Like most fintechs, Latvian information technology company eDoks, once called Lahdes, faced the typical startup struggles when it launched in 2018 according to its founder Dmitry Dementyev-Dedelis. However, as Dmitry shared in an interview with the Lighthouse team, as an entrepreneur he had to generate the motivation to continue and adapt. The initial idea was to provide fully encrypted storage boxes for companies to share documents, but their team then realized delivery was only half of it. At the end of the day, their customers needed documents to be signed as well. Today the Lighthouse alumni is reaping the benefits, experiencing 30% growth in users between July and August alone. There are a couple of companies tackling the electronic document niche, but with a robust ability to pivot with customer demand, eDoks has proven to be a competitive solution in Latvia for partner organizations to digitally deposit, store, transfer and sign information and documents.

For eDoks, the pandemic has only simplified their marketing efforts, as the shift to work-from-home policies has made it easier to communicate the need for their service. Looking forward, the fintech is seeking investment, primarily to push marketing and other activities further to expand into neighboring countries and harness the realities of a new work environment.

As Dmitry shared, being an entrepreneur requires grit. The idea of eDoks itself began when they killed off another project on digital inheritance. Despite not having an actual product, the team was invited to join an accelerator in the Baltics. People knew Dmitry and his colleagues had the capacity to create something. “It is what Venture Capitalists usually say about their investments. In the seed stage, they invest not just in the idea, but in the team and their ability to execute. In our case, we received an investment not because of our idea, but because of our approach and the way we did things,” explained Dmitry. In our eyes, innovative teams make fintech the growing ecosystem it is today – and together strengthen and pioneer financial services into the future.

Meanwhile, founders expect higher demand in the banking market and state that Crassula will put further emphasis on listening to what products customers want and try to implement this within the platform. At the end of the day, the customer will always be in primary focus.