Fintech

As the world shifts its approach to handling financials at work and at home, fintech is rapidly transforming the financial sector. With its strong digital backbone and technological knowhow, Finland is home to many companies making a pretty penny in the ballooning fintech market by offering an ever-growing number of smart solutions.

Here are five examples of how Finnish companies are reshaping the future of finance.

SOLUTIONS FOR B2B E-COMMERCE: ENTERPAY

Specialising in developing credit management and invoicing service solutions for B2B e-commerce, Enterpay has had an international outlook since its foundation in 2013. The Helsinki-based company has partners among leading Nordic businesses in credit management, invoicing and finance.

According to CEO Jarkko Anttiroiko, Enterpay’s intelligent decision engine and other useful tools have taken business buyers’ payments to a whole new level. A pioneer in enabling B2B e-commerce, the company believes that the sky is the limit in the sector.

“As in B2B e-commerce the size of [a] one-time purchase is larger than on the consumer side, it is likely that B2B e-commerce will clearly overtake the growth of consumer e-commerce in the near future,” Anttiroiko estimated.

A LEADER IN FINANCIAL MESSAGING: XMLDATION

This Tampere-headquartered company was established in 2009 and has since grown into a leader in financial messaging. It focuses on developing cloud-based solutions that make the daily operations of banks and clearing infrastructures more efficient and convenient.

Working with international banks and clearing systems, XMLdation gives special emphasis to information security. Last year, the company obtained an ISO 27001 certification, which is the world’s best-known standard for information security management systems.

“We have ambitions to grow, so from a strategic perspective getting the certification is very important for being able to scale with minimal business risk,” commented CEO Tricia Balfe. “The certification will allow us to deliver even more important services to our clients.”

FINDING BALANCE AS AN ENTREPRENEUR: HOLVI

Holvi was founded with the goal of making self-employment easier. Targeted at freelancers and small businesses, Holvi’s all-in-one digital business account provides built-in expense management features, as well as online selling, invoicing, bookkeeping and financial insights tools.

Over the last two years, Holvi has been actively adjusting its strategy, objectives and business model in pursuit of sustainable growth and long-term profitability. Product development in line with the needs of over 35 000 business clients the company serves has been another focus point for Holvi.

“We’ve achieved a lot, but we already have our eyes set on the future,” highlighted CEO and co-founder Tuomas Toivonen. “That’s why we’re currently in discussions with investors on funding to take Holvi to yet the next level.”

A CARD-AS-A-SERVICE PROVIDER: ENFUCE

Listed among the top 20 fintech scaleups in Finland in 2022, Enfuce has made a name for itself as a one-stop shop for card issuing and payment processing. The company was established in 2016 by five co-founders on a mission to rebuild payments from the ground up and has since grown into a fintech disruptor with over 150 experts onboard and offices in Espoo, Mariehamn, Riga and London.

“Enfuce does the heavy lifting of card issuing and processing, empowering businesses to focus on their core operations with the reassurance of a trusted compliant partner helping them in their quests to drive growth and customer loyalty,” explained co-founder and co-CEO Denise Johansson. “Our vision is clear – to educate every fintech, bank or brand, from challenger to goliath, to move to cloud-based embedded finance platforms by 2025 and drive the digital transformation of the UK and Europe for the benefit of businesses and consumers.”

On top of consumer and business card issuing, Enfuce offers open banking and carbon footprint measurement services promoting sustainability among financial institutions and their customers.

SMART SOFTWARE TO DRIVE GROWTH: HEEROS

Founded in 2000, this software company specialises in cloud-based business management and financial administration solutions. Heeros’s tool portfolio is vast, covering nearly everything that businesses need – from processing invoices to enterprise resource planning.

"Our customer relationships are long-term with approximately 18 000 existing customers,” CEO Niklas Lahti wrote in a blog post. “Our churn rate is low, reflecting loyalty and stickiness of our customer base. Moreover, over 95 per cent of our revenue is recurring, highlighting the predictability of our business model.”

With this in mind, Heeros keeps on growing its share of the Finnish fintech market and striving to gain an international foothold.