all the local markets we’re present, Christian explains.

Expanding to Belgium, the right place at the right Time

Christian describes the decision to expand into Belgium as somewhat opportunistic. Penneo had sold its solution to a large Danish auditor and accountant who also purchased a solution from Silverfin, a financial reporting and compliance platform from Belgium. Penneo integrated their solution directly with Silverfin, enabling them to offer digital signing to their entire customer base.

– The timing was spot-on for us. We entered the Belgian market as the industry began its digital transformation, supported by the national roll out of electronic ID. That allowed us to ride the wave of digitization from day one.

Solving the hidden pain behind digital signing

Belgium has seen much innovation from upcoming SaaS scale-ups in recent years. These scale-ups created a strong ecosystem of modern solutions that steadily replaced legacy vendors. Penneo became a natural add-on, standardizing a complex and manual process, saving both time and costs.

– Take auditors as an example. They might handle annual reports for hundreds or thousands of clients during the busy spring season. Each report must be signed in a specific order, first by management, then the board, and finally by the auditor, often followed by an annual general meeting. It becomes chaotic if that process isn’t structured and supported by a system. We line up that process and automate it. That’s where the real efficiency lies, not just in the signature itself but in everything around it.

Last year, Penneo grew by approximately 100% in Belgium and now has acquired more than 500 customers from scratch. They have their largest sales team in Belgium, and Christian emphasizes that they put substantial effort into making them feel included and like they belong to Penneo’s culture.

Penneo’s biggest challenges in scaling internationally

There’s no playbook for entering a new market without hitting roadblocks. For a company like Penneo, the most consistent challenge has been adapting to the nuances of each local market.

– Truly understanding local requirements is easier said than done. On the surface, markets may look similar, but once you dig deeper, you will see differences, especially in legislation, sharesChristian.

That insight led Penneo to shift its approach. Instead of launching first and localizing later, they start by running workshops with pilot customers in each new country to co-develop standardized local solutions before going to market. Having done that process multiple times, they know what to look for and have established a formula.

– It’s often just a 10% difference—but that 10% is everything. It sets us apart with a clear differentiator from competitors, making our solution unique in each market.

The value of a specialized investor

According to Christian, how Viking Venture became a growth investor and majority owner is somewhat unconventional when you are a publicly listed company like Penneo. Still, he emphasizes that it has been very valuable for the company—and says he felt genuinely proud that an investor like Viking Venture chose to invest based solely on SaaS KPIs and trust.

– We had initial meetings before Viking Venture invested, but as a listed company, we couldn’t share much initially. It wasn’t until Jostein joined as Chairman of the Board that we could share everything freely. Regardless, we gained a lot of value from Viking’s community from the beginning. The fact that they’re so specialized in B2B SaaS is unique. We’ve benefited from all the learnings and best practices through sparring with Viking and others in their network and community.

Backing that goes beyond capital

– As our new Chairman of the Board, Jostein Vik brought deep industry insight into the digital signing industry. Because he and Viking had worked with similar companies, like Signicat, he understood the strategic challenges we were facing—and whatever problem, idea or challenge, we always got valuable input. That kind of experience changes the quality of the conversations. He also played a crucial role in the public-to-private (P2P) process, Christian says.

Penneo’s P2P process with Visma

Penneo’s transition from a public company to being acquired by Visma was not part of the original plan. Still, when the opportunity arose, the team was well-prepared to execute it. Christian highlights Jostein’s hands-on experience from similar transactions, including a parallel P2P process in Finland, as nothing more than fantastic.

– Public-to-private deals are rare and incredibly complex. It’s not just about the transaction—it’s about doing it in full compliance, under total confidentiality, and with the interest of all shareholders in mind. Having Jostein lead the process made all the difference. He’s done this before and knows every step, so I felt safe with Jostein.

This process demands strict compliance with insider trading regulations, shareholder alignment beyond 90%, and careful planning. The management team was well prepared, knowing every number in and out and being confident in presenting the company in a good way.

In the process, 91.52% of Penneo A/S’s shareholders accepted the offer made by Visma, which is a clear sign that moving forward with Visma was the right next step. The deal closed at 6x ARR, nearly double the average multiple on the public markets. The offer price of DKK 16.50 per share was 110% higher than the last traded share price at the time of the offer, making it the highest bid premium ever in Denmark.

Why Visma was the right buyer for Penneo

Visma has an impressive track record of acquiring companies. They acquire several each month and integrate them under their umbrella. For Penneo, Visma was an attractive buyer because of the overlapping industries and customer base they both focus on. In addition, Visma had started tapping into the ecosystem for accountants and auditors.

– We had already integrated with two companies in Belgium, and both recently became part of Visma. The same goes for several other companies we had on our integration roadmap. It became very clear that to benefit from that ecosystem fully, we’d be stronger together with the same owner, Christian concludes.

Thus, the acquisition is a strategic one with a perfect fit. On top of that, Visma allows its companies to operate independently, which means Penneo can continue executing its strategy. Visma also has a strong B2B SaaS community and leadership programs similar to Viking’s, which they find favourable.

The way forward

Under Visma’s ownership, Penneo will continue to operate independently. Christian has decided to step down as CEO of Penneo, making room for others in the management team to take on his former role. The most important drivers for Penneo so far have been to focus on a few customer segments in the market before selling to more industries. They continuously work on innovating their products, ensuring a unique product with upsell and cross-sell opportunities. P2P processes are complex, and having someone onboard that has done it before can be beneficial. Christian would recommend that all SaaS companies choose specialized investors, and he would do the same all over again, which he says he will in the future.