BackingMinds expands in Finland with investment in Saidot, which helps companies control their AI agents

STOCKHOLM / HELSINKI, 2026-11-05 - Following the recent €50 million first close of its third fund, Nordic venture capital firm BackingMinds is expanding its presence in Finland with an investment in Helsinki-based Saidot. Backed by the European Investment Fund and leading tech founders including Supercell’s Ilkka Paananen, BackingMinds is doubling down on Nordic companies tackling Europe’s biggest challenges. Saidot is building the infrastructure enterprises need to trust and scale AI agents, giving every agent clear ownership, rules and accountability. Existing investors Crowberry Capital and Ventic also participate in the round.

Companies are investing heavily in AI agents, software that can carry out tasks on its own, but around half of these projects never get past the pilot stage.1 The main obstacle is trust. Companies cannot say who is responsible for an agent, what it is allowed to do or what it depends on.

Nearly half of organizations have confirmed or suspected that an AI agent took an unexpected or unauthorized action, and only one in eight can consistently trace what an agent did.2 When something goes wrong, boards and regulators want to know who was responsible, and most companies cannot answer. So boards hold back, and agents stay in pilot.

Every employee has a manager, a role, and a file. Most AI agents have none. Saidot gives every agent an owner, a mandate, and a record. The record shows which AI models, tools and data each agent depends on, and who owns each part. Companies set the right rules once, and every agent that uses the same part follows them. That lets companies move their agents from test to everyday use with confidence.

Customers include large enterprises and Fortune 500 companies across financial services, pharma, media, technology, and the public sector. Saidot is included as a Niche Player in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for AI Governance Platforms.*

The new capital will strengthen Saidot's position in Europe, fund its US expansion and build the next step in its product, policy-as-code: the rules companies set in Saidot become controls that apply automatically whenever their agents are at work.

A broader push into Finland

The investment marks a broader commitment to Finland for BackingMinds. Founded in 2016 by entrepreneurs Sara Wimmercranz and Susanne Najafi, the firm invests beyond the traditional networks that most venture capital relies on. Its third fund, BackingMinds Invest III, recently closed its first €50 million, anchored by €20 million from the EIF under InvestEU. Its investors include some of Europe’s best-known founders, among them the co-founders of Mojang (Minecraft) and King (Candy Crush) and Supercell co-founder and CEO Ilkka Paananen. Saidot is BackingMinds’ second Finnish investment after Serviceform, and Finland has become one of the largest sources of companies the firm meets outside Sweden.

“Every company wants its AI agents to do more. Few can say who answers for them. Saidot gives every agent an owner, a mandate, and a record. Compliance is the floor, control sets the ceiling. That is what lets enterprises trust their agents and unlock more value,” says Meeri Haataja, CEO of Saidot

“Rogue agents have shaken confidence in AI. The next wave of value depends on trust, not just on better models. Every agent that goes live is another system to govern, so Saidot grows with its customers' AI. That is why we are backing Meeri and her team,” says Niclas Wijkström, Investment Director at BackingMinds

“Finland has some of Europe’s strongest AI and deep-tech talent, and many of the founders we meet are building exactly what Europe needs. Saidot is our second Finnish investment, and it will not be our last. BackingMinds invests beyond traditional networks as networks many times can be a filter. The future is never where you expect it, neither are the founders building it. We want to be a long-term partner for Finnish founders,” says Susanne Najafi, Founding Partner at BackingMinds.

_{Gartner, Magic Quadrant for AI Governance Platforms, Lauren Kornutick, Sumit Agarwal, Priya Sundararaman, Nader Henein, Brandon Medford, 16 June 2026. 
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_Notes

_{1 Dynatrace, The Pulse of Agentic AI 2026, January 2026.}

_{2 Salt Security, State of Agentic AI and API Security 2H 2026, October 2026.}