ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: SPIIR
Danish fintech Spiir was founded in 2010 by Rune Mai and Gudmundur Hreidarsson, co-founders of the open banking platform Nordic API Gateway. It all began with the question “How can we make personal finance more fun, simple and engaging than your typical Excel-budget?” In an interview with Spiir Product Lead Martin Junker, we were curious to hear what Spiir has been working on since participating in the Mastercard Lighthouse Program and discuss the challenges and opportunities they see moving forward.
The fintech started out as a web-based service aiming to provide families and individuals with a personal finance overview tool. Very soon after launching, they reached 100 000 users on their platform. Spiir then eventually changed direction after realising that customers loved the overview feature, but simpler and more user-friendly analytic information services were needed. This is when the Spiir app was born – a personal finance app that gives you small cards with fun facts about your spending. Martin Junker describes the product as “an app that provides overview of finances and affects people’s habits.” Junker further explains, “We believe in giving an overview in a different and fun way,” and today, the app has on-boarded more than 400 000 users.
In addition to making personal finance more fun, Spiir is also on the mission to make their financial services more inclusive. The company is focused on building the best product for customers, regardless of which Nordic bank they use.
“Everyone is welcome on our platform, it doesn’t matter what kind of client or bank you have.”
Martin Junker
Product Lead
Spiir entered the Mastercard Lighthouse Program in Spring 2019 to gain new partnerships and meet potential investors. During their time in the program, they were able to connect with several community partners. “The partnerships we gained from the program we could not have gotten from anywhere else. The Lighthouse Program took us to the next level,” says Junker.
As for the opportunities and challenges for the company in the future, Junker shares that Spiir sees many opportunities to grow in multiple target segments. In the B2B segment, Spiir has built a white label solution that empowers large banks and corporations to launch an app similar to Spiir within a few months of time. The obstacle with this segment is to facilitate the fast decision times with large banks or corporations required to launch these apps quickly.
Similarly to many other fintech companies, the Covid-19 pandemic has created some additional challenges. Junker shares that the crisis has slowed down talks with potential partners and their white label platform, as many companies have faced changes in strategy and priorities. Another challenge created by the pandemic is being apart from the team. A big part of their culture is centered around friendship, curiosity and learning together – something of which has not been the same without working at the office. The Spiir team may have adapted to working from home, but Junker shares they miss working together in the same space.
Despite Covid-19 setbacks, the future is still looking bright for Spiir. In the coming six months, the Spiir team will continue to work with partners on their white label solution, as well as implement strategic partnerships to revamp the app and bring a whole new customer experience. New exciting announcements and features in the app are on their way.
