Press

Nordic tech companies Froda and Ageras have entered into a strategic partnership to make SME financing available in Europe. The partnership means that over 300,000 of Ageras' small business customers will have access to financing through Froda Embedded. The partnership is part of Froda's international expansion and growth journey.

Froda is one of Sweden's fastest growing fintech companies and has helped over 50,000 companies access financing. Ageras is a leading provider of banking, accounting and administration software with over 300,000 small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers across Europe.

- Our vision since the start has been to help as many small business owners as possible to access finance. Through the partnership with Ageras, we can support even more entrepreneurs in Europe with finance," says Olle Lundin, CEO and co-founder of Froda.

In Europe, SMEs make up 99% of all businesses, employ 100 million people and generate more than half of Europe's GDP. Despite this, access to finance is one of the biggest barriers for small businesses in Europe to grow. Solutions that make finance available to small businesses are therefore crucial for Europe's growth.

- "Together with Froda, we can scale up our corporate finance offering and provide our customers with an even broader range of financial services," says Martin Hegelund, co-founder of Ageras, and continues

- Our research shows that 68% of small businesses are looking for finance, but the majority can't get it from traditional banks. With Froda, we give our customers access to 'smart' finance by allowing them to use their financial, banking and accounting data to get a credit decision in seconds.

Ageras is a leading provider of banking, accounting and administration software for small businesses in Europe, with over 300,000 active customers using products such as Billy, Zervant and Kontist. The partnership with Froda will allow Ageras to expand its offering to include corporate finance.

- Our Embedded platform makes it easy for other fintech companies and neobanks to expand internationally and scale up their operations. The partnership with Ageras marks an exciting new phase for us," says Stella Snickare, VP of Froda Embedded.

Launched in 2021, Froda Embedded has been a success story since its inception and a strong contributor to Froda's growth. Over the past year, the business area has grown by 100 percent, increasing the number of partners from three to nine and expanding from three to five markets. Through the partnership with Ageras, the reach is further increased and Froda will be able to reach out to and help more European small businesses with financing.

About Froda
Froda was founded in 2015 with a clear purpose - to revolutionize the banking experience for entrepreneurs by making it easy and affordable for them to invest in their ideas. By digitizing the process, being data-driven and applying machine learning, Froda can not only be faster than traditional banks, they can also be more objective, accurate and fair in their assessments. Today, Froda is one of Sweden's fastest growing fintech companies with big international growth plans. Since its inception, the company has helped more than 50,000 businesses grow and through Froda Embedded, Froda enables partners to connect to its technologically advanced financing platform to offer financing to their customers.

About Ageras
Ageras is a banking and accounting platform for small business owners. Its one-stop platform integrates its solutions into a single financial hub for invoicing, accounting, payroll and banking, enabling small business owners and entrepreneurs to focus on running their businesses. The 250-person strong company was founded in Denmark in 2012 and now serves over 300,000 small businesses across Europe.

Founded in 2022, buy-now-pay-later company Waylog has grown its total lending from SEK 20 million to SEK 500 million and expanded into four new markets. A key factor behind Waylog's rapid growth has been their early collaboration with Froda as a financing partner, which has given them easy access to capital. The partnership is part of Froda's international expansion journey.

Froda Embedded was launched in 2021 as a business area within Froda and aims to help fintech companies and banks scale their offering and expand into new markets through seamless API integration. Waylog is a clear example of how embedded financing enables the development of scalable financing solutions that become increasingly sophisticated as a company grows. Over time, Waylog's level of integration has evolved in parallel with increasing portfolio, transaction volume and technical foundation. The company now operates a fully automated, customized API solution ready to support its continued growth and expansion.

- With Embedded financing, we can help growth companies offer their customers flexible financing solutions. Before we had deposit authorization from FI, access to smart and flexible capital was a major growth inhibitor for us. Now we can help Waylog avoid the same challenge. It's great to be part of their growth journey," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

In just one year, Waylog has evolved from a newcomer to a trusted supply chain financier for hundreds of businesses in the Nordics and the UK. Through Waylog's platform, customers can apply for a free credit line, which can be used to pay up to 120 days before repayment to Waylog is due. This allows customers to optimize their liquidity, secure better order terms and inject capital into their businesses without giving up control or ownership. Waylog's platform is backed by Froda Embedded as a financier. Its rapid growth journey is a good example of how Froda Embedded can help fintechs and banks grow.

- Waylog fundamentally revitalizes an old financial product and makes it more customized and flexible to meet our customers' unique needs. The possibility of easy integration and the potential to scale outside Sweden has been crucial to our ability to grow at the pace we have. Froda has played a crucial role in this," says Jens Malmqvist, co-founder of Waylog.

About Waylog
Founded in 2022 by Jens Malmqvist and Nils Ohlsén, Waylog has experienced exponential growth from the start, quickly becoming a trusted partner for importing companies in the Nordics, UK. Since its inception, Waylog's total lending has SEK 500 million in funding, representing a remarkable growth of 2500 percent. The company has also expanded its services to include several Nordic countries and the UK.

About Froda
Froda was founded in 2015 with a clear purpose - to revolutionize the banking experience for entrepreneurs by making it easy and affordable for them to invest in their ideas. By digitizing the process, being data-driven and applying machine learning, we can not only be faster than traditional banks. We can also be more objective, accurate and fair in our assessments. Today, we are one of Sweden's fastest growing fintech companies with big international growth plans. Since our inception, we've helped more than 50,000 businesses grow, and through Froda Embedded, we've enabled partners to connect to our technologically advanced financing platform to offer financing to their customers.

On October 11, the application for the scholarship "Female Entrepreneur of the Future" opens. The grant is aimed at female entrepreneurs who are either planning to start a business, or have started a business in the last year.*

Only a quarter of all entrepreneurs in Sweden are women, which is below the EU average. Since 1980, the number of female entrepreneurs has increased by one percentage point. To encourage more women to start and run businesses, the tech company Froda launched a scholarship for future female entrepreneurs in 2022. The aim is to give women who want to or have just started a business the opportunity to realize their ideas. The scholarship is worth SEK 100,000 and will be awarded annually to a female entrepreneur. In 2023, Miranda Matti took home the prize with her innovative homework help platform Lexflix.

- Sweden is below the EU average when it comes to female entrepreneurship. This is despite being one of the most gender equal countries in the world. To break the negative trend, we need more female entrepreneurs and role models. With the scholarship, we want to help improve the conditions for female entrepreneurs and give more women the opportunity to invest in their ideas," says Olle Lundin, CEO of Froda.

To apply for the scholarship, you need to either have started a business after January 1, 2023, or have a business idea that you will start up within a year. The application is open until December 31, 2023 and the award ceremony will be held on International Women's Day, March 8, 2024.

The application period for the scholarship is between October 11 - December 31, 2023.

Read more about the scholarship and apply here: https://froda.se/stipendier/framtidens-kvinnliga-foretagare/

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 a business no earlier than January 1, 2023.

* After January 1, 2023.