Following the first interview of the Newcomers series with Invoport, discover this week Pliant, Europe's most innovative B-to-B corporate credit card solution. Mathieu Volondat, Head of Sales Luxembourg answered our questions about the company and its services. 

1 - Please introduce your company and the products/services it offers.

Pliant is Europe's most innovative b2b corporate credit card solution. Pliant shows that credit card payments are as easy as possible for customers for over two years, and demonstrating that credit cards are a safe and cost-effective payment method for many types of businesses. Created in 2020 in Berlin and after providing its forward-thinking payment solution to more than 1,500 satisfied customers in Germany and Austria, Pliant is now available in Luxembourg.

2 - What led to the creation of your company?

We believe credit cards are the best b2b payment method because of their universal acceptance, convenience, security, and programmability. It's a future-proof payment that can dominate payment categories and offers unique benefits to a variety of industries.

3 - What is the most difficult or unexpected thing you've had to overcome on your journey?

Our biggest recent challenge was definitely our series A financing round. We all faced a global economic downturn which made the fundraising environment particularly difficult. EY Startup Barometer 2022 reported a 43% decline in venture capital investment in German startups compared to the previous year. Despite these circumstances, we successfully raised $28 million from existing and new investors. We had to fly to Tokyo to get it done, but we were very fortunate and learned a lot about ourselves. This experience will certainly benefit the company in the future.

4 - How is your offering different from your competitors and other market players?

Pliant is laser-focused on providing the most capable payment solution for businesses – and that's credit cards. Both physical and virtual cards with high limits, flexible payment cycles, fully digital card management, and more. Plus, businesses don't need to visit a bank or open a new bank account. 

5 - What did LHoFT bring you? 

LHoFT shares our commitment to innovation in the financial industry. On top of the hosting in their co-working facility, LHOFT helps Pliant to connect with the Luxembourg Fintech ecosytem and support us in our growth by opening their strong network.

6 - What's next?

We just releasd our CaaS (cards-as-a-service) product that allows businesses to issue their own credit cards through Pliant's platforms. Fintechs, banks, lenders, and other companies can offer their customers a fully functional card solution right out of the box with a white label setup or one that's fully embedded into their own apps.

We also start this month a partnership with WIDOO, 1st collaborative purchasing group in Luxembourg. This partnership will help us to gain visibility by offering our solution to more than their 150 members, helping them to optimize their purchase processes and helping them to make savings.