Xolo, an Estonia-based financial platform for freelance workers, is launching a product to allow European contractors to set up a financial toolkit in a matter of minutes, which includes bank accounts, legal cover and accounting services.
While Azlo, Oxygen and Joust also offer banking products for freelancers, Xolo aims to differentiate through additional accounting and legal services, CEO Allan Martinson told Bank Innovation. The banking data allows Xolo to provide automated tax management and business performance insights.
“Whether it’s accounting, government compliance, reporting, banking and so on, about 10% of productive time goes to those things,” Martinson said. “Who we are addressing are one-person companies and independent professionals.”
Xolo is launching its new product, called Xolo Go, within the next two months. The company has set up the legal framework so that every contractor who signs up for Xolo Go is essentially forming a partnership with Xolo, where Xolo provides legal cover, accounting, invoicing, expense management and banking for the contractor. This frees up a contractor’s time.
The added services, however, come at a cost. Xolo takes 5% of contractors’ outward cashflow instead of a flat monthly fee. Users can terminate their relationship with Xolo at any time.
By contrast, other business banking platforms take a cut of transactions, but don’t offer accounting and legal services. For example, Joust charges 2.9% per credit card payment and 1% per ACH payment, plus 1% to 6% for an optional invoice protection tool.
Martinson said Xolo has been working on the Xolo Go product since November, but the company has been in a private beta since July. The company plans to make Xolo Go open to the public within two months, although it will only be available to contractors with customers in the EU.
Martinson said the majority of its users are from Germany, Spain, France and the U.K., which is Xolo’s target market. He claimed that Xolo has thousands of people on its waiting list, but he didn’t comment on customer numbers.
Xolo Go is the second product out of the company. Its flagship product, Leap, allows customers anywhere in the world to create a European online business by establishing Estonian “e-residency,” or Estonian-issued permission to operate an online business in Europe. Contractors must visit an Estonian embassy to establish their e-residency, and Xolo can launch the business with all the legal and accounting support in place. Despite its cost of 49 euros ($54) per month, the company is relying on the accounting and banking services to draw in customers.
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Xolo faces a crowded field of digital banks catering to freelancers, with the likes of Oxygen, Kabbage and Azlo aiming for business customers. “Compared to all the competitors, we haven’t found a single one that is bringing together all the components [like we are],” Martinson said. “It’s one-stop shopping.”





