Weavr launches embedded finance platform for startups in Portugal
The embedded finance platform has plans to expand into the US and Singapore as part of its rapid global expansion.
Weavr has announced the Plug-and-Play Finance provider is entering Portugal as Lisbon increasingly attracts attention internationally as a hub for start-ups, with the number of start-ups per capita in the country being currently 13% higher than the average in Europe. In 2021, there were 2,159 start-ups in Portugal.
Lisbon, home to a highly skilled, multilingual, and diverse local workforce, has recently ranked seventeenth on a list of the Top 100 emerging ecosystems as the city becomes a hotbed for investors and innovators.
The city’s booming tech and fintech scene is currently worth €2.1bn and Weavr wants to capitalize on that.
The Weavr platform intends to accelerate the process of Portuguese start-ups getting to market, claiming they will be able to do so in just a few weeks, eliminating lengthy delays in setting up and reducing unnecessary costs, which are typically experienced with BaaS and other embedded-finance providers.
Embedded finance provides needed agility to startups
Daniel Greiller, Chief Commercial Officer at Weavr, said: “The traditional Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model in Portugal, as across all of Europe, is dauntingly complex and expensive for early-stage businesses looking for options to embed financial services. It’s totally at odds with the country’s agile and innovative start-up community and appetite for growth.
“By offering a ‘plug-and-play’ model of embedded finance we can enable digital businesses in Portugal to look beyond the limitations of traditional BaaS and instead use our ready-made embedded-finance options. It also means that more businesses can unlock growth much more quickly and efficiently without worrying about complex integrations or regulations, navigating compliance or manage data security, as it’s all part of the Weavr service.”
Marin Cauvas, Principal at Anthemis adds: “Weavr continues to build on its vision to become the mainstream plug and play embedded finance infrastructure partner of any business types. Lisbon is an obvious expansion hub for the company given the growing breadth of its innovation and technology startup tissue.
“Weavr’s solution has the potential to largely benefit the local ecosystem, by impacting how businesses “think” about their tech infrastructure, whether they are launching a new product, aiming to expand internationally or are in need to modernise part of their stack.”
Weavr has appointed Joaquim Marques as Head of Business Development in Portugal and will be appointing several more executives to the Lisbon office. In the meantime, the firm has already signed deals with two Portuguese companies, E-virtual and GrowIN Portugal.
The embedded finance platform has plans to expand into the US and Singapore as part of its rapid global expansion.
