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La vision de Canopy en français
Canopy acquires industry-specific SaaS platforms (a.k.a. “niche ERPs”): software companies that manage critical workflows for small business’ operations.
For example, niche ERPs include property management software for hotels and fleet management software for trucking, along with more well-known Companies like OpenTable, TheFork and Toast (for restaurants) and Mindbody (for spas and gyms). We look for these companies all over Europe.
For each niche ERP we acquire, our goal is to improve the value proposition for their small business customers by integrating financial services into the application to help them thrive.
This in turn will allow us to invest further in growth to bring more customers to these platforms.
Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are poorly served by traditional banks. At a larger company with a team of 200+ people, there are teams in finance whose job is to talk to banks and get loans, credit, insurance, advance payroll payments, etc. But small businesses don’t have the time and resources to comply with banks’ processes. As a result, they miss out on financial services that could really help them grow.
Niche ERPs are perfectly positioned to help their customers because they know how their businesses are doing. They have all the data about their customers’ income, invoices, seasonal business cycles, and position relative to competitors. Canopy is a way for these software companies to leverage that data for their customers’ benefit.
Canopy will be the bank of the future: completely integrated with the workflows of its customers, and able to understand how they’re doing without asking them about information it should already have. This is essentially another layer that Canopy builds into the niche ERPs we acquire. They’re already providing the right workflows for their customers’ operations; Canopy is present when relevant, and leverages the business information to offer the right product at the right time with a fast approval cycle.
Alice owns a dog-walking business. She uses your niche dog-walking ERP to manage it. Thanks to your software, Alice can set schedules and send invoices to her clients, and you provide a mobile app that she and her employees can use on the run to communicate with her customers.
Alice wants to expand her business, but the time and effort needed to get a bank loan are daunting. Her business is too small and too specific to inspire confidence in the bankers she’s talked to. They don’t understand her industry, and they don’t know how to evaluate her business. Working through the process would demand too much facetime with bankers, pulling Alice away from the people who are central to her business.
Since Alice is using your ERP, you already know how her business is doing. You also know how she compares to her competitors in the same city or in other parts of the country. Armed with this data, thanks to deep integration, Canopy could offer Alice a loan without all the red tape. It would respond to the needs of her small business more effectively than big banks. She’d also be able to explore different other financial services available through the ERP she currently uses, whether it’s a corporate card, online payments, business insurance, or even payroll.
The seamless integration of all these functions enables her to decrease the amount of time she spends on things like bookkeeping and financial operations, so she can focus on the things that really matter to her business, with your ERP at the center of everything.
Boris owns a small construction business. His company gets paid only when the work is completed, which could be months after it’s commenced. In the meantime, he has to buy materials and pay his employees, and because his business is so small, he can’t use his balance sheet to offset immediate costs. Factoring would enable him to receive the money he needs upfront, but factoring can be difficult for construction companies.
Your software already manages Boris’ invoices and the approval workflow with the buyer and the architect. Canopy can tie factoring to your invoice application, which would allow Boris to benefit from advance payments and keep his business operating smoothly.