Wisby, an Estonian label ordering platform operating primarily in the Nordics, has raised €250,000 in strategic growth capital. Buildit VC invested €200,000, while an additional €50,000 came from an EstBAN angel investor syndicate led by Martin Goroško. Rather than raising a traditional seed round, the already profitable company opted for a smaller strategic investment to accelerate its growth.
A few years ago, Wisby found itself in a situation familiar to many venture-backed companies: investor capital became significantly harder to access. The company reduced its team from eight people to three and set a clear course toward profitability.
“When our bank balance was approaching zero, I was asked a couple of times whether we should just call it quits,” recalled Kaspar Päll, founder and CEO of Wisby. “I said it was too late for that as our balance sheet was negative, so we had to become profitable just to get back to zero first.”
During this period, the company followed a simple principle: if an activity did not help generate revenue within the next 1-90 days, it was not a priority. In the first half of 2024, Wisby reached profitability, and since then the company has focused on profitable growth.
Funding helped to establish a fair valuation
Wisby did not initially set out to raise new capital. The company needed to convert previous convertible loans into equity, which required establishing Wisby’s current valuation. New investors were brought in who were willing to invest real capital at that valuation. This provided market validation for a valuation that all parties could consider fair. As the new investors wanted to invest in Wisby, the company decided to raise €250,000 and use the additional capital to accelerate its growth.
“We didn’t actually need new capital. What mattered was establishing a fair valuation that both existing and new investors were comfortable with. The best way to do that is to put real money from the market on the table — if a new investor is willing to invest at that valuation, it becomes much easier for everyone to agree that it is fair. Once we saw that investors wanted to come in at that price, it made sense to take an additional €250,000 and push the gas pedal a little harder,” said Päll.
According to Päll, the decision not to raise a traditional seed round, or take on more capital than Wisby could efficiently deploy at its current stage, was deliberate.
“We could have funded our planned growth from our existing resources. Now we can grow more aggressively, but not at any cost. To put it in startup terms, our unit economics need to remain healthy, and we need to retain the ability to return to profitability quickly if needed.”
Wisby projects revenue of €2.2–2.4 million this year and currently has a team of six. The company’s customers are primarily located in Scandinavia and Western Europe.
The financing round was led by Buildit VC with a €200,000 investment, alongside €50,000 from an EstBAN angel investor syndicate led by Martin Goroško. Buildit VC has been active in the investment market since 2014 and has made numerous investments over the years. The partnership between Wisby and Buildit, however, began with a chance encounter at sTARTUp Day.
“Of course, the goal of every investment is to generate a return, but behind every investment there is also a unique story. For Wisby, the headline would be ‘in the right place at the right time.’ Timing and being in the right place undeniably play an important role in business: I met Kaspar from Wisby at sTARTUp Day while rushing from one meeting to another, when Martin Gorosko, who was sitting with Kaspar, spotted me and asked if I had one minute. Kaspar gave me a very quick overview of Wisby, and my immediate reaction was: ‘Yes, this sounds interesting,’” said Matiss Neimanis, Partner at Buildit VC.
“EstBAN angels saw a strong growth opportunity in Wisby in a sector that might not initially look like a classic venture capital investment. For us, the deciding factors were a strong team, an already proven international customer base, and the ability to grow profitably without relying on constant external capital. The company has demonstrated that its business model works and that customers are responding – the additional capital now gives Wisby the capacity to scale that model faster across new markets,” said Martin Goroško, who led the EstBAN angel investor syndicate.
For Wisby, the €250,000 investment represents strategic growth capital, not a seed round. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate product and business development and strengthen its position in its existing Scandinavian and Western European markets, while maintaining its focus on profitable growth.
