Monika Liikamaa – 2020 year in review

Even though 2020 has truly been a roller coaster ride of a year, we at Enfuce have a lot to be grateful for at this unpredictable time. We have been laser-focused on our growth plan and this year we have succeeded in establishing the right structure within the company to achieve our goals going forward. This has allowed Enfuce to acquire the Payment Institution licence from FIN-FSA – an important achievement that has opened doors to expanding our offering. Now as a licenced entity Enfuce can provide Account Information & Payment Initiation Services (AIS & PIS) across the EU.

Enfuce has also established important strategic partnerships in 2020, such as our new BIN sponsorship partner TPL. We have also strengthened our existing collaborations, for example, this autumn Enfuce was selected by Visa among 20 other innovative European fintechs to join the Fintech Fast Track programme, deepening our partnership with the major payment schema.

We were also honored to be recognized this year with some of the most prestigious awards in our industry, such as being shortlisted as one of the top 50 European fintechs to watch by The FinTech50. Our carbon footprint calculation tool My Carbon Action launched last year has also attracted attention in the industry, recently brought to the spotlight at the Banking Tech Awards as a highly commended green initiative.

Another major milestone for Enfuce in 2020 was securing the Series B funding round that was a must-have to keep growing at full speed. Since the founding of the company in 2016, our operations have been supported by debt financing, consultancy revenues, and strategic investment from experienced Finnish VCs that back visionary tech start-ups. As we quickly transition into scale-up phase, in Series B we are welcoming to our exciting growth journey a new leading international VC that shares Enfuce’s sustainability-focused values. As a result of this new VC partnership, we will have a seasoned strategist joining our board at the beginning of 2021. More information about our Series B funding round is coming up in Q1 of next year.

Of course, this year was also full of challenges – no one was prepared for how COVID-19 would change the world, and if someone claims they were, they are lying. We are sincerely hoping that all the suffering this pandemic has brought will come to an end soon. Still, at a time like this, a positive “half glass full” attitude is more important than ever. For example, one thing to be grateful for is that social distancing has given us all more time with our loved ones. Besides, halted travel led to fewer work trips, which is great for the environment.

For Enfuce, not much has changed in the daily ways of working. We have been working remotely from the very beginning, with our international team collaborating seamlessly across two offices – Espoo in mainland Finland and Åland Islands. While this digital-first set-up is native to fintechs, this year it has been great to see bigger, older, and more conservative companies getting used to fully digital workflows, as well.

We have managed implementation projects with international corporate clients 100% remotely in 2020 and launched complex payment solutions in record times together. This kind of inspiring success stories of merging expertise from Enfuce, our customers, and our partners to build globally scalable payment solutions is what keeps us going regardless of challenges.

So, even though it has been a tough year for the world at large, we at Enfuce hope that 2020 has given us all opportunities to grow and expand. We are certainly excited to greet 2021 and see an inspiring global recovery – the COVID-19 vaccine getting released to the public, the US re-joining the Paris Agreement, China working towards carbon neutrality. In 2020 we were all shaken up, and 2021 is when we rise again, higher than ever before. And we are absolutely thrilled to continue our journey of scaling Enfuce in 2021 together with our trusted partners, experienced team, and amazing customers.

Cheers to a spectacular new year to come!

Monika Liikamaa, CEO and Co-Founder at Enfuce