Paris-headquartered business-to-business (B2B) payments company Libeo has officially launched in the crowded and competitive UK market.
Libeo has several years of operation in France and across mainland Europe. Its UK ambitions will be led by newly appointed Glen Foster, Managing Director for the UK and Northern Europe. He was a former director at Xero.
Foster says: “I know all too well the challenges with paying and getting paid, and the impact that can have on a business owner. Equally, I’ve seen over the last 15 years how accountants specifically have widened their services to incorporate things such as supplier payments for clients, giving clients the time back to focus on running successful businesses.”
Co-Founder and CEO of Libeo, Pierre Dutaret, adds: “The issues faced by our French customers are similar to those we identified in the UK – particularly within the SME segment – and we are confident that we can respond to them in a very relevant way.”
Libeo is well aware of the rivals and actually mentions “the large number of companies entering the B2B payment market”. Examples include GoCardless, Wise, iwoca and Banking Circle.
However, Libeo is not deterred and cites Eurazeo, which reckons around 25% of B2B invoices are filed electronically. The UK is Europe’s “most mature fintech market for consumers”, both in terms of size and usage, according to the EY Global Fintech Adoption Index. But Libeo notes that the rate of adoption of fintech among SMEs in the UK is lower, with 49% of UK businesses still using paper cheques to pay suppliers.
The French firm will try to stand out and offer accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) capacities. It uses all major payment rails, including open banking, BACS and Faster Payments.
Libeo says its solution synchronises with most accounting software and banks on the market.
The firm works with over 150,000 businesses. Notable names listed on its website include Burger King and Starbucks.
