The Møller family office Aars has invested 100 MNOK into the company builder Iterate. The founders Anders Haugeto and Kim Ophus Leskovsky, and the CEO Rune Larsen, continues to hold a majority of the shares in Iterate. Most of Iterate's employees also have ownership in the company.
Alpha Corporate Finance has acted as financial advisor to Iterate in the transaction.
“In Iterate and through working with our customers in the consulting business, we have gained knowledge about software development, design, branding, and product development. Iterate has brought this expertise into our startup companies. We are happy to have Aars as a new investor and partner. It provides a completely new opportunity and will elevate Iterate and our ventures into a new phase”, says Anders Haugeto, Chairman of the Board and co-founder of Iterate.
Iterate has 80 employees and a turnover of 90 MNOK. The company started as a consulting company in 2007 but the business has evolved to also develop and invest in new companies. Since the start of the venture activities, Iterate has invested in 18 startup companies, including Woolit, Vake, Flow Technologies, Dagens, and recently sold their ownership stake in Porterbuddy. Today, Iterate consists of several business areas: Traditional consulting activities in software development, digitalization, branding and product design, investment into early-stage companies, and in-house software development.
Aars is the Møller family office and investment company. The family's ownership and businesses have been gathered in Aars AS since 2014, and have roots going back to 1936 when Harald Aars Møller started a car shop and workshop in Strømmen outside Oslo. Today, the 3rd and 4th generations make up the active owners in Aars. The ownership currently includes companies such as Møller Mobility Group, Møller Eiendom, Møller Medvind, and a portfolio of long-term investments in selected companies in various industries. The portfolio of direct investments currently consists of the companies; Alfa Sko, InfoCare, Micro Matic, OneCo, and Pizza Hut in Sweden.
