Blockchain & B2B are leading fintech growth, says Cardlay CEO

Describe your journey to fintech. How did you get here? Is there a story there?

Within the first year after graduating in 1996, after studying economics and marketing; and working on the “internet of things”, I started working on a successful multiplayer platform that was launched in 1998. Then I turned my focus to e-commerce.

Developing the payment aspect of e-commerce was hugely important to the optimization, processes and security of my business. As the owner of an online business specializing in wine, I was the third retailer in Denmark to offer my customers a card payment option. I went on to work with many other e-commerce companies in the early noughties, including Gubi, Toycity, Bestseller, Ecco and others.

With this experience, I got closer to the payment industry and launched my own project, Wallmob, together with a partner. Wallmob was an omnichannel point of sale (POS) that accepted different payments depending on the channel. I sold Wallmob in 2014 but stayed on as CEO until 2016 when I founded Cardlay.

Which fintech sectors are seeing the most movement in terms of startups and why?

I see more movement in consumer fintech than B2B fintech at the moment. Companies like Klarna have shot up in popularity thanks to an innovative product and successful consumer-focused marketing campaign. We find that B2B fintech is a slower moving industry, often further slowed by long sales cycles.

Investing is tough. How can fintech attract investors in this difficult climate?

The only way to attract investors is to build compelling routes to profitability. This means you need to have an airtight business plan and a thorough understanding of what investors are looking for. There will always be investors out there looking for a new company to get behind, even in times of economic uncertainty.

Which leadership qualities are essential for building a scaling fintech?

Making sure you attract the right leadership can be fundamental to the success of a business. Securing leaders with talent and the ability to grow in their position is key in an incredibly new and upcoming industry; managers must be adaptable to keep pace with the fintech industry as it gains further popularity. Surrounding yourself with other talents that go beyond your own abilities can provide different perspectives and allow your business to expand in different ways. An important initial stage for startups is building their team from the ground up.

What does the future of fintech look like to you?

We believe that we can use our already developed platforms in multiple verticals and eventually start investing relatively less in development compared to sales. For the fintech industry, in particular, there are currently several innovations that have potential. Blockchain in particular continues to increase the efficiency and speed of financial services and has the potential to disrupt archaic financial services that are still in place.