PK Arvonkasvattajat II fund, managed by Bocap Private Equity Ltd, has invested in the Oulu-based care technology company, 9Solutions Ltd.
The three million euro investment will boost especially the international growth and scaling of the company. The goal is to become the market leader in hospital and care home safety and productivity solutions in the Nordic countries.
9Solutions Ltd is Finland’s market leader in health care safety and communications solutions based on locating people and assets. 9Solutions boosts health care digitalisation and smart hospital development by merging health care personal safety, locating and communication systems into a single solution. The overall solution includes locating infrastructure, devices, software and cloud service as well as smart alarm, automation and work optimisation solutions based on them.
The story of the company began in summer 2008, when the founder and CEO Sami Herrala developed the solution for the safety of his father, who was living alone. In May 2009, Herrala and three other people founded a company, whose world’s first entirely cloud-based nurse call and personal safety solution is used already in over 1,300 health care organisations from university hospitals to care homes and home care. The users of the 9Solutions system include Oulu and Kuopio university hospitals and home care, as well as several care home chains, such as Attendo and Mehiläinen.
A unique feature in the 9Solutions system is the patented Bluetooth-based locating solution, which enables real-time indoor locating of people and assets.
‘We provide a comprehensive solution specially designed for the safety and communication needs in health care. There is a demand for smart care solutions particularly in the Nordic countries, which have functional health care and elderly care as well as an ageing population,’ said Sami Herrala, founder and CEO at 9Solutions Ltd.
‘We are happy to boost growth in an entrepreneuring company solving current problems in health care, which has continuous shortage of resources, and corona has made the situation even worse. 9Solutions technology is quite essential in developing health care automation and constructing smart infrastructure for smart hospitals. The goal in all this is that the nurse could have more time for the essential. This technology has been developed for people to make the world a little better,’ cheered Vilma Torstila, Bocap Investment Manager and partner.
9Solutions has been one of the fastest-growing companies in Finland for many years with almost 50 per cent annual growth. In 2019, the turnover of the company was 7.8 million euros. The company has recently expanded to Sweden, where growth has also been rapid. Currently, the company employs ca. 50 employees in Finland and Sweden and has sales also to eight countries in Europe through resellers.
Contact persons
Sami Herrala
CEO, 9Solutions Ltd
sami.herrala@9solutions.com
Vilma Torstila
Investment Manager and partner, Bocap Private Equity Ltd
vilma@bocap.fi
About 9Solutions
9Solutions Ltd from Oulu is Finland’s market leader in health care safety and communications solutions based on locating people and assets. The company provides a real-time operational view with personal safety, nurse call, access control and locating services as well as smart care solutions for hospitals, health centres, care homes and home care.
About Bocap
Bocap Private Equity Ltd is a Finnish leading independent company managing capital investment trusts, with a mission to boost the growth of competitive Finnish small and medium-sized companies. When the Bocap fund was founded in 2012, it was Finland’s first capital investment trust making minority investments solely in Finnish entrepreneuring, profitable and vigorously growing small and medium-sized companies. With the investment made in 9Solutions Ltd, Bocap has invested in a total of 13 companies (three of them divested), which have employed directly over 3,000 people mainly in Finland. The aggregate turnover of the portfolio companies is ca. 300 million euros.
Source: 9Solutions