torq.partners is joining We Love SaaS as a partner, and it’s one of those additions that I’m incredibly excited about. torq is a corporate finance firm that helps B2B SaaS and AI founders prepare for and navigate high-stakes transactions: fundraising, M&A, valuation discussions, investor readiness, and due diligence, supported by the financial infrastructure needed to make those processes successful.
What makes them different from the typical finance advisor? They combine transaction advisory with CFO services. They embed early, help founders build the financial infrastructure that drives shareholder value, and stay involved as the business grows.
When I sat down with Bas Scheele and Yori May to discuss the partnership, the conversation quickly moved beyond finance into what’s actually happening in the market right now.
The moat question has changed
What’s interesting is where defensibility is showing up now. torq sees the same shift we’re observing across the community: aspects that were traditionally seen as less valuable – such as services and hardware – are becoming more valuable, not less.
Bas gave the example of a MarTech client, which offers a platform to connect brands with its community of 400,000 content creators and users. That community is the moat. You can’t replicate it with AI. Or take a fleet management business that requires hardware to be installed in vehicles to be able to provide its software subscription. Four years ago, investors called it too complex to scale. Now it is perceived as a defensible advantage rather than a scaling risk.
Meanwhile, pure SaaS products without deep customer lock-in are getting squeezed. AI defensibility is not just a strategy topic; it is a key requirement for investors, buyers and strategic partners.
AI-native is exciting, and financially messy
torq is seeing a surge in AI-native companies as clients, and they’re very excited about this segment. These are young founders building fast-growing businesses who need help with the financial complexity that comes with rapid scaling; getting reporting right, building proper finance processes and preparing for funding rounds.
But here’s the catch: AI-native companies often have everything automated from day one. The numbers look clean on the surface. But when an investor or advisor digs in, there’s rarely been someone with real experience checking the work. General terms written by ChatGPT. Financial models that look polished but fall apart under scrutiny. Data that’s automated but not validated. In a funding or M&A process, those shortcuts surface quickly and can impact a funding round or exit.
That’s exactly where torq comes in. They combine deep finance expertise with an understanding of how fast-growing tech companies actually operate. They know which metrics investors care about, how to structure your data so it holds up, and how to build the checks and balances that a scaling company needs, without slowing it down.
What this means for our community
torq fills a gap that many founders in our community recognize: when you’re approaching a funding round, potential M&A process or you need financial expertise that goes beyond a bookkeeper or finance manager, you need senior financial and transaction expertise before it makes sense to have that expertise in-house. torq bridges that gap. They help prepare for the moments when the numbers, story and diligence all need to hold up, while strengthening the finance function behind it.
While based in the Netherlands and Germany, they work with companies across Europe, from early-stage transaction readiness to complex financial operations, fundraising support and M&A advisory. And because they’ve worked with close to 800 companies, they bring a level of experience and pattern recognition that’s hard to find elsewhere.
If you’re a B2B SaaS or AI founder in the Benelux preparing for a fundraise, exploring strategic options, considering M&A or simply trying to understand what your company could be worth, torq is worth a conversation..
👉 More about torq.partners: torq.partners
