Press

In recent years, tech company Froda has expanded to the UK, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Now, the company is taking the next step in its expansion journey by setting up in Germany in partnership with German neobank Kontist, part of the Ageras Group. The expansion means that Froda is now present in six markets.

Froda's vision is to help as many entrepreneurs as possible to access finance on good terms. There are 25 million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Europe, and in Europe's largest economy, Germany, SMEs employ 18.5 million people. Despite this, the lack of access to finance is one of the biggest obstacles for smaller companies looking to grow. In 2021, Froda launched the Froda Embedded technology platform to make business finance available in Europe through partnerships with banks and corporates.

- Germany is Europe's largest economy and a business-dense market. Our vision has always been to make financing available to all small and medium-sized enterprises, something we have specialized in for eight years. Expanding into the German market will therefore be an important milestone for Froda. We look forward to being able to support German entrepreneurs with their financing needs through the collaboration with Ageras," says Olle Lundin, co-founder and CEO of Froda.

Froda Embedded was launched with the aim of enabling companies and banks across Europe to offer financing directly to their customers by integrating Froda's platform into their existing product. Over the past year, lending and the number of customers via Froda Embedded has almost tripled, which has been a major contributor to Froda's near 100% growth and 800% increase in the international loan portfolio. The partnership with Ageras, one of Germany's leading providers of integrated banking, accounting and tax services via Kontist, means that 50,000 German entrepreneurs can now access SME finance.

- The solution means that payments can be made automatically via the company card and the process takes seconds, rather than several banking days. This is something that can be crucial for an entrepreneur when an opportunity arises, but perhaps even more important in tough times like now. The fact that Ageras wants to launch this product together with us on the German market is exciting to say the least," says Stella Snickare, VP Froda Embedded.

In November, Froda announced a partnership with Ageras, as part of the company's growth and expansion journey. Froda is now entering Germany together with Ageras. The partnership means that Germany will be the second market in the world to gain access to Froda's card-based embedded lending technology. Card-based embedded lending is a new innovation in the market and aims to make it easier for more entrepreneurs to access finance directly via their Visa business card.

- We know that German entrepreneurs have a great need to access business finance, but we haven't found an internal model to solve the problem. By partnering with Froda, we can now offer a scalable product to our German customers that will help more entrepreneurs grow," says Martin Hegelund, co-founder of Ageras.

The product will be launched in Germany in February 2024.

The Female Entrepreneur of the Future scholarship was established in 2022 by Froda with the aim of promoting and supporting female entrepreneurs in the start-up phase, and encouraging more women to take the plunge and start a business. The jury for 2024, consisting of prominent entrepreneurs and investors, is now announced.

The scholarship is worth SEK 100 000 and is awarded annually to a first-time female entrepreneur. It is aimed at women who have started a business in 2023 or plan to start in the coming year. This year's jury includes several renowned profiles from Astrid Wild, Imagi, Spotify and Froda.

Jury Women Entrepreneurs of the Future 2024:

DoraPalfi, CEO and Co-Founder, Imagi.
Dora is Co-Founder and CEO of imagi, an edtech company redefining access to education in programming. In 2021, she was named on Forbes 30 Under 30 list as one of Europe's leading social entrepreneurs and she is a Cartier Women's Initiative Fellow.

Olle Lundin, CEO and Co-Founder, Froda.
Olle Lundin is CEO and co-founder of Froda. With a background in finance, law and the startup world, he wants to promote diversity and equality in entrepreneurship through Froda. Being an entrepreneur should not be a class issue. Before Froda, Olle co-founded Curamando, now Arc Group.

Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck, co-founder, Astrid Wild.
Maria Paulsson Rönnbäck is co-founder and marketing manager at Astrid Wild, outdoor clothing for the female form. She has a degree in Marketing & Strategy from the Stockholm School of Economics, has been in the start-up phase of two technology companies where she has worked as COO and CMO and has been part of the management team.

Donna Hanafi, angel investor and product manager, Spotify.
Donna is a well-known investor and entrepreneur. She has co-founded Mentimeter, led the product team at Tictail (Shopify), worked on Volvo's social innovation program, and served on the board of the SSE Business Lab. Today she is Senior Product Manager at Spotify.

Simon Strindberg, investor and COO, Froda.
Simon Strindberg is a tech professional with extensive experience working at fast-growing companies. Today Simon is COO at Froda. Prior to Froda, Simon held the role of CCO, CMO and partner at Budbee and held several senior positions at Klarna. Simon is also an investor in several startups and tech companies.

About the scholarship "Female Entrepreneur of the Future"
The Female Entrepreneur of the Future was established in 2022 and is awarded annually to a female entrepreneur. The scholarship is SEK 100,000 and aims to give women with ambitions to run a business a start-up capital that enables them to invest in their idea. Requirements for the application are:

• Identify as a woman
• Registered in Sweden
• Of legal age at the time of application
• Not have operated a business before, or have established their first business no earlier than January 1, 2023.

The application for the scholarship is open until December 31, 2023: froda.se/stipendier/framtidens-kvinnliga-foretagare/

Froda continues to be aggressive on the recruitment front. After bringing in a number of big names over the past year, the company is now bringing in Roger Forsberg as its new CTO. Roger has over 25 years of experience from leading tech roles at Avanza, Klarna and Pricerunner. He will take up his new role on December 4, 2023.

Roger Forsberg has extensive experience of building and leading tech departments at rapidly scaling companies. He comes most recently from a role as Engineering Director at Klarna, where he was responsible for the technical integration of Pricerunner. He has previously also been CTO at both Avanza and Pricerunner.

- Roger's experience in building and leading tech departments with great results will be a great asset for us. We are in a phase where we are scaling rapidly and need to invest in tech and expand the team to match the high demand. Roger's expertise will be central to the development of our technical platform and for future innovation work," says Olle Lundin, CEO and founder of Froda.

For the past 25 years, Roger has held senior positions and worked closely with one of Froda's early investors, Nicklas Storåkers.

- "It will be incredibly exciting to follow Froda's journey with Roger in place. I have worked with both of them for a long time and I am convinced that it will be a good match. The work Roger has done at Avanza and Pricerunner has been incredibly valuable for those companies," says Nicklas Storåkers.

At Froda, Roger will have a key role in further developing the technical platform and setting the strategy for Froda's loan product as well as the strategic investment in embedded financing.

- I am impressed by Froda, the way the founders built the company, the pace of innovation and the results achieved so far. Froda has a great product that provides access to finance for small business owners. This benefits not only the individual entrepreneur but also society at large. This is something that is important to me when I choose companies to get involved in," says Roger Forsberg, CTO of Froda.

Froda has made strong progress on several fronts recently. The recruitment of Roger Forsberg also means that Froda's former CTO, Astrid de Laval, takes on the role of VP of Engineering. Together, Roger and Astrid will lead the tech department and the development of Froda's technical platform.

- The combination of strong business, committed founders and great working environment makes Froda a perfect place for me to contribute to the next phase of technological innovation," concludes Roger Forsberg.