Pleo

Unicorn of the Year:
Disrupting Employee Expenses

Pleo – Europe’s leading business spend solution, automates expense reports and invoice management. Sounds simple, and often the best ideas are. That is why they have seen huge growth since they were established in 2015 and became Denmark’s youngest “unicorn” at the time of its Series C round in 2021, and was valued in December at $4.7 billion.

A safe way to pay, where a company`s Finance Director is in control of spending. Pleo simply believes in better expense management with better visibility on company spend – and their 37,000+ clients believe in it too. Since their journey started, Pleo have been recognised around the world, claiming the crown as one of the ”World’s Top 250 Fintech Companies” in 2024 according to CNBC.

Pleo works with companies of all sizes, across every industry. What unites those businesses is that they’ve experienced the pain of traditional spend management: shared cards, chasing receipts, expense reports and reimbursements. They’re ready to move past the confusion and complexity that has defined spend management for so long.

How We Did It: Expanding
to the UK from the Nordics

Pleo launched in the UK in 2017, which was relatively early on their startup journey – but if your product has traction, you want to get to market fast. Having closed $5.5M seed funding from Creandum, investors in Europe’s most ambitious tech companies, knew expansion to the UK would become a significant part of their journey as a company because of the size, scale and scope of the market. The fintech scene here is competitive but it’s at the forefront of innovation.

Every startup’s expansion journey is different – but Pleo recognised early the importance of being seen in the market. During the initial phase, colleagues travelled back and forth with weekly Ryanair flights, meeting key influencers and decision-makers to get an understanding of the market. Pleo admits that this process can be “really hard and tiring”, but as a company, you need to encourage your employees, and keep reminding one another about the great, new potential opportunities as part of the vision. During this phase, Pleo was not building for scale, but building relationships, and a reputation for doing things differently. They would cycle to meet just one prospective client, hand-delivering cards to new users to ensure an amazing customer experience – the positive online reviews soon followed!

Six months in and Pleo joined a co-working space in Central London, where they started to scale and recruit local talent. They soon realised when hiring locally that they needed people that were okay with chaos and people who could get things done. One of our key hiring values for this is entrepreneurship. A lot of early hires in the UK displayed this and thrived on the organised chaos.

Scale Up: Top tips to
navigate the financial landscape

As businesses continue to evolve and adapt to the rapidly changing financial landscape, Finance Leaders are increasingly turning to modern spend-management solutions to drive efficiency and strategic growth. Sean Moylan, Head of Financial Reporting at Pleo, shares valuable insights on how financial leaders can leverage these tools to transform their roles and deliver greater value to their organisations.

1. Embrace Automation and Emerging Technologies:
“Automation is no longer a luxury but a necessity,” says Moylan. Modern Finance Leaders are expected to be proficient with technologies such as AI, machine learning, and blockchain. These technologies help automate routine financial tasks, enhance accuracy, and enable sophisticated financial modelling. By integrating these technologies, Finance Leaders can focus more on strategic decision-making and less on manual data entry.

2. Promote Collaboration and Communication:
Effective communication of financial data and insights across all levels of the business is essential. Moylan emphasises, “Transparency in financial reporting builds trust and supports informed decision-making.” Finance Leaders need to ensure that their findings and analyses are accessible and understandable by both senior executives and junior team members. This transparency helps build and maintain trust within the organisation, which is crucial for making informed decisions and fostering a collaborative environment.

3.Use Technology to Decentralise Finance:
Integrating solutions like Pleo can have compounding benefits by connecting critical areas such as accounting, payroll, expense management, and tax authorities. Moylan highlights that “Decentralising financial processes ensures timely access to vital data, thus enabling more effective decision-making.” This ensures that financial information is streamlined and readily available, promoting more efficient and timely actions within the organisation. Decentralising finance in this way supports the role of finance as a strategic leader and enhances overall business efficiency.

By adopting these modern approaches, Finance Leaders can navigate the complexities of today’s financial environment and position their organisations for sustained success.