Rodolphe Ardant et Axel Demazy (Spendesk) "In Ten Years, Spendesk Will Be a Very Different Solution Than It Is Today"

For Spendesk's tenth anniversary, founder Rodolphe Ardant and CEO Axel Demazy reflect on the platform's journey and discuss upcoming challenges.

JDN. Spendesk celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2026. What do you see as the company's main achievement?

Rodolphe Ardant. We've built a great company in Europe. At the time, we hesitated a lot between the United States and Europe. From a technology standpoint, the U.S. market might have made some things easier for us, but we wanted to stay close to our customers. Our goal was to build our product with them, starting from their real needs. It would have been much harder to reach our first clients and prospects in the U.S. Ten years later, I think that choice has been validated. We've developed a platform tailored to the needs of European finance teams.

Looking back, what would you have done differently?

R.A. It's always easy to rewrite history with hindsight. But we've learned two major lessons from our experience. First, we thought we could address the different European markets from France. We eventually realized that, after a certain stage of growth, it was necessary to open local offices. It took us about 18 months to fully understand that. The second lesson is that it's hard to get people from different nationalities and cultures to work together. You have to build a strong enough company culture to overcome cultural differences and give everyone a shared frame of reference.

How do you see Spendesk ten years from now?

Axel Demazy. The trap would be to think we've found the right formula forever. We have to stay humble and keep questioning ourselves. On the product side, artificial intelligence is opening up huge possibilities for financial solutions. There used to be some distrust of AI when it came to making decisions as important as those involving finances. But the level of delegation is increasing, and a growing share of spending decisions can be made without human intervention. In ten years, Spendesk will be a very different solution from what it is today, deeply transformed by AI. That said, our DNA will remain the same. From the beginning, our ambition has been to put technology at the service of finance teams.

"In the short term, going public is not our goal"

Will Spendesk be a publicly traded company in 2036?

A.D. It's hard to say. In the short term, that's not our goal: we have a development plan that we can fund with our current capital. But never say never.

Let's come back to the present. The mandatory e-invoicing reform took effect in September and Spendesk has approved platform status. How did the first few weeks go?

A.D. The e-invoicing reform is a tailwind for Spendesk, and we need to take advantage of it. It shows there's still a lot to do when it comes to financial digitalization in companies. For those that haven't yet chosen an approved platform, this reform shouldn't be seen as just a regulatory constraint, but rather as an opportunity to modernize their financial processes. Choosing a true digitalization solution is only a limited extra cost compared to a simple invoicing portal that just ensures compliance. On our end, the first operations are going well. E-invoicing is integrated into our offering at no extra cost for our clients.

Over the past ten years, what are the main changes you've seen in the B2B financial management sector?

R.A. When we started, spend management didn't really exist. We helped create this market and set its standards. Now, it's obvious for companies to equip themselves with a solution to manage their spending. Spendesk has played a part in this new approach. Today, the AI revolution is in turn transforming the sector. It's a new opportunity to rethink how things are done and to build tomorrow's standards.

In recent years, we've seen the rise of the super app phenomenon in the sector. What's your take on this trend?

A.D. It's true that we're seeing a convergence among many solutions, with increasingly blurred boundaries. All-in-one offerings are growing, especially among fintechs targeting small businesses. In larger segments, like Spendesk's, this convergence will probably happen more gradually. I see more of an ecosystem of connected platforms, with a very smooth user experience, rather than a super app that brings all features together in one place. 

This article was automatically translated from French. Read the original version: https://www.journaldunet.com/fintech/1556875-dans-dix-ans-spendesk-sera-une-solution-tres-differente-de-celle-d-aujourd-hui/