Basware Corporation (founded 1985) is a Finnish software company selling

enterprise software Enterprise software, also known as enterprise application software (EAS), is computer software used to satisfy the needs of an organization rather than individual users. Such organizations include businesses, schools, interest-based user group ...

for financial processes, purchase to pay and financial management. The company has operations in more than 70 countries worldwide. Basware’s markets include Nordic countries,

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, North America and

Asia Pacific Asia-Pacific (APAC) is the part of the world near the western Pacific Ocean. The Asia-Pacific region varies in area depending on context, but it generally includes East Asia, Russian Far East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and Pacific Isl ...

. The company has its own subsidiaries in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Additionally, Basware has over 70 value added resellers in Europe.

History

1985–1999

Basware was founded in 1985. It was then a Finnish subsidiary of an American corporation and it was called Baltic Accounting Systems. The Finnish management team (Hannu Vaajoensuu, Ilkka Sihvo, Kirsi Eräkangas, Antti Pöllänen and Sakari Perttunen) bought the company in 1990. In 1992, Basware introduced their first Financial Management software. In 1997, the company introduced their first Invoice Processing software. It contained Scan & Capture Workflow for Invoices (e-Flow). The first international customer was in 1999, in Sweden.

2000–

In 2000, the company had a public listing on the

Helsinki Stock Exchange The Nasdaq Helsinki, formerly known as the Helsinki Stock Exchange ( fi, Helsingin Pörssi, sv, Helsingforsbörsen), is a stock exchange located in Helsinki, Finland. Since 3 September 2003, it has been part of Nasdaq Nordic (previously calle ...

. They also introduced the first electronic invoicing, archiving and procurement products and intelligent OCR and got their first customers in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establishe ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Between 2001–2002, there were expansion into

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the ...

, UK, USA and Australia. In 2005, Basware acquired Norway-based Iocore and Finnish Trivet Software, the following year they acquired Finnish Analyste and in 2007, UK-based Digital Vision Technologies Ltd.
Basware history
'' In 2008, Basware acquired Norwegian-based Contempus AS, and the next year Itella's Norwegian invoice automation solution business and TAG Services Pty Ltd in Australia. In 2010, Basware acquired TNT Post's Connectivity operations. Two years later, it acquired German e-Invoice network First Businesspost (1stbp) GmbH and network and e-Invoicing business of leading Benelux operator Certipost. In 2013, there were over 60 million transactions in the Basware Commerce Network. Basware acquired Certipost, the leading e-invoice operator in the

Benelux The Benelux Union ( nl, Benelux Unie; french: Union Benelux; lb, Benelux-Unioun), also known as simply Benelux, is a Political union, politico-economic union and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighboring states in ...

. In 2015, Basware acquired Procserve, a leading e-procurement operator in the UK and the following year they acquired Verian, a leading e-procurement operator in the US. In 2020, Basware introduced InvoiceReady, a business unit that provides small and medium-sized businesses with its procure-to-pay technology. In April 2022, Sapphire BidCo, a company owned by a consortium including Accel and

KKR KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...

submitted a voluntary public cash tender offer for all shares of Basware. The offer was successful and the company was acquired by Sapphire BidCo and delisted from Nasdaq Helsinki in November 2022.

Products

Basware’s products are packaged composite applications (PCA) that are intended to interact with and complement the functionalities of existing systems, such as

enterprise resource planning Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the integrated management of main business processes, often in real time and mediated by software and technology. ERP is usually referred to as a category of business management software—typically a sui ...

(ERP) systems, used across the organization to support daily processes. The company's software automates procurement, invoice receiving and invoice processing and can also be implemented as a

software as a service Software as a service (SaaS ) is a software licensing and delivery model in which software is licensed on a subscription basis and is centrally hosted. SaaS is also known as "on-demand software" and Web-based/Web-hosted software. SaaS is co ...

(SaaS) delivery. These technologies are known as Cloud-Invoicing.

References

{{Reflist Software companies of Finland Procurement Financial software companies Companies based in Espoo Financial services companies established in 1985 1985 establishments in Finland Companies formerly listed on Nasdaq Helsinki