- After saving customers $3 billion in its home market, Israeli startup okoora is continuing its European expansion by entering Poland.
● The country is known as a Central-Eastern European fintech hub, with almost 400 fintech companies operating there in addition to many international R&D centers.
● In just three years, okoora has grown to operate in over 100 different currencies and built a company with over 15,000 clients and 100 employees.
Swiss-Israeli fintech startup okoora has entered the Polish market in a move that will serve as a cornerstone for its plans to expand in the European Union (EU). Okoora’s operations in Poland are expected to eventually include offices for sales, marketing and customer support staff, as well as a R&D center to support okoora’s continued product development.
“We come to Poland with the belief that the market for currency management solutions can and should be disrupted. When okoora researched the European market, Poland scored high due to its developed banking sector, high level of foreign trade and other relevant parameters. Poland also offers economic incentives that make it seem like a good idea to open an R&D centre here. We believe this is the best place to jumpstart our European expansion,” says Benjamin Avraham, founder and CEO of okoora.
Okoora’s entry into Poland will make it easier for Polish businesses to plan, manage and execute cross-border currency transactions. Okoora’s ABCMTM platform enables businesses to manage the risks associated with volatility in currency exchange rates. In addition, okoora offers banking services (BaaS) via APIs that enable fintech companies, banks and other financial institutions to provide transactional banking services related to foreign currency to their clients.
The expansion into Poland follows the opening in late 2023 of the company’s offices in Limassol, Cyprus, with the primary goal of meeting EU regulatory compliance. However, Poland is the first sizable European market where okoora intends to market and sell its services to the local business community.
Poland chosen as a Fintech hub in Central and Eastern Europe
One of the reasons for choosing Poland specifically was it being a European Union member country that uses its own currency, the zloty. Importantly, the Polish fintech scene is flourishing. According to the recently published “Map of Polish Fintech” (Mastercard and okoora are the primary partners of the report), there are 368 fintech companies based in Poland. International players such as Binance, Curve, Kevin, Klarna, Revolut and Tink all have their offices or Research & Development centres in Poland.
Poland’s financial services market is the biggest in the Central and Eastern Europe region. According to the European Central Bank, the 2021 value of assets in the Polish banking industry totalled 564 billion euro. This amount is almost double the 336 billion euro of the Czech Republic, which is ranked second in the region. Polish banks are said to be more agile and quicker to develop new software. In many cases, they were early adopters of solutions such as mobile banking and digital payments, according to the “How to do FinTech in Poland 2023” report.
Poland has a large number of SMEs that trade vigorously, which is the target group of okoora. SMEs make up over 99% of all business in Poland and are responsible for almost half of GDP (45.3%), according to the government-led Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Exports account for around 50% of total revenue for Polish SMEs, indicating their strong integration into global trade (Source: OECD). This is significantly higher than the EU average, where exports make up about 30% of SME revenues. Similarly, imports account for around 45% of total procurement costs for Polish SMEs, on average. This reflects the heavy reliance of Polish SMEs on foreign-sourced raw materials, components, and intermediary goods.
According to Avraham, “Another aspect for which Poland was chosen for the beginning of the expansion is the high value of transfers on the platform so far between the Israeli shekel and the Polish zloty – Poland ranks in the EU Top 5, ahead of such economies as Spain and France.”
Credit:okoora
