What happened: European expense management provider Pleo announced the launch of Pleo Embedded (LinkedIn). Pleo targets banks, fintech companies, and specialised software providers, enabling them to embed the entire Pleo product, not just the card.
My comment: We have seen different expense management providers expanding into the as-a-service segment. German Pliant, Swedish Mynt and Estonian Wallester have all started as pure expense management solutions, but have all expanded their offerings to include card-as-a-service and white-label solutions.
If I were to compare the different solutions, I would start by considering how much of the core product customers can or need to embed. Pleo’s approach appears to be that customers embed more of the core product than just the card (others focus solely on the card, and in some cases, users can even log into both services: the expense management provider and the company that embedded them). I think all these approaches can make sense; what matters is who the ideal customer is and what their technical resources, commitment to the solution and product strategy are. In a way, Pleo’s move also means additional competition for stand-alone banking-as-a-service providers, who would love to sell to the same fintech companies and specialised software providers but require them to build the frontend completely themselves.
