How Findity’s partnership strategy enabled UK success

When Swedish fintech company Findity entered the UK market, it brought more than just digital expense management. Because when it comes to entering a new market, Findity’s approach has proven to be pioneering. With a strategy built on partnerships rather than headcount, Findity’s journey offers valuable lessons for Swedish businesses navigating the UK’s competitive fintech landscape.

Findity's embedded expense management platform streamlines financial workflows for tens of thousands of businesses. Available as a white-label or headless solution via their Expense API, it allows companies to seamlessly integrate powerful expense management into their own software and offerings. Since entering the UK market in 2021, Findity has grown its presence through strategic partnerships, demonstrating the value of combining a focused local approach with scalable collaborations.

Why the UK?

At the heart of Findity’s decision to expand to the UK was the ambition to reach as many users as possible. As Albin Carlsson, Head of New Business at Findity, shares: “When it comes to our SaaS product, employees are our main currency. This makes the UK, with its large workforce, one of our most important markets in Europe.”

For Findity, the UK is also important due to its rich ecosystem of potential partners. “When it comes to partners, we typically work with accounting and payroll software providers. The UK is very interesting because they have a huge amount of those types of companies – and they are big.” Albin explains.

The role of partnerships

When Findity first entered the UK market, they pursued a dual strategy, offering an expense management product directly to end customers while also exploring partnerships. The direct-sales approach quickly showed that competing head-to-head with already established players would demand significant resources and somewhat diminish their uniqueness.

In response, Findity made a strategic decision to double down on their partner-model. By focusing on forming partnerships with local businesses, they could scale more efficiently, leverage their partners' existing brands and customer bases, while maintaining a lean operational model. This deliberate shift not only set them apart from competitors but also became the cornerstone of their successful market entry in the UK.

When entering a new market, Findity’s initial strategy is to secure one major partner as a foundation to localise the product, and then continue to grow their network from there. However, building connections in a new market can be challenging without local ties. As Albin recalls being told in his early days in the UK: “Have the wrong colour tie and you won't be let through the door” serving as a metaphor of how crucial it is to understand local business culture. He further explains that establishing an initial partnership has been a great way to overcome the difficulties of establishing new connections in the UK market.

Rethinking market entry

Findity’s first impression of the UK market led them to rethink their entry. Initially focused on hiring a local sales force, Findity shifted to working with UK advisors - highly connected and deeply knowledgeable experts in the local industry. Albin now says: “Looking back, what I would have done differently is to focus on finding the right advisor earlier.” He elaborates: “We work against quite a specific type of partner and it's not easy to cold call your way to the right stakeholders. So, instead we started working with UK advisors.” This approach proved much more effective, quickly connecting Findity where it mattered the most. 

For companies reliant on large, hard-to-reach partner prospects, introductions from trusted advisors are invaluable and let you focus on your strengths. As Albin put it: “You need the introduction to the right people. Swedes are great at closing business, and we're great at building tech companies, so you can do that from Sweden, initially at least.”

Opportunities for Swedish businesses

Albin believes that there is great potential for fintech companies in the UK market, saying: “The UK is sort of a fintech mecca. I think there are big opportunities for other similar companies to us.” He also highlights that there is a multitude of very high competence and skilled tech people on the UK market.

Albin further describes the UK as the perfect pitstop before entering the US market, noting: “I think the UK is a good start if you eventually want to expand to the U.S market. As you will see a lot of the U.S. providers establish in the UK when they go into Europe, it's also a great way to build your potential U.S. network.”

Advice for Swedish companies looking to enter the UK market

The best advice Albin has for Swedish businesses looking to enter the UK market is to engage with SCC UK early on: “Utilise the connections SCC UK have, to try finding executive levels, board members, investors in that type of industry you are in, to get them on board as advisors early.” Attending SCC UK events puts you at the heart of the Swedish-British business community, where connections spark, ideas are exchanged, and opportunities to accelerate your UK journey naturally arise. Albin explains that he wished that he had engaged with SCC UK earlier: “The last time I was at an SCC UK event, I realised, if I would have been here five years ago, it would have been a great opportunity to meet early potential advisors to the company.”