A couple of weeks ago we announced our investment in iZettle, the social payments company. Today we thought we’d shed some light on why we think iZettle is one of the most promising Swedish tech start-ups at the moment.
First and foremost: the team rocks. We’re thoroughly impressed with how much Jacob de Geer (coincidentally Lea Bajc’ former SSE classmate and Spotify duo’s previous venture –Tradedoubler- employee #1) and his team have accomplished over a relatively short period of time. Having followed the company since its early days we’ve witnessed how iZettle moved from an inspiring vision to a fully-fledged product with a rapidly expanding and loyal customer base in virtually no time. This coupled with an industry that’s not easy to crack is seriously impressive.
iZettle solves a problem, making the use case obvious - something that we like to see. By democratising mobile payments, iZettle empowers both consumers and merchants, increasing the likelihood of transactions where otherwise the only payment option until now has been cash/invoice. This is huge for the small and medium enterprise (SME) segment, which makes up 95-99% of all enterprises in countries such as Sweden, the UK, the US, and Germany*. In essence, not only do the millions of existing SMEs in Europe now have an easy-to-set-up, simple and secure product that they can use on the go (think market vendors, artisans, handymen, etc.), but we believe that as word spreads about iZettle, more people will be encouraged to start selling their products and services. With low start-up costs, no fixed fees or hidden charges, iZettle is addressing a huge opportunity.
On top of this, iZettle works with existing infrastructure, which differs from what most mobile payment solutions are attempting to do. This means that only the merchants need to adopt the technology, as debit/credit cards are already a standard form of payment in most countries. MasterCard’s co-investment and support (showcasing iZettle in their guidelines for mobile payments amongst other) shows that the industry is ripe for mass adoption of mobile payments.
A large hurdle for any businesses is to stay ahead of the curve in terms of innovation. This is a key concern for us when looking at an investment opportunity. In iZettle’s case the team’s passion about big impact coupled with their ability to deliver originality from a multitude of directions, continue to feed our belief in the company.
The key challenge and focus for iZettle today is maintaining the high pace of growth across markets they’re already present in, as well as international expansion. The team’s ability to think big has continues to be demonstrated through initiatives such as the build-up of an ecosystem through iZettle’s API, innovative pricing structures, and many more exciting features. We’re excited to be part of this venture and encourage you to sign up for iZettle today!
