It has been only six months since the British fintech Hastee acquired Barcelona-based Typs and, in this period, the two companies have gone through an integral merger process. They have done so much that one of Typs' co-founders, Jaime Jiménez, has just become Hastee's new CEO and the company has centralized its operations in the Catalan capital. Hastee's until now CEO, James Herbert, will become Director of Strategy.
Hastee will pilot from Barcelona the development of its "financial health" or on-demand salary product, which consists of offering advanced salary payments to workers who request them. It will also concentrate its commercial activity in the city. Hastee's subsidiary in the Catalan capital will thus become a key piece in the international expansion process that Jiménez will now lead, with the forecast of soon opening new markets in Europe and Latin America, such as France, Germany, Poland, Colombia, and Mexico. Currently, it is present in Italy and Portugal, in addition to Spain and the United Kingdom.
The choice of the city as an operations center is determined by the continuity of the former Typs team, located in Pier 01; greater ease of expanding to countries in Southern Europe and Latin America from here and, especially, lower costs for hiring new staff compared to London, according to Jiménez.
With these plans, Hastee will hire more employees in Barcelona throughout 2021, although it has not yet quantified them. In the Catalan capital, the fintech employs about 16 workers. It also has a presence in Madrid. Globally, its workforce reaches 60 employees, serving more than 400 companies, most of them with more than 500 workers and with a presence in more than one country. This last characteristic is one of the reasons that have led Hastee to accelerate its internationalization: the possibility of offering its service in the different countries where the multinationals with which they work are present.
Barcelona-based Typs was founded in early 2019 by Jiménez, Ernest Bernadó, Juanjo Domínguez, Marc Rubiño, and Gabriel Rosiñol. This startup was incubated by Nuclio Venture Builder, owned by Carlos Blanco, and received support from Encomenda, Banco Sabadell, and the Institut Català de Finances (ICF). A year and a half later, Hastee acquired it to join forces and lead the on-demand salary sector. This process consists of employees being able to see their available salary and transfer the amount they need at any given time through the application created by this startup. Afterwards, the company that has contracted their services pays the payroll to its employee, subtracting the amounts previously advanced by Typs.