The essential tools for a successful Fintech expansion with Unlimint, Beanworks, Templafy and more

No man is an island when it comes to fintech, and in the pursuit of a better world powered by better financial services, it’s clear that standing together means moving forward together. This September at Fintech Times, we will dive into every corner of what it means to be a fintech ecosystem. We’ve dedicated the entire month to examining what makes a successful fintech ecosystem, how fintech can collaborate more effectively, as well as providing a regional view of some of the industry’s best examples of community collaboration.

Moving on to our final week of fintech ecosystem coverage, we’ll use this opportunity to discuss the role of expansions, mergers and acquisitions within the fintech industry.

Today we start the week with a long-awaited survey of the expansion of fintech services.

To expand is to succeed, and that is an ambition that all fintechs share. Unfortunately, the road to becoming a truly global brand is never easy to navigate, and an appetite for success will largely depend on individual factors unique to the characteristics of the business.

But fear not, as we’ve consolidated a multitude of industry experts to share with us what they believe are the tools essential to successful expansion.

Must have partnership

Start our discussion here Irene Skrynovaglobal head of customer success in the payment company Unlimitedoutlines the tools a fintech must have to successfully expand in today’s market.

Emphasizing innovation as a necessity for the most competitive fintechs, and when a larger player cannot adapt quickly enough due to its internal limitations, Skrynova says that the pursuit of a fintech partnership in this case can cultivate many different advantages for expansion.

When it comes to expansion, the right partnerships can generate “new products and revenue streams,” comments Skrynova.

“Whether it’s in the form of a pilot project, or a fully implemented product, companies and startups share the burdens and therefore reduce costs, risks and project timelines, and accelerate the development of disruptive solutions,” she continues.

Skrynova goes on to explain how partnerships are able to establish a solid foundation for both companies to grow and facilitate the development of the ecosystems in which the companies operate.

Skrynova continues her analysis, confirming that partnerships are capable of reaching new markets and demographics.

“Incumbent companies have built up a solid and loyal customer base over many years. Collaborating with disruptors to expand into new geographies or customer segments can protect and increase these customer numbers,” she comments.

Around back, Skrynova emphasizes how innovation is the key to successful expansion, and through the right partnerships, fintechs will be able to deliver innovations quickly and expand at speed.

Acknowledging the development of in-house solutions as costly and time-consuming for larger players, Skrynova comments that “partnering with disruptors who have already created valuable capabilities or filled a distinct market gap can be a very effective route.”

“Incumbent firms that discover such valuable capabilities and know-how at an early stage can gain a valuable advantage, so incumbents should seek such partnership opportunities when they see a need to move quickly in a new direction,” concludes Skrynova.

Automation of own weight

Continuing our conversation, Catherine Dahl explains that for any technology company to expand and grow at the pace investors demand, “it has to be an efficient company.”

“It doesn’t mean profit, but it means leveraging technology to move faster on fewer people,” she continues. “Fintech is no exception.”

Dahl is CEO and co-founder of the software company for accounts payable automation Beanworks. She led the startup to and through an acquisition in 2021, landing them under Quadrant umbrella of automation companies.

Dahl explains how Beanworks needed to grow 100 percent year-over-year (YoY) to attract investment to scale that growth rate and get the solution impact it wanted and the return the founders wanted.

To achieve this, “we had to automate as much as we could, as soon as we could afford it,” comments Dahl. “Software was how we did it.”

The company started its journey with a CRM that it could leverage to automate and use as a true customer relationship management system, as opposed to an exclusive sales-focused tool.

“We invested in certifying our team to use this tool to its maximum potential,” she continues. “We used as many free applications as we could at first, and paid for it when we had to.

While every software company wants a huge development technology, Dahl questions how many actually think outside of that department and take it from customer to lifetime customer.

“Obviously, Beanworks by Quadient is an accounts payable automation platform that automates a manual accounting process where we save our clients FTEs when they deploy it,” she comments.

“But we also bring data visibility to an area that was traditionally blind – allowing operations managers to see costs in real time, enabling them to make faster and better decisions.

“With the right set of tools in place, we started growing by more than 100 percent in 2017 and haven’t slowed down since. This was an important strategy for us.”

Dynamic documentation

Regulations and legislation have continued to match the pace of growth within the fintech industry. In this light, Christian Lund emphasizes how “it is important that these organizations are set up in a way that allows them to comply with new regulations at a moment’s notice.”

As co-founder of the document generation platform TemplaphyLund explains how the key to achieving this is by getting the document generation processes in order.

“Business is often done through the canvas of a document. From a pitch deck to a contract to an email, all of this business content often contains important information to move a company forward,” he says.

To reinforce his point, Lund points to data indicating that 84 percent of US employees agreed that content is the most important driver of business success and that it is critical to revenue.

According to his source, a third of respondents said that more than half of their company’s annual revenue is directly related to its content.

“However, this value can all be diluted if your document is not updated with the latest regulatory language required,” Lund adds.

Lund’s underlying point is that fintech companies need to ensure they have an adequate document management policy in place to scale their business.

According to Lund, this can be done by implementing content activation solutions that intelligently connect content to people within their existing workflows.

“This allows companies to remove the responsibility of protecting their brand and security from individual employees and place it on automation technology instead,” he explains.

“When this is the case, companies no longer have to struggle with documents missing mandatory information, classification and metadata.

“Content enablement allows for easily managed templates, while automating mandatory classification and data security policies.

“Through these tools, fintech organizations can truly scale business document creation and allow documents to reach their full potential, without sacrificing compliance, security or revenue.”

Niche and nice

To John Dear“New fintech startups enter the market every day, and too many make the mistake of trying to serve too many customer segments too quickly.”

Dearing is managing director and partner at Capstone Strategican M&A advisory firm offering expertise in the areas of strategic growth, due diligence, valuation and prospect evaluation.

To expand successfully, Dearing advises fintechs to focus on one area and become the go-to for that niche.

“Whether it’s a focus on product-specific lending, fraud prevention, or platforms to streamline processes and workflows,” he continues, “it’s best to identify the niche and expand based on that vision and mission.”

While the offering must be niche and specific, Dearing goes on to explain that for a fintech to scale, the offering must must be user-friendly and easy to use.

“If apps and website interfaces are buggy and overly complex, no one will stick to using the product,” he says.

“For M&A considerations of customer interface technology companies, it is critical to consider both the efficiency and usability of the current version and what it will mean to scale during growth, especially for older customers who are not as tech-savvy.”

Dearing confirms that fintech will shape the future of global finance. As parting advice, he circles back with “those who find the right niche and make their technology platforms readily available are most likely to expand into new markets and beyond borders.”

Right mindset

In conclusion of our conversation, for now, here Vikas Gupta outlines the three elements that drive the successful expansion of fintech services.

Gupta is the CEO of Abizoa fintech startup based in Reno, Nevada that offers a financial services platform for rental properties, providing a platform for rent collection, banking, lending and insurance.

Gupta encourages the audience to consider three things.

“The first two are knowing what you’re good at, and knowing what you need to be good at to win,” he explains.

“If the gap between what you’re good at and what you need to be good at is too far, you might want to look for a third-party service or tool to provide that capability.”

He then continues with the third piece of advice which is knowing what is going to set you apart in the market.

“In general, if certain functions are not differentiating (eg everyone needs bank statements, but you’re unlikely to win by providing a better bank statement), it may make more sense to outsource them so you can focus your energy and innovation yours. on where you can separate.”