Basware tends to be overlooked in US discussions of Procure to Pay software and e-invoice networks. This results from Basware’s Finnish heritage and  concentration on Scandinavia.  That may be changing.

Basware Strategic Plan

One thing I have always admired about Basware is that it shares a three-year strategic plan with investors. The company’s latest strategic plan, “The Next Phase of Growth”, was unveiled on February 2 to the usual lack of fanfare. This plan is the most detailed and clear of the ones presented to date.  You can find it here.  (I recommend reading the plan if you interested in procure-to-pay, e-invoicing networks, and/or supply chain finance.)

To save you time though, I’m including below the slide that best summarizes Basware’s go-forward growth strategy:

Basware makes it clear it is investing and sacrificing 2016 EBITDA (at least) to accelerate its growth rate.  The company is bold enough to highlight three very competitive markets in which it wants to grow–the US, UK, and Germany.  Apparently, Basware wants a piece of Ariba, Taulia, Coupa, Tradeshift, etc. and presumably a valuation to match!

I was going to write more, but in researching this post I noticed an excellent article Peter Smith at Spend Matters Europe has already written on this same subject here.  It’s rare that we get to watch an attempted expansion in this market to so publicly.  I’ll stay tuned.