Hakan Berntsson
Founding Partner
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- Full Name
- Arne Håkan Berntsson
- Title
- Founding Partner / M&A Partner (and Chairman of the board, Valeris Advisory AB)
- Firm
- Valeris Advisory AB
- Firm Type
- M&A and strategy advisory boutique (not a fund). Note: the supplied stub labeled him an "Angel Investor"; published sources do not support that classification — his work is buy-/sell-side M&A advisory, business development and strategy consulting, not primary equity investing from a fund or angel vehicle.
- Investment Stage
- Not applicable in the venture sense; Valeris advises on mature private-company transactions (acquisitions, divestitures, owner-led sales). No verifiable seed-stage investing activity found.
- Check Size
- Not disclosed / not applicable
- Target Company Profile
- Established, profitable SME owner-managed businesses seeking a sale, acquisition support, or strategic exit (e.g., the ~SEK 64m-revenue Piktiv)
- Sector Focus
- Cross-sector; demonstrated work in IT/software and tech consulting
- Geographic Focus
- Sweden, with cross-border transactions in several countries
- Location
- Greater Gothenburg (Göteborg), Sweden
Background
Håkan Berntsson is a Founding Partner of Valeris Advisory AB, a Gothenburg-based M&A and strategy advisory boutique. He describes himself as having roughly 15 years of M&A experience spanning both bank-based corporate finance and independent M&A boutique firms, as well as a prior role at an investment company. Before moving into transactions advisory, he began his career in the IT industry in sales and management roles — a background he carries into his self-description as "a doer that makes things happen" who thrives in sales and negotiation processes. He holds an MSc.
He co-founded Valeris with Johan Simonsson, the firm's other founding partner. Together the partners cite over 30 years of combined experience in M&A and strategy consulting and more than 25 completed transactions across multiple industries and countries. Corporate registry records (allabolag.se) list "Arne Håkan Berntsson" as Chairman (Ordförande) of Valeris Advisory AB (org.nr 556457-3177), based in Göteborg and classified under financial/business-management consulting services.
Valeris positions itself as an advisor to business owners across the deal lifecycle: strategy and business development, acquisition assignments (buy-side), and company sales/divestitures (sell-side), rather than as a capital provider. This is the core distinction from a typical angel or seed investor: Berntsson advises and executes transactions on behalf of clients rather than deploying his own or a fund's capital into early-stage startups.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Operates as an M&A advisor, not a seed/angel fund — engagements are sell-side company sales, buy-side acquisition support, and strategy/business-development consulting.
- Focus on established, profitable owner-managed companies ready for a transaction (the Piktiv deal involved a company with ~SEK 64m revenue and "strong profitability").
- Sector-agnostic but tech-fluent, with concrete recent execution in IT/software and game-development consulting; supported by Berntsson's own roots in the IT business.
- Self-stated working style (from his own profile): "a doer that makes things happen," who "thrive[s] in sales and negotiation processes" — i.e., hands-on through negotiation and close.
- Geographic base in Sweden / Gothenburg, with demonstrated capacity for cross-border deals across "several countries."
Notable Investments
- Piktiv → Generate Group (2023; announced 12 Mar 2024) — Valeris advised the owners of Piktiv, an IT/software and game-development consultancy (offices in Skövde and Örebro, ~SEK 64m 2023 revenue) on its sale to Generate Group (backed by Aspira Partners). Founder Jonas Bjering joined Generate's board and the founders stayed on.
- Valeris reports 25+ completed transactions across multiple industries and countries; individual deal names beyond Piktiv are not publicly itemized on verifiable sources.
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