Tide takes ‘first step’ into Europe as part of expansion plans

UK-based business financial platform Tide has revealed its plans to launch in Germany, marking its “first step” in its expansion into continental Europe.

Tide already has a presence in the UK and in India, where it launched in 2022.

In a post on LinkedIn, Tide confirmed that Germany’s small business community will be able to access Tide’s financial and administrative solutions once it has entered the market.

Tide will offer German micro-enterprises and freelancers a business account via its app to “help them save time and money”.

Oliver Prill, Tide’s chief executive officer, said: “Small businesses are the backbone of most economies. Germany is no different.

“Tide has a deep understanding of the pain points of the self-employed and freelancers – and we are here to help reduce these financial and admin management burdens with our advanced business financial platform.”

He added: “Our plan is to launch in the coming months starting with our Business Account and Card products. We will roll out our full platform capabilities to Germany step-by-step.”

Chris Barton, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, said: “We are delighted that Tide is entering the German market and beginning to grow in continental Europe.”

In early 2023, Tide completed its acquisition of Funding Options, a UK marketplace for business finance.

At the time, Prill did not rule out further acquisitions to grow the business and add new products and services.

Further listening: Combining Tide and Funding Options to better serve UK SMEs – listen to Oliver Prill, chief executive officer of Tide, and Simon Cureton, Funding Options chief executive officer, on the Open Banking Expo Unplugged podcast.