About the founder
Sunny Long, co-founder of Pie Systems, originally founded his fintech startup in San Francisco. As part of our Nordic Fast Track Program in 2018, he decided to launch his VAT refund solution in Copenhagen. With Pie Systems, Sunny had the mission to make VAT refunds more convenient for tourists and shopkeepers. For this purpose, he developed an app that digitalizes and replaces the physical act of filling out tax forms, making it more transparent for shopkeepers to keep track of their data and revenue.
About the journey
The decision to consider Denmark for launching the product has initially been recommended to Sunny by Danish VC, Eric Lagier, who the startup has met up with in Sillicon Valley. With one of the highest VATs in Europe and a high level of acceptance for new new technologies among the population, Denmark turned out to be the perfect match for a product launch. Especially Denmark’s comparably small market for tourism made a product-market fit possible for Pie System’s solution.
The Nordic Fast Track Program
Pie Systems has worked closely with Copenhagen Fintech Lab by entering the Nordic Fast Track Program, offering international startups a gateway into the Nordic fintech ecosystem:
“The people at Copenhagen Fintech have been an excellent entry point for networking. As a result, we were easily able to connect and garner feedback from countless parties. Our network has been expanding steadily. Once you meet a few people, you can reach almost all of Denmark”
Future prospect
Despite the slight difference in hours of sunlight between Denmark and San Francisco Pie Systems has decided to continue working from the Fintech Lab after finishing the Nordic Fast Track Program. They recently received Start-up Denmark Visas and expect to stay in Denmark with their business in the near future:
“It is refreshing to come here and have an honest conversation. Danes are remarkably straightforward, which makes it much easier for our business to cater to our customers. Pie is still in its early stages, and are now looking to engage with more stores and merchants in Copenhagen.”
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