German Financial Platform for Small Businesses to Be Launched by Tide

Tide plans to introduce its business finance platform in Germany with the goal of helping small businesses in the biggest economy in Europe.

The platform, which is already accessible in the UK and India, offers integrated finance and administrative solutions tailored for small businesses without a finance department, according to a press release issued by the company on Tuesday, March 12.

“Our goal is to help reduce the financial and administrative management burdens with our advanced business financial platform,” Oliver Prill, CEO of Tide, said in the release. “Looking at what is on offer for [small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs)] in Germany, we believe there is a huge opportunity for Tide.”

As per the release, prospective customers can sign up for a waiting list and the Tide app will be available in Germany in the upcoming months.

Invoicing, cash flow forecasting, and other solutions will be added gradually as Tide’s platform capabilities are introduced, starting with its Business Account and card offerings, according to the press release.

As of December 2022, the company has served 200,000 SMBs in India and over 575,000 SMBs in the United Kingdom, where it was first introduced, according to the release.

As per the press release, Germany, which is the third market, has nearly 3 million small businesses, is the largest economy in Europe, and is witnessing a growing trend of using digital solutions for financial management.

The press release quoted Prill as saying, “Like in the U.K., small businesses are the backbone of Germany’s economy, Europe’s largest.” “Our success in the UK has been based on our in-depth knowledge of the challenges faced by freelancers, small businesses, and independent contractors.”

Commerzbank and Global Payments joined forces in January to provide digital payment solutions to German small businesses, which is another recent development in this field. Commerz Globalpay GmbH, which the companies combined to form, will provide omnichannel payment and software solutions to retailers.

European FinTech Mollie introduced an in-person payments solution in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany in May. Mollie Terminal is the solution that satisfies the needs of merchants who run both online and brick-and-mortar stores by integrating in-person and online payments. The device functions on both Wi-Fi and 4G networks and is controlled by a single application programming interface.