A successful funding round is speeding up Mestamaster’s international growth. The company prepared for its fundraising through Business Turku’s Investment Readiness Process, which helped the three founders clarify their growth targets and the capital required to achieve them.
Mestamaster, a construction technology company originating from Turku, is aiming for a growth leap. Its goal for the autumn is to get even more Finnish construction contractors to use its software, while simultaneously preparing for international entry.
Mestamaster’s growth is fuelled by a 300,000 euro early-stage funding round secured in the spring, allowing the company to recruit key team members.
– We can now invest in product development, sales, and marketing, co-founder Tuomas Talola says.
Mestamaster’s product is a takt scheduling software. It enables different trade teams on construction sites to schedule and execute their work as quickly and efficiently as possible.
-When different work crews move across the construction site in close succession, overall efficiency increases. In best-case scenarios, we’ve seen construction schedules reduced by 40 percent, Talola explains.
The main contractor tracks overall site progress through the app, while subcontractors use it to report their own status. According to Talola, visual clarity and ease of use are Mestamaster’s key competitive advantages.
Clarifying the Vision with Business Turku’s Support
Mestamaster sought external funding after careful consideration. Business Turku’s Investment Readiness Process (IRP), completed by the three founders a couple of years ago, helped guide their decision.
The IRP is a complimentary tool offered by Business Turku to help startups apply for early-stage funding. During the process, companies build a growth plan, funding strategy, cash flow calculations and forecasts, an investor deck, and a roadmap for their next growth stages.
– It helped us clarify our goals and vision for how to start growing, as well as what that requires financially, Talola says, summing up the benefits of the IRP.
Spanning about six weeks, the process consists of training sessions and online assignments. According to Talola, collaborating with Business Turku involved dialogue, sparring, questioning, and constructive challenge. Arto Branders, Account Manager for funding, notes that Business Turku essentially acts as a mirror for the founders’ ideas.
More than a dozen companies complete the IRP through Business Turku each year. According to Branders, the process requires entrepreneurs to have a solid grasp of their financial numbers and a readiness to discuss their goals openly.
– Most importantly, the entrepreneur must have a vision of where they want to take the business, he says.
A Well-Considered Approach to Funding
To put it politely, fundraising is uncomfortable, Tuomas Talola says. You get rejected a lot, and the whole process takes time away from business development and sales.
– You must carefully consider whether it’s worth committing to, he says.
After the IRP, the Mestamaster team realized they could rely on customer revenue for a while longer. Last autumn, the three founders decided that securing external funding was necessary for going international.
Half of the 300,000-euro funding round came from a few angel investors and company shareholders, and the other half from Naantali-based Gorilla Capital. According to Talola, Gorilla’s investment philosophy aligns well with Mestamaster’s growth plans.
– They aren’t seeking explosive, high-risk growth. Rather, they focus on identifiable, scalable business.
In addition, Mestamaster has applied for Co-Innovation funding from Business Finland. The idea would be to explore, together with partners, how AI could be better utilized in construction.
Steady Steps Towards International Growth
According to Talola, Mestamaster’s software has been well received in Finland. While adopting new technology requires a bit of learning, resistance to digital tools is rarely an issue anymore in the smartphone era.
– Our app has already been deployed across hundreds of job sites and is used by dozens of main contractors, he says.
Talola takes a pragmatic approach to international growth. Finnish construction technology is highly advanced compared to many other countries, which means convincing international customers takes time. In the long run, however, Talola sees massive business potential.
– If you don’t adopt these methods, you can’t run a cost-effective and competitive operation anymore, he says.
Talola looks to the future with confidence. He expects that in five years, Mestamaster will hold a rock-solid position in Finland alongside significant business operations abroad.
– The aim is to grow at least fivefold from where we are today.
Text and pictures: Heidi Pelander
