Fintech Insider Podcast by 11:FS
00:23:17 · Christoph Rieche, Sarah Kocianski
[00:23:17] S4: I think it's incredibly important because small businesses, they need so many services that they don't even know that they might be useful for them. So being part of an ecosystem and having access to these services in a in a direct way curated by by a great company is incredibly helpful. We have seen this working really, really well for the likes of eBay and Amazon that also created a massive ecosystem around them to help small businesses sell through these platforms. And I think Xero is a much larger extension of this because, obviously, it touches the entire small business space, not just a vertical in in ecommerce. And I believe that that's absolutely vital and will help all of the small businesses to increase their productivity, give them time back, give them more insights to make to make more often better better decisions. And through the likes of us, get immediate access to capital to help them size the opportunities that, you know, always come along in a small business. [00:24:18] S0: So do you think that access to capital is still a pain point for small businesses? Yes. Absolutely. Long time, but it's still
00:24:18 · Sarah Kocianski, Christoph Rieche
[00:24:18] S0: So do you think that access to capital is still a pain point for small businesses? Yes. Absolutely. Long time, but it's still [00:24:24] S4: Absolutely. It's... I started a company seven years ago, and ever since, the the amount that is lent to small businesses has contracted despite, you know, consumers and and corporates borrowing record amount of money. The actual amount outstanding to small businesses is lower today than it was seven years ago. And that sort of just shows you, no. You know, we have not actually gotten there that small businesses have the access to capital that they need. And, you know, I'm proud that we have made a difference to the 20,000, But, you know, there there are hundreds of thousands that we haven't reached yet and that I think can do very well by by investing in their business and and and sizing the opportunities that they have. [00:25:08] S0: So there's there's still a great opportunity for for companies like yourself out there. What what else what is missing, do you think? So particularly with, you know, open banking coming into play, there's obviously opportunities for other services developed. Is there anything else that you think, either based on open banking or or not, that that would really help boost this whole business ecosystem?
00:25:08 · Sarah Kocianski, Christoph Rieche, Caroline Plumb
[00:25:08] S0: So there's there's still a great opportunity for for companies like yourself out there. What what else what is missing, do you think? So particularly with, you know, open banking coming into play, there's obviously opportunities for other services developed. Is there anything else that you think, either based on open banking or or not, that that would really help boost this whole business ecosystem? [00:25:29] S4: So I think we're we're we're really kind of at a very, very, very interesting point in time because the insights that that someone like Xero can provide by using the data that customers have on their platform in a in a way that hasn't been done before and giving sort of access to capital through companies like us is here not... Has not been the case in the past. So over the next five to ten years, you will see all of these services flourish and become normal for a small business to use rather than sort of pioneering. And and I think that will unleash a huge boost in productivity that, you know, particularly looking at The UK, is structurally a a problem. Productivity growth has been low, and these are the type of initiatives that can really take a lot of time away from admin tasks of small businesses and redeploy that time in value adding and and growth initiatives that that they'd much rather spend their time on [00:26:30] S2: Yeah. [00:26:30] S4: Than keying in invoices. [00:26:31] S0: Yeah. I mean...
00:26:31 · Sarah Kocianski, Christoph Rieche
[00:26:31] S0: Yeah. I mean... [00:26:32] S4: So I think I think, you know, it's really starting now that the services are big enough, developed enough to make a difference. And so I think the next five years will be really, really, really interesting. [00:26:42] S0: And you think that they will be driven by somebody like Xero rather than than by the banks? [00:26:46] S4: I definitely think that Xero is way ahead of the curve relative to the banks that have all sorts of other issues that they have to take care of, which are very unrelated to the fortunes of small businesses. And so having someone like Xero with the entire ecosystems that we are part of, really putting the small business first in everything that we do is very, very, very hard for the banks to match. They'll get better too because, you know, competition is a good thing. But but I think the innovation will come out of the likes of, you know, Xero and its its large partner partner base. [00:27:22] S0: So what's next for OAKA? Do have anything on the horizon?
00:27:22 · Sarah Kocianski, Christoph Rieche
[00:27:22] S0: So what's next for OAKA? Do have anything on the horizon? [00:27:25] S4: So over the the past year, we have been very busy. And, you know, not only did we double in terms of size and in terms of staff, we have now nearly 250 people in our offices. Wow. So that's been a great experience to see that so many accountants have have come to us to to learn about how we can provide financing to their clients through the Xero platform. So that's been a tremendous experience from our our point of view. And we have started to enlarge the product offering that we that we can offer small businesses. So in the past, we have been offering a an overdraft like facility, a credit line that people can use to manage their working capital requirements in a very, very, very flexible way. And we've listened to all the feedback that we got from customers that, you know, sometimes they're looking for an investment loan, of course, to make a longer term investment. And so our product wasn't wasn't wasn't interesting to them. So we have added now a second product, which is a long term investment loan, which enables them to do these longer term investments. And now, you know, we can serve kind of really the vast majority of any any needs that they have from a financing perspective, whether that's a very, very flexible facility to manage short term working capital requirements or make a long term investment. Investment. And that's been that's been a lot of work on our end, and, you know, we still have a lot to do, but the the the response has been really, really positive.
00:28:56 · Sarah Kocianski, Christoph Rieche, Will Farnell, Pranav Sood, Jonathan Bareham, Gary Turner
[00:28:56] S0: Thank you so much for joining us today, Christophe. I hope you have a great rest of the day, and thank you for giving us your time. [00:29:02] S4: Thank you for having me. [00:29:03] S6: Have a great day. [00:29:04] S7: Thank you. [00:29:07] S0: I'm here with Jonathan Berham, is the co founder and CEO of Radon. How are you today? [00:29:12] S8: Yeah. Really good. Great to be here. [00:29:13] S0: And so what is it that makes you guys stand out? [00:29:17] S8: I think, I mean, we were one of the very early adopters. We've been Zero Partners for eight years, so that actually helped us at the start, being early adopters, being pacesetters, we're in [00:29:25] S1: the book. [00:29:25] S8: And that definitely helps. Initially, there's that kind of wow factor of being able to show people new way of doing things. But I think now, it's very much as the theme is today, it's about being human. It's using the technology not to replace, but to assist. You know, technology is there. It's a tool to help us realize our human aspirations and the human aspirations of the businesses we work with. And so for us, you know, we now deliver a daily bookkeeping service for everyone, and that just buys us the time to have more interaction, more communication, more discussions.