Swiss-Israeli fintech startup okoora is continuing its European expansion by entering the Polish market. The fintech plans for its operations in Poland to eventually include offices for sales, marketing and customer support staff, as well as an R&D centre to support its continued product development.
As it continues to expand in the European Union (EU), okoora hopes its entry into Poland will help make it easier for Polish businesses to manage and execute cross-border currency transactions.
Okoora’s Automated Business Currency Management (ABCM) platform enables businesses to manage the risks associated with volatility in currency exchange rates. In addition, okoora also 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.
“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,” explained Benjamin Avraham, founder and CEO of okoora. “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.”
The expansion into Poland follows the opening of the company’s offices in Limassol, Cyprus, in 2023 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.
Fintech success in Poland
Poland’s fintech scene is thriving, with 368 fintech companies based in Poland. International players such as Binance, Curve, Klarna, Revolut and Tink all have offices or R&D centres in Poland.
Poland’s financial services market is also 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 €564billion. This amount is almost double the €336billion of the Czech Republic, which is the second largest in the region.
Polish banks are arguably more agile and quicker to develop new software. In fact, in many cases, these banks were early adopters of solutions such as mobile banking and digital payments, according to the ‘How to do FinTech in Poland 2023‘ report.
One reason okoora selected Poland as its next point of expansion was because SMEs make up over 99 per cent of all business in the country – and these are okoora’s target group.
The SMEs are responsible for almost half of GDP (45.3 per cent), according to the government-led Polish Agency for Enterprise Development. Exports account for around 50 per cent of total revenue for Polish SMEs, indicating their strong integration into global trade. This is significantly higher than the EU average, where exports make up about 30 per cent of SME revenues.
“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,” added Avraham.
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