In this episode of the Pantrium podcast, part of the Exit mini-series, Christie H. Kristensen sat down with Tuomas Toivonen, co-founder and CEO of Holvi, for a raw and rather unique founder journey.
Tuomas built Holvi in Helsinki in 2011, before "fintech" was even a recognised term. What started as a group of small business owners scratching their own itch, needing a unified banking and financial management solution that simply didn't exist, became one of Europe's early neobanks. No templates. No category playbook. Just a willing founding team and a lot of building from scratch.
We went the full circle together: the early angel and seed investment rounds, what Tuomas wishes founders understood about taking external capital in regulated industries, the acquisition by BBVA in 2016, operating as an independently regulated entity inside a global bank, the Brexit decision to exit the UK market, all the way to the management buyout in 2020 that brought Holvi back under founder control in the middle of COVID.
Tuomas gave an unfiltered account of what the buyout actually looked like: giving themselves 50/50 odds of being bust within two years, reducing the team dramatically, cancelling all company cards and rebuilding the economics from zero. And then what it took to come out the other side.
The episode closes with his take on exit culture in the startup world, and why — after 15 years with the same company, across phases that felt like completely different businesses — he still believes the journey is the reward.
It’s a Full Fintech Circle
00:00 Welcome to Exit Series
01:08 Founding a Fintech Pioneer
01:35 No Templates in 2011
04:01 Scratching Own Itch
06:26 Taking Money Changes Goals
09:15 Regulation and Investor Fit
11:14 Building the Early Board
12:38 Why Sell to BBVA
14:54 Due Diligence on Acquirer
16:33 Signing Day Emotions
19:20 Life Inside a Big Bank
21:45 Role Shift and Tech Build
22:44 Scaling Across Europe
24:01 Recording Glitch and Return
26:01 UK Expansion Lessons
26:40 Brexit Forces Exit
28:25 Why Reacquire Hal
32:34 Buyout Mechanics
33:30 Turnaround Risk Reality
35:42 Cost Cuts And Layoffs
39:52 Rebuilding Culture Ownership
40:56 Pricing Shift Profitability
43:51 Founder Lessons Patience
45:10 Exit Myth Reality
47:05 Future of Holvi
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/night-drift/the-cleaner
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