Rakettitiede and Sysart said 'I do' to each other
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Culture
In 2011, five friends founded Rakettitiede on the soot-stained ruins of a start-up. Fifteen years later, another vessel docked with the mothership: we acquired the entire share capital of software and technology company Sysart. This is the first acquisition in our history.
In the end, there is no great mystery to the acquisition: two Finnish consulting companies merged into one, and from now on, the spacesuits will come from the same warehouse. This is easy because our cultures click surprisingly well!
What happened in the deal?
Being an engineering firm, first things first, the numbers:
Rakettitiede turnover 2025: €8.06M, almost 60 employees.
Sysart turnover 2025: €3.1M, around 20 employees.
Together, with last year's figures, just over €11M and nearly 90 experts, when freelancers on gigs are included.
The goal we are climbing towards: €20M turnover.
Sysart's founders, Petri Mäenpää and Ari Pikkarainen, became partners in Rakettitiede through the transaction, and both will continue working with us. Sitting in the highest chair of Rakettitiede's command bridge is still Juha Huttunen, our beloved leader.
"To use a sports metaphor, this acquisition takes us to the next league level. From the very beginning, we have shared a vision that as a larger entity with broader expertise, we can take responsibility for projects that neither of us could have necessarily executed alone."
– Juha Huttunen, CEO, Rakettitiede
Why Sysart?
The business logic in this industry is straightforward: bigger muscles enable bigger projects. Previously, for larger projects, talent was gathered from a subcontracting network. Now, quite a few of those people are under the same roof.
But size alone would have been a poor reason, as we have never sought growth for the sake of growth.
Sysart brings years of experience in healthcare and the banking world, as well as an excellent addition to our data and AI solutions. Furthermore, we gain a proper foothold in Oulu, where Sysart has a strong position.
Now we have even more robust industry expertise in healthcare, industry, finance, retail, logistics and the gaming industry, among others. When a client develops a product or system, we do not turn up as an individual developer, but walk alongside them from idea to production, making sustainable technical choices and driving development forward briskly. Following the merger, this lane is clearly wider.
Another crucial factor was culture. Both companies have always put the well-being of their people first and pay them fairly. Neither tries to compensate for a salary that is too small with ball pits and bouncy castles.
"It was clear to us from the very first conversation that the cooperation works and our cultures meet perfectly. My own morals would not have allowed me to do a deal that would have meant poorer conditions for the employees."
– Petri Mäenpää, co-founder of Sysart
Why right now?
The software industry is undergoing a transition that we want to be at the forefront of. Okay, you hear this sentence in every second press release or industry news piece nowadays. So let's clarify what we mean by it.
Two things are changing at the same time. Firstly, more and more large organisations want to lead their own digital development themselves. Secondly, agentic software development is changing how software is built in the first place, and at the same time, tailored solutions are starting to make sense in places where they didn't before.
In both changes, the client is looking for a partner that takes responsibility for a whole problem-solving process and not just individual contractors. That is the table we want to sit at too, and a team of nearly a hundred experts fits much better at that table than fifty.
Won't this just become a bigger and stiffer company?
Honest answer: the risk is real. Growth brings with it phenomena familiar from Chinese whispers. Information no longer travels at the speed of light when it has to be shared across several cities and a group of nearly a hundred people.
We are not rushing to do a major integration project first thing next week. Although Sysart is moving under the gentle care of the Rakettitiede brand, the transaction does not affect Sysart's clients or experts. Practical integration will be done as and when it serves someone other than the organisation chart.
Nor do we promise that this is a pure plus for everyone. If you specifically joined a small company of 30 people, the whole thing will inevitably feel bigger now.
What changes for you?
If you are a client: the same people, the same contracts, the same invoicing. There is simply more expertise available when product development requires something that your own team does not do.
If you are looking to join us: the rocket scientist salary model and principles remain unchanged. Half of the client billing as gross salary, around 60% with holidays and sick leave, a named caretaker for everyone, nice basic benefits, and a 'no bullshit' culture. In addition to the Helsinki metropolitan area and Pirkanmaa, you can join us in Oulu.
This arrangement, however, was just the prelude, and the real work begins now. The goal is to double our size in the coming years. Primarily, we are looking for organic growth, but if the right opportunities come along, this will not be the last acquisition.