Wolt
finmid
Unlocking growth for local heroes: How Wolt Capital transforms small business financing
Challenge
Wolt, a Helsinki-based technology company founded in 2014, has transformed the way people discover and get deliveries from local restaurants, grocery stores, and shops.
In a competitive market, Wolt aimed to differentiate itself and retain their customers by empowering local merchants.
Restaurants – as with most small businesses – are still facing significant hurdles to receive funding. 29% of restaurants go out of business because of a lack of access to capital. And the bigger picture, while the restaurant industry is still recovering from the pandemic, the rate of financing in the industry has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Food costs are going up and staffing remains unpredictable and is becoming more competitive, plus there are always unexpected expenses.
Wolt saw an opportunity to help these restaurants access funding that was transparent, fast and fair – given Wolt’s unique knowledge on a merchants’ sales history
Solution
In 2023, Wolt partnered with finmid to introduce 'Wolt Capital', a financial service designed to provide easy access to capital for their merchants. Recognizing the unique challenges faced by small businesses, Wolt aimed to offer a seamless and flexible financial solution tailored to their specific needs.
The journey began with a pilot program in Finland, where Wolt Capital quickly demonstrated its potential. Encouraged by the initial success, Wolt and finmid expanded the pilot to Denmark and Sweden, proving the solution could thrive across different regions. With this validation, Wolt embedded the Capital feature directly into their platform, making the service scalable and easily accessible within the familiar Wolt environment.
After embedding the product into the Wolt interface, the service launched in Poland, aiming to scale across more markets soon. This strategic expansion ensures that Wolt can continue to support its merchant partners, helping them overcome financial barriers and achieve sustainable growth.
Wolt Capital is an all-in-one solution powered by finmid, offering compliance, financing, and a user-friendly interface. Wolt can monitor their portfolio performance through a centralized dashboard, streamlining operations management and facilitating efficient data sharing and payment processes. finmid’s automated marketing tools support Wolt by sending tailored emails and necessary invoices or reports to merchants.
finmid’s dynamic risk modelling and pricing system allows flexible risk assessment, ensuring fair and transparent financing solutions. Moreover, their flexible integration options accommodate various stages of a company's development and its risk appetite for investing in a financing feature. As a global partner, they offer consistent support across all markets.
Edward Daka, Product Lead, Banking & Payouts at Wolt, highlighted the strategic importance of the partnership: “We're constantly looking for ways to support our merchant partners and help them succeed. Together with finmid, we’re able to provide easy and flexible access to additional financing – helping our partners develop their businesses, or have a safety net during tough times. The feedback we have received has been extremely encouraging, and we’re excited to see what kind of value we can create with the program moving forward.”
Max Schertel, Co-Founder of finmid: “One of finmid’s key strengths is our ability to adapt to the diverse needs of platforms and merchants alike. We believe that all merchants should have easy access to financing through the tools they use daily. Partnering with Wolt enables us to provide this vital support to thousands of restaurants.”
Results
Wolt Capital's success is reflected in its exceptional user experience, evidenced by an 80+ NPS across all markets with hundreds of live merchants. This high satisfaction rate underscores the program's effectiveness and the significant value it provides to small businesses.
Wolt Capital quickly became an essential resource for many merchants. Nezir Giray, owner of Five Sons Oy, said: “Overall, my experience with Wolt Capital has been very positive, and I'm thankful for the support it's provided to my business. The flexibility and the quick, efficient process make it a valuable financial tool for entrepreneurs like me.”
The decision to partner with finmid brought several unique benefits to Wolt’s merchants and their overall marketplace experience:
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Pre-approved Offers: Eradicating wait times and the fear of rejection with pre-approved financing options.
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Full Transparency: A fixed fee structure ensures clear and predictable costs for merchants.
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Fast Onboarding: A 3-click onboarding process completed in under 5 minutes, with no data-sharing required.
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Quick Payouts: Funds are transferred to the merchant's bank account the next day.
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Fair Fees: Utilizes platform data to provide real-time insights into financial performance, ensuring fair fee structures.
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Automated Repayments: Revenue-based payments that adapt to the business’s financial situation.
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Trusted Platform: Leverages the credibility and brand strength of Wolt to build trust with merchants.
About Wolt
Wolt is a Helsinki-based technology company that makes it incredibly easy to discover and get the best restaurants, grocery stores and other local shops delivered to you. To enable this, Wolt develops a wide range of technologies from local logistics to retail software and financial solutions, as well as operates its own grocery stores under the brand Wolt Market.
Wolt was founded in 2014 and joined forces with DoorDash in 2022. DoorDash operates in 29 countries today, 25 of which are with the Wolt product and brand.
About finmid
finmid is the financial infrastructure provider to today's most popular platforms. With just a few lines of code, finmid enables any B2B software platform to offer financing to their customers at scale, driving revenue and customer retention. The finmid API allows B2B software platforms to build flexible financing solutions with best-in-class user experience. Founded in 2021, finmid is the emerging leader in European financial services infrastructure, backed by leading tech investors. The company is headquartered in Berlin, Germany. To learn more about finmid, visit finmid.com.
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