Daniel Döderlein established his company in 2010. The Norwegian company developed the first mobile payments platform mCASH in the Nordics and launched the first mobile payments solution in Norway, helping to fundamentally change the way transactions operated.
Later, when mCASH was acquired by Vipps, Auka started selling white-label to banks; however, it faced the same issues that it had encountered while starting mCASH. This led to the inception of Settle with an aim to become the dominant mobile payment platform in Europe. With Settle, the company is on a mission to make it easier than ever for people and businesses to initiate transactions all over Europe.
Settle: Connecting Consumers and Businesses
Settle is a leading mobile payments solution that empowers consumers and merchants to use their mobile phones for feasible transactions irrespective of time or location, with just a mobile number. With Settle, the users can send and receive money securely and instantly, enabling them to better understand, manage, and handle their money digitally. It is easy to download and is completely compatible regardless of smartphone device, bank, or telco. With its technology, Settle aims to digitize money and make it universally available to anyone.
Emphasizing on the Security Standards
Settle emphasizes on providing solutions with utmost security. The company relies on established standards and continuous testing including external penetration tests. It also collaborates with researchers and has security included in its development process from idea to release. The Settle platform runs 100% on Google Cloud that has a global-scale technical infrastructure designed to provide security throughout the entire information processing life cycle.
This infrastructure provides secure deployment of services, secure storage of data with end-user privacy safeguards, secure communications between services, secure and private communication with customers over the internet, and safe operation by administrators. Moreover, the company focuses on the physical, operational, and technical security of Settle and also adheres to PCI DSS 3.2 Level 1. The PCI compliance covers all parts of operations carried out by the company and ensures the security standards are maintained.
A Fintech Pioneer with Avid Entrepreneurial Experience
As the Founder and CEO of Settle, Daniel has been driving the company towards rapid growth with more than 20 years of entrepreneurial experience in the fields of IT, product development, advertising, and financial services. He is among the top 200 European Fintech Influencers and was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 by Norwegian Venture Capital Association.
Moreover, Daniel has joined the Google Cloud Advisory Board and has a series of firsts to his name. He was the first to develop mobile payment technology in Scandinavia, the first to launch a mobile payment service in Norway, and the first to create and run a regulated financial services platform on public cloud. Under his leadership, his company was awarded Deloitte Fastest Growing Fintech in EMEA and the best mobile payment platform by CFA Magazine.
Outplaying the Challenges
Despite its prowess over the years, Settle (and previously Auka) regularly comes across several challenges. Though mobile payments are used and accepted all over Scandinavia, a majority of payment acceptance across Europe is still cash or card-based. Banks and financial powers are often reluctant to get on board with mobile payment solutions.
The company has managed to surpass this challenge to an extent with a solution such as Settle which is ingrained and well-used by an adequate population to make banks and skeptics realize the potential of mobile payments. The company is no stranger to overcoming adversity, facing several challenges in its initial phases as well. “The biggest challenges are always the initial ones–getting a large enough group of people to use the platform in order to be convinced of its usefulness. Once this happens however, growth accelerates virally and the business side of the service becomes vibrant to tap into the user base,” said Daniel.
Driving Progress, Increasing Productivity
The impositions such as lockdown and social distancing due to the COVID-19 pandemic have made businesses shift to remote operations. Settle however, has always had staff working from various locations around the world, so the transition to remote operations was smooth for the company.
During these times, keeping the employees motivated and productive is of utmost importance. For this, Settle arranges an “all hands” meeting once a week where the goals of each team are assessed, the progress made by the teams is discussed, and ways to help them are worked out. Moreover, Settle uses Slack to communicate person to person and within the teams to help drive progress and increase productivity.
A Shift to Mobile Payments Ubiquity
The growth of the mobile payments industry has been intensified by the pandemic. Even before the pandemic, there was a transitional shift towards the mobile payment ubiquity. Awareness about offerings from regulated fintech and digital payments among people is increasing. Moreover, the growing frustration about the limitations of traditional banking and payments is also fueling the growth of the mobile payment landscape.
Mobile payment services such as Settle are ideal for businesses that increasingly need to grow their footprint to reach new customers and grow their business while enabling their customers to pay more easily. Taking these advantages into account, the company is continuing to roll Settle out across various locations in Europe and is on the way to expand its service across new countries as well.
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