Partnerships Paves the Way for Expansion
From a bleeding edge biometric payment fintech to anti-money laundering technology in cryptocurrency. There are many types of partnerships between Nets and fintechs. However, they are always looking for the same characteristics: a promin ent and promising technology they can help scale and strengthen the presence in the European region.
The pace of innovation is staggering while the payment industry at the same time is still heavily regulated. The financial industry is changing, and PSD2 and open banking have become the new normal. This has opened up for new alliances, and especially the numbers of partnerships between corporates and fintech startups have grown tremendously in recent time.
Moreover, the great emphasis on partnerships has also found a way to Nets. Today, the Danish payment provider is involved in a multitude of corporations with financial institutions, fintechs and ecosystem initiatives.
“We collaborate with partners in Danish as well as international ecosystems that support our ambition to identify the most appropriate technologies that will shape the future payment industry. To partner up with the most promising of its kind enables us to stay at the forefront of the industry and accelerate idea development and innovation,” Tony Bach Christensen, Director in Strategic Partnerships at Nets, says.
Nets is looking to expand its presence to the rest of Europe. Following several acquisitions, the company is now geared to collaborate with fintechs across a large part of the European region. Thanks to a partnership with Copenhagen Fintech and the international accelerator Plug’N’Play, Nets is now – among others – collaborating with anti-money laundering (AML) fintech Chainalysis and the Israeli ultrasound company Sonar Rax.
Through our local roots and local work in the European ecosystems, we are strategically expanding through the partnerships
Tony Bach Christensen, Director, Strategic Partnerships at Nets
“Through our local roots and local work in the European ecosystems, we are strategically expanding through the partnerships,” Bach Christensen adds.
Startups are notoriously known to shake up industries and challenge the so-called established players and fintech startups are doing no different. However, they cannot do it alone. Nets add legitimacy, credibility and compliance to the fintechs.
“In financial markets Nets is an experienced player, and we can help startups navigate the organisational layers in a bank or avoid pitfalls that could stall their development. They must focus on what they do best: drive change and technological development,” Bach Christensen says.
As the largest payment provider in the Nordic region processing more than eight billion transactions every year Nets processes a large amount of consumer data. To Nets it is a matter of defining the right use cases for the technologies and in identifying essential applications that fits the users’ consumption patterns. For instance, according to Bach Christensen, a finger scanner may not be suitable for payment at the grocery store but is ideal for a clothing store, and ultrasound payments fit very well with quick purchases.
“We want to show our customers that there are solutions that apply to their business model or product and if they adopt new solutions, they can reduce costs and embark on a new endeavour that will generate revenue and knowledge. We do not deal with prototypes, but well-developed technologies that look for scaling opportunities,” Bach Christensen explains and stresses that Nets cannot afford to put customers’ trust at odds by engaging with startups that are too inexperienced.
“They must have a few years of experience with a product in the market. That is why we work with highly skilled partners like Copenhagen Fintech and Plug’N’Play as they can identify a match between the most promising international startups and us.”
