Finom acquires electronic-money license in the Netherlands: it is time to scale up in Europe
Finom acquires electronic-money license in the Netherlands:
it is time to scale up in Europe
- The Dutch B2B fintech company provides SMEs and freelancers with business payment accounts as well as expense and team management services in France and Germany. In Italy Finom offers an e-invoice management solution
- Finom is currently growing by more than 3000 new clients a month. The platform has already established itself as one of the major digital-only B2B banking challengers in Germany with a Trustpilot score of 4.9. Its market share is growing in France too
- With the EMI license, Finom is set to accelerate its international expansion in 2022. The financial services market for SMEs in the EU is more than $200 billion, with 24 million small and medium companies. B2B fintechs serve less than 2% of them
Amsterdam, 15/12/2021 - The Netherlands-based B2B fintech platform Finom has acquired an electronic-money license in the Netherlands, via full subsidiary Finom Payments BV, laying the foundations for even stronger growth across all EU markets. The entire process was started 14 months ago and finalized in November - making it probably one of the fastest ever on the market.
Finom is backed by General Catalyst, Target Global, Cogito Capital and Entree Capital. The company boasts impressive growth with over 3,000 new clients choosing its financial solutions every month in Q4 2021, operating across France, Germany, and Italy (currently only e-invoicing services are available in Italy).
The EMI license will enable Finom to roll out across multiple European markets and launch a broader range of services to its clients. This includes issuing e-money and providing payment accounts, issuing debit cards, processing SEPA payments, as well as providing payment initiation and account information services. Most EU-based neobanks and fintechs do not have their own infrastructure which means they do not fully control their business development activities.
“There is huge untapped market potential in the European Union when we speak about financial services for SMEs”, declares Konstantin Stiskin, co-founder of Finom. “We are talking about 24 million enterprises, with an estimated banking services market value of more than $200 billion. B2B fintechs currently cover less than 2% of that market. With the EMI license , Finom will now be able to dramatically accelerate its growth and have better control over its processes and scalability. Finom launched in beta version in November 2020 and in one year we have been able to build best-in-class products, establish processes to scale up our activities in multiple markets and reach a growth rate that has taken other fintech players several years. Acquiring our own license opens a new chapter in Finom’s journey. Our next goal is to reach 100,000 clients in the EU as soon as possible”.
"We are very happy to see the Finom’s impressive progress. From the very beginning we invested in a team known for their exceptional abilities to execute. Obtaining the EMI license is further proof of great execution and well thought out management”, Mike Lobanov, COO and General Partner at the international investment firm Target Global.
Finom was founded at the end of 2019 in Amsterdam, and launched its full product offering in France and in Germany in Q4 2020. The platform is designed by entrepreneurs and freelancers to be a true partner to entrepreneurs and freelancers, blending together finance management, invoicing and banking.
On the payments side, Finom currently works with Solarisbank in Germany and with Treezor in France. In 2020 Finom raised €16.8M in investments (seed and pre Round A), led by Target Global (Germany) and General Catalyst (USA).
Last but not least, the EMI license and the planned international expansion means Finom’s team is set to grow. In 2022 new recruits will join the company, doubling the size of the team to 250 people and creating new job opportunities in the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Italy.
The main features of Finom
Finom offers a B2B finance service platform that pulls together payments, expense and team management functions into one mobile-first product. Clients can quickly set up an online account and immediately begin running accounts payable and account receivable, from both the app and the desktop site. More in details these are the main features Finom is bringing to the market:
- Business banking account and wallets with local IBANs (German and French already available. Italian accounts coming up in Q22022)
- Virtual and physical cards for business owners and employees, easy to manage in the app and with a cashback up to 3%
- Easy to use invoicing that would not just help keeping documents in order, but would also help clients to collect receivables
- Multibanking with account aggregation and dynamic dashboard: all accounts in one place, even accounts from other banks
- Super quick customer support that is able to sort out any issues in 5 minutes, through many different channels, from whatsapp to email
- Automatic reconciliation of invoices and checks, combined with accounting systems integration (Datev, Lexoffice, etc)
More information on Finom: https://finom.co/
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About Finom
Finom is an international innovation-driven start-up, currently providing B2B services in France, Germany, and Italy. The headquarter is based in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). Finom was founded in 2019 and since then its mission has been to simplify the life of entrepreneurs and freelancers, who are the economic backbone of Europe. Finom is a 100% digital B2B financial service, designed by entrepreneurs and freelancers for the benefit of entrepreneurs and freelancers. It blends together finance management, invoicing, and payments. The start-up raised €16.8 million in investments during 2020. Its main investor is Target Global, an international investment firm headquartered in Berlin. For more information, visit https://finom.co/