The company was founded in 2012 in Denmark, and at it’s core, it provides a marketplace for tax and bookkeeping services, with a focus on small businesses and freelancers. It started its expansion to Sweden in 2013, and as of today, it is offering services in six countries: Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, and the US.
Besides its marketplace, Ageras has been heavily investing and growing its product and software stack. The service includes billing, invoicing, payroll, and reporting software, but specifically, its focus on banking solutions is evident.
In 2022, Ageras acquired Kontist, a banking product focusing on freelancers in Germany. Kontist started as a pure fintech in 2016, using Solaris as its infrastructure provider. In the years after that, Kontist added more and more non-financial products, most importantly its tax advisory services. But the Kontist acquisition was not Ageras only step towards banking services. Already in 2020, it acquired Tellow, a Dutch accounting tool for freelancers. In 2023, the Dutch company announced the launch of its own banking product in partnership with Swan.
Earlier this month, Ageras CEO Rico Andersen announced its intention to grow further with more fintech acquisitions. Especially the financial turmoil of the past few years has been a strong signal for him that supply and demand for a pan-European consolidation of the accounting and banking platform markets is available.
And just a week later, on June 19th, the company announced its acquisition of French fintech Shine. Similar to Kontist and Tellow, Shine is operating at the intersection of bookkeeping and banking and focuses strongly on the French market.
There are a lot of ‘hot areas’ in embedded finance, but the approach of Ageras has two very common embedded finance characteristics. Firstly, it focuses on businesses and freelancers and not on consumers, which makes it often ‘easier’ to create a successful business case. And secondly, its main product touches on finance in several ways, but it is not a fintech product at its core. Businesses that fulfil these two requirements are often well suited to launch financial services. Ageras shows how it can be done, and I will make sure to follow.
Finextra: Initial acquisition plans and Shine acquisition
