Viking Venture portfolio company, Grade has finalized the acquisition of Finnish industry leader FCG Digital Oy. Through this acquisition, Grade strengthens its position as the leading Nordic HR-tech players within the public sector.
FCG Digital is Finland’s leading digital solutions provider for job advertising and recruitment towards the public sector. Many Finnish municipalities and governmental bodies currently use the recruitment software. FCG Digital OY and its main product Kuntarekry handles over 4 million unique visitors annually with over 55,000 job advertisements and half a million job applications floating through the platform.
The agreement between the seller, FCG, and the buyer, Grade, was signed on January 25, 2024. Completion took place on April 2, 2024, after closing conditions had been met.
Market-leading in HR-tech for the public sector
– Grade has experienced strong organic growth since 2021, when Grade, Varbi, and Workbuster merged. Our customer base within the public sector is steadily expanding, and our existing customers are choosing to digitalize more and more of their processes related to the employee journey. In 2023, we entered the Norwegian market through the acquisition of Jobbnorge. Entering Finland is a natural next step, so when the opportunity to merge with FCG Digital materialized, it felt like a strategically important decision and something we are very excited about, says Rickard Kajson, CEO at Grade.
Through the acquisition of FCG Digital Oy, Grade becomes the leading Nordic HR-tech players within the public sector. Grade’s customer base consists of numerous Norwegian and Swedish regions, municipalities, universities, authorities, and major private companies. Now, they have a significant part of the public sector in Finland as well.
– When Viking Venture invested in 2021, our goal was to build Grade to become the number one player within HR recruitment tech in the Nordics. With the acquisition of FCG Digital OY we have accomplished our initial goal, and we will continue to strengthen our position, says Joar Welde, Partner at Viking Venture and Chairman of the Board at Grade.
Digital solutions for the entire employee journey
– It’s fantastic that we have found an owner for our system solutions with such focus on recruitment and employee development within the public sector. With the sale, the offering significantly improves for FCG’s current system customers, says Tommi Kajasoja, the CEO of FCG.
– We look forward to welcoming 54 new colleagues to Grade. Together, we will be able to offer FCG Digital’s customers additional opportunities to digitize the employee journey with digital reference checking, candidate feedback, learning, competency management, and employee development. The strength of our product suite lies in seamlessly following the employee throughout the entire employee lifecycle – of course, based on the requirements that organizations within the public sector demand, such as accessibility and security, says Rickard Kajson, CEO at Grade.
Business as usual for FCG Digital’s customers
As part of the acquisition, Grade acquires all shares of FCG Digital Oy from FCG. The operations continue as previously operated. Misa Leiber will continue as Country manager and responsible for the day-to-day operations and looks positively towards FCG Digital’s future.
– By becoming part of Grade, we can further enhance and develop our digital solutions to meet the needs of our customers. All our well-known system solutions, including their support and maintenance, will continue just as usual without interruption, along with the employees that our customers are familiar with, concludes Misa Leiber, Operations Manager at FCG Digital.
About Grade
The growing Grade Group now consists of the companies FCG Digital, Jobbnorge, Varbi, Grade, Workbuster, Realcruit, and Refensa. Grade provides flexible solutions in Talent Management for the entire employee journey. In 2024, Grade is expected to generate approximately 390 MSEK in revenue, of which around 370 MSEK is recurring revenue. The largest owner is Viking Venture.
About FCG Digital
FCG Digital is Finland’s leading provider of digital solutions for job advertising and recruitment within the public sector. The company had a turnover of approximately 67 MSEK in 2023.
Contact
Rickard Kajson – CEO, Grade: +46 76 501 05 36
David Pode – M&A, Grade: +46 70 540 99 55
Header Image (from left): Rickard Kajson, CEO at Grade and Misa Leiber, Operations Manager at FCG Digital.
