Malte Rau (right), CEO of Pliant, pictured with co-founder Fabian Terner;
Chronicle.lu recently had the opportunity to speak with Malte Rau, co-founder and CEO of Pliant, about this Berlin-headquartered credit card fintech which is currently in the process of setting up a legal entity in Luxembourg.
This article forms part of a series of interviews with "newcomers" (i.e. new startups) hosted at the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT). Founded in the German capital in 2020 by Malte Rau and Fabian Terner, Pliant has been a member of the LHoFT since October 2022.
Chronicle.lu: Please introduce your company and the products/services it offers.
Malte Rau: Pliant is Europe's most innovative B2B (business-to-business) 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.
Chronicle.lu: What led to the creation of your company?
Malte Rau: 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.
We understood that traditional corporate card providers weren't offering the real flexibility and benefits that companies want.
Chronicle.lu: Why Luxembourg?
Malte Rau: Luxembourg is an important but often overlooked market that's important in the fintech space. We always knew Luxembourg would be a priority. We understood that traditional corporate card providers weren't offering the flexibility and benefits that companies in Luxembourg want. Applying, onboarding and issuing cards used to take weeks, but with Pliant, it's now possible in minutes and it all happens online.
Chronicle.lu: What makes your company and its offer different/unique?
Malte Rau: 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.
Regarding their amount of spends, Pliant also offer automatic and limit free cashback of up to 1%, which is particularly useful for companies that spend thousands on monthly expenses like online marketing or business travel.
Chronicle.lu: What's next for your company?
Malte Rau: We just released 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, first 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 optimise their purchase processes and helping them to make savings.
