Kernel - Georgian Fintech Startup Offers Smart Financial Tools Now For Free
Interview with Misho Zguladze, co-founder of Kernel, a Georgian fintech startup.
Could you kindly brief us about what Kernel does and what are the digital initiatives it has taken since its launch?
Having experienced the pain of the mind-numbing process of keeping track and making sense of business’ financial figures as small business owners, we’ve decided to solve this problem once and for all by creating the simplest financial tools available for anyone without any prior expertise.
At Kernel, we build a new way for small businesses to manage their finances. We are a web-based application providing simple invoicing and financial tools that help small business owners who want to replace their bulky worksheets for routine financial calculations to improve their financial documentation flow and make better financial decisions. Our simple financial tools are built to make the life of small business owners easier. Together with all this, we provide educational content on all the related topics.
What is your business model in general?
Our business model is freemium but at the moment all the existing functionality is completely free, including financial and tax calculators, invoicing software, reports, and so on.
How do you think the fintech sector will develop in the future?
Though the Fintech industry is one of the most densely regulated, we think that it had seen tremendous growth in 2020 and will continue to develop further in the years to come. We think that is key to future success lies in agile technologies and strengthening data security policies. Aside from this, a variety of factors are at work when we look at the advancement of Fintech. These are things like technological advancement, greater access to information and data in general, lowering of entrance barriers on the markets, and the rise of investment in the industry. Fintech has and will change the way people think about finances in general.
Basically, everything, starting from optimizing accounting documentation flow and analysis of financial figures to the way financial relationships are conducted. Moreover, we see all this in action right before our eyes in Georgia. Being relatively underdeveloped when comparing to the Western countries, Fintech is just now gaining ground and shifting the thinking of business owners, accountants, and people in general.
How is Kernel preparing for the post-pandemic era and what do you hope to achieve in the coming years.
The kernel was born and raised in the midst of the pandemic which had led it to develop covid-resistance in its infancy. We are using this time to prepare Kernel for the post-pandemic era in multiple ways. First of all, we’re gradually polishing, enhancing, and basically grooming our functionality for the international market, which we’re aiming to start entering from the beginning of the next year.
So, I would say the number one major advancement on the list is just that, to go international. But as for Kernel’s big idea, we are building a new way for small businesses to manage their finances and hopefully completely exterminate the use of MS Excel and other bulky and unappetizing solutions that are continuously "torturing" the small businessmen and entrepreneurs. We aim to offer a seamless but very simple, all-in-one financial solution for accounting, financial analysis, financial calculations, cash flow, and revenues management, etc.