Dave Smallwood, MD UK & Ireland, Mollie

Today we're meeting Dave Smallwood, Managing Director for the UK and Ireland of Mollie. They are one of Europe's fastest-growing financial service providers, offering a single platform for businesses to get paid and manage their money.

Over to you Dave - my questions are in bold:

Who are you and what's your background?

I'm the current managing director of the UK and Ireland markets for Mollie, one of Europe's fastest-growing financial service providers.

I got my start in FinTech at PayPal back in 2008, when it was only really just emerging as a new market. I had been at AmEx as a business manager, and then took on a similar role at PayPal before working my way up to global director of systems integrator partnerships. This involved a pretty intensive role as a public speaker, helping to promote the company's interests on the conference circuit around the world.

After trying my hand as an entrepreneur for a few years, I dived back into FinTech as vice president of enterprise sales and partnerships at the business payments provider Super Payments in 2023. Just over a year later, I joined Mollie as the managing director of the UK and Ireland, where I still work today.

Beside my responsibilities at Mollie, I've also invested in a few early-stage startups, including a FinTech that simplifies cross-border payments called Paysend and even a distillery in the Cotswolds. I've also worked as a guest speaker at the London Business School in the past.

What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?

I'm the managing director of Mollie's UK and Ireland markets, which makes me responsible for the company's operations, growth, and business development in the region. I make sure that we're identifying and pursuing the right opportunities, building the best partnerships and deepening relationships, all while complying with local regulations.

Can you give us an overview of your business?

Mollie is one of Europe's fastest-growing payment service providers. We offer businesses a simple, scalable, and secure platform to accept and manage customer payments. It's designed for ease-of-use and accepts a wide range of payment methods, including credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, PayPal, and Open Banking solutions.

Businesses both big and small can streamline their checkout processes, reduce friction, and improve conversion rates across all manner of platforms.

Beside its simplicity, one of our most valued USPs at Mollie is our flexibility and transparent pricing for businesses. Unlike other traditional payment providers, we don't lock our customers into long-term contracts, but use a transaction-based revenue model that offers them a cost-effective and scalable solution instead. This makes it a very attractive option for smaller businesses that are planning to grow fast.

So far, Mollie has gained strong market traction across Europe, attracting businesses looking for a modern, efficient, and user-friendly payment partner. It's positioned very much as a challenger to legacy payment systems at the moment, supported by rapid growth and investor support, especially as demand for digital and Open Banking solutions grows.

Tell us how you are funded?

Our founder Adriaan Mol originally developed Mollie's backend software while still living with his parents in Amsterdam, aged 18. But the company has come a long way since then, most recently raising €665 million (£553 million) in 2021, achieving a €5.4 billion (£4.5 billion) valuation. That funding round was led by Blackstone's growth equity investment business, Blackstone Growth, and supported by EQT Growth, General Atlantic, HMI Capital, Alkeon Capital, and TCV.

Who are your target customers? What's your revenue model?

We work mainly with ecommerce businesses, online retailers, subscription services, and other companies of all shapes and sizes. Our clientele includes the likes of Gymshark, Tails.com, Soak&Sleep, Mazda, and Wild Cosmetics, to name a few.

We use a transaction-based revenue model, where we charge businesses a fee for each payment processed through the platform. There's no setup or monthly subscription fee, which means businesses only pay for what they use. This way it's easy for companies to scale without worrying about long-term commitments. For some features, like advanced fraud protection, we might add extra charges, but our core offering is focused on simple and transparent payment processing.

If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?

Having spent nearly two decades in this sector, I would change the lack of commitment to tailored, quality customer support, which often feels impersonal.

This situation in the fintech and payments space highlights what makes Mollie special. Despite the widespread deprioritisation of quality customer service, I can confidently say that customer support is at the core of what we do.

I'm incredibly proud of our 4.6-star Trustpilot rating from over 9,000 reviews, which reflects our dedication to fast, reliable, and helpful support. We focus on delivering clear, actionable solutions so merchants get the help they need, whenever they need it.

What is your message for the larger players in the Financial Services marketplace?

It's never been more important to focus on your customer's pain points and solve for them -- fast. There are a whole realm of disruptors making very strong headway by doing just this.

Where do you get your Financial Services/FinTech industry news from?

In addition to the usual suspects -- like Finextra, the FT, or FF News -- I'm a bit of a geek when it comes to information and news. I've got an extensive list of CSS feeds -- A16z, Stripe Blog, FitechOS, etc -- piping into my Feedly App that I run through daily on my trips into and back from the office.

Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech and/or Financial Services sector that we should be following on LinkedIn, and why?

• Marcel Van Oost has been covering the fintech space for ages and has a lot of experience and great connections. If it isn't covered by Marcel, it's not fintech news.
• Chris Gledhill has a wealth of experience in fintech and his X feed is always full of interesting and thought provoking content.
• Harry Stebbings' work with 20VC and his super consumable podcast interviews are just amazing to follow.

What FinTech services (and/or apps) do you personally use?

My go to apps are Emma, as it gives me full visibility of my finances across all services, neatly presented in one app. It's a great budgeting and forecasting tool.

I'm also playing with Trading212 and eToro and love how both make it possible to follow and learn from some of the best.

What's the best new FinTech product or service you've seen recently?

I'm loving GoHenry's children's financial literacy and pocket money management app. My kids are really engaged and learning great life skills while having fun with it.

Finally, let's talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?

It's impossible to avoid talking about AI here, as it's a major development worth following right now! It's essentially going to make everything faster, smarter, and safer for both customers and merchants.

For example, AI-powered predictive analytics will soon be able to figure out what payment method a customer will want to use based on their previous interactions with a business. It'll make it much easier for businesses to spot fraud too, as well as automate a bunch of different processes on businesses' backend, like invoicing. We're going to see payments go through some significant innovation over the next ten years, powered by AI.

Thank you very much Dave!

Read more about Dave Smallwood on LinkedIn and find out more about Mollie at mollie.com/gb.