Weavr launches in Portugal and signals further growth and expansion in Europe

By Joy Dumasia

Plug-and-Play Finance provider, Weavr announced its launch in Lisbon, Portugal. In recent times, Portugal has become a noted hub for startups, and the number of startups per capita in the country is currently 13% higher than the average in Europe.

Weavr has already announced the appointment of Lisbon native Joaquim Marques to lead local business development, with more technical and development hires expected soon. Making an early impact, Weavr has also signed deals with two Portuguese companies, E-virtual and GrowIN Portugal.

Speaking on the launch, Daniel Greiller, Chief Commercial Officer, said: “The traditional Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model in Portugal, as across all of Europe, is dauntingly complex and expensive for early-stage businesses looking for options to embed financial services. It’s totally at odds with the country’s agile and innovative startup community and appetite for growth.

 By offering a ‘plug-and-play’ model of embedded finance, we can enable digital businesses in Portugal to look beyond the limitations of traditional BaaS and instead use our ready-made embedded-finance options. It also means that more businesses can unlock growth much more quickly and efficiently without worrying about complex integrations or regulations, navigating compliance or manage data security, as it’s all part of the Weavr service.”

Last year, there were 2,159 startups in Portugal, and this growth is set to rocket. With Weavr’s platform, Portuguese startups will be able to get to market in just a few weeks, eliminating lengthy delays in setting up and reducing unnecessary costs, which are typically experienced with BaaS and other embedded-finance providers.

Marin Cauvas, Principal at Anthemis, adds: “Weavr continues to build on its vision to become the mainstream plug-and-play embedded finance infrastructure partner of any business types. Lisbon is an obvious expansion hub for the company, given the growing breadth of its innovation and technology startup tissue. Weavr’s solution has the potential to largely benefit the local ecosystem by impacting how businesses “think” about their tech infrastructure, whether they are launching a new product, aiming to expand internationally or are in need to modernise part of their stack.”

IBS Intelligence recently reported that Weavr, a London-headquartered technology provider that enables businesses with Plug-and-Play financial solutions, announced the close of a $40 million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global.