Episode 207 · 2023-08-16 · 17:19 · Original in Finnish
Qt and Revenio delivered a beating | Kevin van Dessel | Negotiator 207
Originally published as “Qt ja Revenio toi turskaa | Kevin van Dessel | Neuvottelija 207”
Kevin van Dessel joins Sami Miettinen for a short episode on two crowd favourites of the Finnish bargain bin, Qt and Revenio, both punished with heavy share price falls after the second quarter. It explains Qt's licensing model — developer licences, distribution licences and consulting — and why Revenio is the mirror image of Qt in the same hardware-to-software transition. It closes on a thesis about rates: an inverted yield curve offers the same multiple reversal without company-specific risk. Nothing in it is investment advice.
Core theses
- Qt and Revenio are mirror images in the same hardware-to-software transition, which is why they fell for opposite reasons.
- A software licensing model has three distinct revenue lines, and conflating them is how the valuation went wrong.
- An inverted yield curve offers a similar multiple reversal without company-specific risk, which is the closing argument.
- Both participants discuss holdings and nothing here is investment advice.
Watch and listen
Key moments
- 00:00 — Kevin van Dessel of Sijoituskästi, for the second time
- 00:41 — A bull market a year ago, and Finland's bargain bin
- 01:44 — Qt and Revenio punished for their Q2 results
- 02:21 — What Qt is: a tool for software developers
- 03:34 — Developer licences, distribution licences and consulting
- 05:17 — Value moves from hardware to software
- 07:01 — Qt's valuation from 170 euros to 66
- 08:56 — Revenio: eye pressure meters and niche dominance
- 10:20 — Qt and Revenio are each other's opposites
- 11:01 — Hardware-enabled SaaS from an adviser's point of view
- 12:03 — The risk of walking over your customers
- 13:09 — Investor psychology at a 50 per cent loss
- 13:58 — Rates, and the bull case for growth companies
- 14:47 — US Treasuries and the inverted yield curve
- 15:58 — A young investor and the grandfather business of bonds
- 16:46 — Inner Circle: will Sijoituskästi overtake Rahapodi
Summary
Kevin van Dessel joins Sami Miettinen for a short episode on two crowd favourites of the Finnish bargain bin, Qt and Revenio, both punished with heavy share price falls after the second quarter. It explains Qt’s licensing model — developer licences, distribution licences and consulting — and why Revenio is the mirror image of Qt in the same hardware-to-software transition. It closes on a thesis about rates: an inverted yield curve offers the same multiple reversal without company-specific risk. Nothing in it is investment advice.
Two companies, one transition
Qt sells developer licences, distribution licences and consulting; Revenio sells eye pressure meters with software attached. They are opposite ends of the same hardware-to-software shift, which is why a single quarter punished both and for different reasons — and why the licensing model has to be understood line by line before the valuation means anything.
The closing argument
If what you are buying is a multiple reversal, an inverted yield curve offers something similar without company-specific risk. That is the most transferable idea in a short episode, and it is a thesis rather than advice.
Watch
The recording lives on the Neuvottelija channel: Qt ja Revenio toi turskaa | Kevin van Dessel | Neuvottelija 207. A Finnish edition of this episode is published at www.neuvottelija.fi.
In depth
The Neuvottelija AI editions carry a long-form write-up of this episode: English · suomeksi.
Go deeper
Explore the ideas in depth
Guides connected to this conversation, with frameworks and further reading.
Enterprise AI Agents: Economics, Governance and the Shift From Tools to Workers
A guide to enterprise AI agents — the real cost model behind agent work, why owning your own stack is becoming a strategic question, a working governance framework with approval gates and audit trails, the agent risk matrix, the EU AI Act timeline as it stands, and who captures the productivity gains. Grounded in a real multi-agent lab, two 2026 keynotes, and Neuvottelija conversations.
Nordic SaaS Valuation & M&A: How AI Reprices Software Companies
How software companies in the Nordics are valued and sold as AI moves inference into the cost of goods sold — where multiples stand in mid-2026, the metrics that get repriced, why vertical SaaS defends its premium, AI due diligence, and the shift from seats to outcomes. Grounded in Translink's SaaS valuation work and Neuvottelija conversations.
People and topics
Guests: Kevin van Dessel
Topics: Investing & Markets SaaS & Software
