The Whizzer Project

https://eeagrants.org/

Allevo and Bakken & Bæck implemented the Whizzer project. The project benefits from a EEA & Norway Grants grant investment from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “SMEs Growth Romania”, operated by Innovation Norway. The total value of the investment is EUR 738.375, with EUR 420.000 EUR nonrefundable, as per the 2018/115906 contract.

The EEA and Norway Grants represent the contribution of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway towards a green, competitive and inclusive Europe.

The main result of the project is an open source software solution that offers financial operations as a service to SMEs, to help them automate and centralize common financial flows, at a very low cost: balance sheet, salary payments, invoicing, money flow automation, accounts payable and receivable, cash reporting. Target group includes banks, financial service providers and SMEs across Europe, with focus on SMEs, in terms of technical harmonization and communication on top of a well-built open banking layer.

Whizzer is a financial reporting tool with which SMEs centralize common financial flows and get up to date information about: balance sheet, salary payments, invoicing, cashflow, accounts payable and receivable.

Solution - Whizzer

The application is distributed under GPL v3 open source license via fintp.org. It can be hosted in cloud, and Allevo is looking for a partner open to hosting Whizzer to offer its functionality as a service to SMEs. The partner can be: a bank, a local clearing house, an accounting company, or even an ambitious fintech.

The project includes an artificial intelligence component that ensures a detailed analysis of processed data. This component is designed and developed by Bakken & Bæck AS, a digital product development studio, with long experience and expertise in applied AI and machine learning. This partnership is possible through the bilateral relationships between Norway and Romania, promoted by the financing program. The partnership allowed Allevo to benefit from the complementary skill set of the partner’s team, and to build a relevant solution for the financial industry.

The outcomes are:

    1. An open source software solution license (GPL v3) developed by the promoter that offers financial operations as a service to SMEs, to help them automate and centralize common financial flows, at a very low cost: balance sheet, salary payments, invoicing, money flow automation, accounts payable and receivable, cash reporting;
    2. Permanent full-time jobs created: 4 positions covering: 1 analyst/solution manager, 1 developer, 1 tester, 1 deployment engineer. The fifth position mentioned in the grant application, the 1 researcher (for the R&D component), was not secured due to the lack of financing for this component of the project;
    3. An estimated growth in turnover of 28% by 2023 compared to 2018;
    4. An estimated growth in profit of 66% by 2023 compared to 2018

The project aims to increase the rate of financial inclusion, by addressing the ecosystem (banks, financial service providers and SMEs across Europe), with focus on SMEs, in terms of technical harmonization and communication on top of a well-built open banking layer.

The project was heavily promoted on: