For ambitious B2B SaaS companies in the Nordics, M&A has become more than a tactical opportunity. It’s a strategic lever for scaling faster, expanding smarter, and building market-leading companies.
At Viking Growth, we believe M&A should sit alongside hunting and farming as a core engine of growth. The companies that master it early and deliberately don’t just grow faster. They grow stronger.
Eirik Brænd Hjelmeland, Investment Director at Viking Growth
Too often, acquisitions are viewed as reactive or opportunistic, as “something we’ll consider later.” In practice, M&A is most powerful when treated as a proactive, structured part of your growth plan.
Strategic M&A can help you:
But the real power comes from combining these outcomes into a long-term strategy.
We see the best results when companies approach M&A with a repeatable playbook, not as a one-off project, but as a system they can build capability around.
Our typical model with portfolio companies looks like this:
This staged approach helps our companies build internal M&A competence quickly, without the usual learning-curve risks.
We’ve seen four high-leverage areas where M&A repeatedly creates compounding value:
Remove friction from the market, increase pricing power, and scale more efficiently.
Skip the slow ramp and buy your way into new regions with local teams and customers already in place.
Expand your offering through acquisition and unlock cross-sell and upsell opportunities instantly.
Acquire world-class teams, processes, or business models that raise your baseline performance.
Explore these in detail in our tactical guide: 4 Ways to Reach Your Growth Potential Through M&A.
When our company completed an add-on acquisition, there was a strong cross-selling rationale and a clear strategy from day one. The primary input came from interviews with existing customers, which revealed that:
The strong cross-sale rationale and sales strategy have driven a 400% increase in the acquired company’s ARR over three years.
Despite the upside, many companies hesitate to lean into M&A. Common blockers include:
These are valid, but solvable. That’s why we invest not just in capital, but also in capability-building. Giving founders and operators the confidence, tools, and support to execute well.
The best time to start thinking about M&A is before you think you’re “ready.” That first acquisition builds muscle, credibility, and a base for repeatable execution.
We guide our companies through:
Download: Our Due Diligence Checklist for B2B SaaS
We’re seeing a growing gap between companies that treat M&A as a strategic discipline and those that don't.
With private markets evolving, capital efficiency under pressure, and category leadership harder to win organically, M&A is becoming a defining advantage.
Since 2020, Viking Growth portfolio companies have completed 60+ add-on acquisitions, with M&A contributing to over 40% of ARR growth. Together, these companies represent a combined equity value of NOK 7.8 billion.
If you’re serious about scaling, whether through market expansion, product depth, or operational strength, M&A should be on your roadmap.
Let’s talk about how we can help you build a repeatable M&A capability that fits your strategy, your stage, and your ambition.
Contact Viking Growth to start your M&A journey.
📘 4 Ways to Reach Your Growth Potential Through M&A
📄 Due Diligence Checklist for B2B SaaS
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