We launched in UK

BUSINESS BANKING SPECIALIST HOLVI LAUNCHES IN UK, ALLOWING SELF-EMPLOYED TO SAVE UP TO 120 HOURS SPENT ON BUSINESS FINANCES EACH YEAR 

Holvi expands its European presence, building on 200,000 existing users across Finland, Germany and other Eurozone countries, in a bid to save microbusiness owners time and money. 

27 January – London, UK: Holvi, the digital banking service for self-employed and small businesses, officially launches in the UK today. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, the launch sees Holvi expand its European presence with plans to build on the 200,000 users currently saving up to 10 hours a month on time spent managing business finances. With the UK set to leave the European Union at the end of the month, Holvi’s CEO, Antti-Jussi Suominen, says: “We are excited to be launching in the UK today regardless of what shape or form Brexit takes. The UK is one of the most important markets for fintechs and has always been known as a nation of sole traders. We have years of experience supporting this specific type of microbusiness and our research shows that our users can save up to three weeks of valuable working time every year by automating routine accounting tasks with our service.”

Helping self-employed stay on top of their financial ins and outs

Holvi’s mission is to help self-employed, sole traders, freelancers and small business owners succeed financially, by providing an easy-to-use service that saves them time and money. It does this by removing friction – such as manually inputting receipt data to spreadsheets – and doing away with complicated calculations needed for tax and invoice management. It’s designed for the varied needs of Holvi’s users, which include consultants, music producers, yoga teachers, photographers, actors, personal trainers and more, as well as freelancers and small businesses. 

Holvi’s all-in-one payment account comes with a business Mastercard and helps users stay on top of their financial ins and outs. It’s equipped with operational tools that allow business owners to set up their accounts digitally, take snapshots of expense receipts, quickly create and send professional invoices, get notified when they receive payments, categorise expenses for bookkeeping and see how their business is doing in real time – all in one place, with no paperwork.

A supportive partner to millions

The latest figures from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy put the number of SMEs in Britain at over 5.8 million, which equates to around 99.9% of all businesses in the UK. 76% have no employees, meaning that a significant portion of individuals are running their business alone. Holvi aims to actively support as many of those businesses as possible, acting not just as a payment account provider – like so many banking services – but as a long-term collaborative partner, allowing them to focus on the parts of their business that matter most.

Suominen continues: “We want to support every single sole trader and freelancer in the UK. They are the backbone of the economy, and we genuinely believe that the banking market for microbusinesses is ineffective – it simply doesn’t work for a lot of businesses. For most people, their business is personal and therefore they need a solution tailored for their needs – something Holvi delivers.”

Holvi supports small business owners on all aspects of running a business, from setting up a company, through to tips on how to grow, manage cash flow and hire great people. The digital banking service was co-founded in 2011 by Tuomas Toivonen, who experienced the frustration of balancing a core ‘job’ and managing all the finances. He developed Holvi as a solution to these issues – and the result is a company based on a foundation of understanding and empathy with its users.