Amsterdam-based Tellow, an entity under the umbrella Ageras Group, announced on Thursday, November 10, that it has now made it possible to open banking accounts and order payment cards from their bookkeeping software suite with its partnership with Swan.
According to Thomas Vles, CEO of Tellow, combining banking and bookkeeping is an essential step to further automate and simplify bookkeeping and taxation for entrepreneurs.
Vles says, “International players are already moving towards combinations of banking and bookkeeping, but it will be the local companies that will win the Dutch market. We are the only player in the Netherlands with our own banking accounts and an integration with the Dutch Tax Authorities. Our users can handle administration, file their tax statements and pay their taxes all from one platform.”
About Ageras Group and Tellow
Ageras Group was founded in 2012 and helps small businesses succeed by streamlining their administrative processes. It does that by combining its solutions into a single “cockpit” for billing, accounting, payroll, and finance, allowing business owners to concentrate on managing their enterprises.
The Group began as an online marketplace, Ageras.com, matching SMEs with accountants, and has expanded into a 250-person company offering a suite of tools and services for SMEs. Currently, it offers cloud-based accounting software through its products Zervant, Billy, and Tellow, and a payroll software Salary.
Tellow offers an automated accounting programme specially designed for micro-businesses and freelancers. It helps users to control their own records at all times, by making their accounts understandable. Users can use the Tellow app to send quotes and invoices and keep track of their finances. They can also scan their receipts and invoices, after which they can submit each quarter in the VAT return to the tax authorities in one click.
Tellow serves more than 60,000 freelancers and small businesses in the Netherlands.
Aim of this partnership
Swan is a European Banking-as-a-Service provider licensed by the ACPR (Bank of France). The company has scaled to nine countries with an annualised transaction volume of nearly €3B. Tellow is the launching partner in the Netherlands.
Vles says, “Swan is a strong partner with a leading position in Europe in terms of security, stability, and innovation. It is important that customers are fully protected and always have access to their Tellow banking environment and for this, a reliable partnership with Swan is essential.”
Tellow believes combining banking and accounting is advantageous. The company decided to incorporate banking because of the opportunities it presents in terms of technology. Tellow already classifies buy invoices and receipts using machine learning, but with real-time transactions, the company can also do an automated reconciliation.
Additionally, customers can also make a declaration to the tax authorities and have any outstanding taxes paid from their integrated Swan account.
Nicolas Benady, CEO of Swan, says, “We’re excited to see Tellow bring Dutch bookkeeping into the future! With embedded banking, Tellow is empowered to build a truly seamless experience, which is great for its users and will also contribute to the health of the company. At Swan, we are making this easier for European companies, and Tellow is exactly the kind of company we’re proud to support!”
Tellow’s complete banking functionality
Swan’s European IBANs with the French prefix FR will be the first to be made available by Tellow; local NL IBANs will follow the following year. Tellow mentions in a statement that users won’t notice any functional or financial differences because of the prefix.
Within the Eurozone, Tellow and Swan provide real-time transfers, and they also handle SEPA direct debits and payment request connections. Users in the Netherlands have access to the same fundamental features as those in conventional banks. Freelancers, business owners, holding corporations, and small businesses can all join Tellow.
Users can also get a functional payment card on their phones after passing compliance tests. Ordering physical cards will result in a three-business-day delivery window. The Mastercard-issued physical and virtual credit and debit cards have global acceptance and are compatible with ApplePay and GooglePay.
All businesses with offices in the Netherlands, including their founders, owners, and personnel, will be able to use Tellow and Swan’s banking services. There won’t be any deliberate exclusion of specific nations or nationalities. Tellow says, “Ukrainian freelancers and entrepreneurs are especially encouraged to get in touch, as Tellow empowers them to start new businesses hassle-free in The Netherlands.”
Credit lines up to 150K
From its own financial firm, Tellow has been providing business loans and invoice financing for a longer period of time. With the introduction of banking services, Tellow will also expand its current lineup of financing options to include credit lines.
The majority of the information, including taxes and bank statements, has already been gathered in the platform, so entrepreneurs may apply for a loan with the touch of a button and typically do not need to produce extra proof. Along with the introduction of the banking function, the maximum loan amount will also be increased; it is now €150,000 per loan.
Brief about Swan
Founded in 2019 by Nicolas Benady, Nicolas Saison and Mathieu Breton, Swan is a European fintech and innovation leader in embedded finance. Via Swan’s APIs, European companies can integrate banking services (accounts, cards, and IBANs) into their own product.
The fintech processes over €200M of transactions per month, for more than 60 companies across 10 European countries. Swan has over 100 employees and is led by fintech experts and experienced entrepreneurs. Leading VC investors like Creandum and Accel have provided the firm with expansion financing since it was launched in partnership with the startup studio eFounders.
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