Image credit: Bunq
Amsterdam-based bunq, an independent neobank that helps users save time, money, and the environment, announced on Thursday that it has entered a new partnership with Brussels-based Mobilexpense, a professional company focused on travel and expense management.
Starting Thursday, the Amsterdam-based neobank is fully integrated into the Mobilexpense Declaree platform, providing companies and employees with the means to reduce out-of-pocket spending by managing company cards directly from the expense solution.
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bunq founder Ali Niknam says, “We’re hugely excited to team up with Mobilexpense. Like bunq, they build super simple products that make life easy for businesses and users across Europe.”
All-in-one expense management solution
Founded in 2000 by Patrick Billiet and Xavier Deleval, Mobilexpense says it is committed to simplifying expense management for companies and their employees. Its customer base spans over 100 countries with nearly 2 million end users.
The company grew organically from its inception and then expanded its growth track to acquisitions, starting with what is now Mobilexpense Nordics in 2019, closely followed by Mobilexpense Declaree the same year and Dicom Expense in early 2020.
Mobilexpense has regional offices in the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and Romania.
How does the partnership help customers?
With Mobilexpense Declaree, customers can now open bunq bank accounts dedicated to managing employee expenses, while keeping their main bank account separate. This allows customers to remain in full control of their money and expense process, including card ordering, distribution and management, from within Mobilexpense Declaree.
Under the bunq model, Mobilexpense Declaree users can also manage their liquidity effectively, avoiding the need to provide employees with expensive traditional credit cards or to transfer funds to third parties that control prepaid cards, which often go unused.
With the integration of bunq, Mobilexpense Declaree customers benefit from real-time insights into their spend, while employees use the company cards within set limits rather than paying for expenses personally. Each transaction made with a bunq card is pushed directly to the Mobilexpense Declaree app for the employee to attach the receipt – making paper expense forms and lengthy credit card statements a thing of the past.
Each bunq account has either a Dutch, German, French or Spanish IBAN, and is protected by the European Deposit Guarantee Scheme. With bunq’s multi-currency feature, clients doing business abroad can receive, convert, hold, and spend in 15 different currencies, including US dollars, British pounds, and Swiss francs.
Patrick Van Deven, CEO of Mobilexpense, says, “In the post-COVID world, expense management is no longer just about business travel – it includes anything from office supplies to monthly software subscriptions. We have seen a growing interest in cards for a while now and they will play an even more crucial role in the future of efficient expense management.”
European challenger bank bunq
bunq was founded in 2012 by Ali Niknam. The entrepreneur initially invested €98.7M of his own money into developing bunq. The neobank claims this allowed it the freedom and independence to build a bank rooted in the wants and needs of its users.
The fintech company turned out to be the only self-funded challenger bank that branched into 30 European markets without a penny of VC funds. In April, 2021, their deposits surpassed €1B for the first time, having doubled in 2019 and then again in 2020.
In July, 2021, bunq announced the largest series A round ever secured by a European fintech. bunq raised €193M in a deal with British private equity firm Pollen Street Capital, valuing bunq at approximately €1.6B. At the same time, bunq also reported its first-ever profitable month.
Currently, bunq is available in 30 European markets including the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Norway, and Iceland.
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