REX: Holvi’s EUwide Ambitions

FACTS

• Holvi –Finland-based start-up behind a current account for micro-entrepreneurs– relies on their shareholder’s support, BBVA, to further reach out for Europe expansion.

• New targeted countries:
  • Ireland
  • Italy
  • Belgium
  • France
  • Netherlands
• In addition to their home market (Finland), Holvi already aimed for Germany and Austria.
• Featured Services:
  • Configurable, customisable current account
  • Mastercard card
  • Tool for categorising expenses for bookkeeping
  • Aggregation service including accounting tools
  • Tool for issuing invoices
  • Card acceptance solution (with SumUp)

HOLVI: Key Figures

• 2011: founded in Finland
• 2016: bought out by BBVA
• Roughly, 100 employees
• 60% growth from 2017 to 2018
• +40% customers in Germany since 2018
• Customer base: 150,000 micro-businesses

CHALLENGES

• Consolidating a pan-European footprint has become a major goal for this start-up.
• Shedding light on BBVA’s commitment to assisting start-ups. Holvi’s expansion highlights their commitment to assisting start-ups. This banking group is also considered by the European Commission as one of the organisations doing the most to support start-ups across Europe. They were awarded a “SEP Corporate M&A award” from the Startup Europe Partnership initiative.
• BBVA and Holvi describe their expansion goal as a way to meet small entrepreneurs’ needs, usually poorly addressed by typical banking services in Europe.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• This ambition will, however, have to face competition on this market: entrepreneurs are already targeted by challenger banks (N26, Qonto, Shine, iBanFirst, etc.), and may rely on especially crafted offers by long-standing players including –and in France only– HSBC, La Banque Postale or Société Générale.