Smartum
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersHelsinki, Finland
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
Smartum firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Smartum
- Legal name
- Smartum Oy
- Website
- https://smartum.fi
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Smartum industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Employee Benefits Platform
- NAICS
- Health and Welfare Funds (525120)
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Benefits Administration (BPACAPAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Benefits Administration & Total Rewards Outsourcing (BPACAKAE), Benefits Administration & Enrollment Support (BPAAAIAB)
Keywords
Where Smartum is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Helsinki
- HQ country
- Finland
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Smartum business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- SmartumPlus Subscription Fees: Monthly user fee of €1.80 per employee added to the service who has been offered a benefit, plus €5.00 per invoice service fee. Post-invoicing model where employer pays only for actual benefit usage.
- Partner Service Fees: Service providers pay a fee when they accept Smartum payments. Joining the network is free; fees are charged only on accepted transactions.
- Smartum Saldo Prepaid Benefits: Employers prepay for benefit amounts; unused balances are returned to company account for future orders. Benefits valid for 15 months after activation.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | SmartumPlus - Post-invoicing model for employers |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | Tax-free benefit limits per employee per year |
| Transaction based/ take rate | Pay-as-you-go | Partner service fee |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels5 records
Marketing channels8 records
Smartum product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Smartum provides digital employee benefits management platforms — Smartum Plus (post-invoicing) and Smartum Saldo (prepaid) — that enable Finnish employers to offer tax-free and tax-subsidized benefits (exercise, culture, lunch, massage, commuting, bicycle, and flexible benefits) to their employees. Employees redeem these benefits at a network of roughly 40,000 partner venues in Finland via the SmartumPay mobile app, Smartum Online Payment integration on partner websites, or paper vouchers.
Product overview
Smartum is Finland's largest employee benefits provider, operating as a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core platform offers two service models: Smartum Saldo (prepaid, 15-month validity, balance returns to employer) and Smartum Plus (post-invoicing, pay-per-use, no capital tied up). Both are supported by the SmartumPay mobile app for digital payments and Smartum Online Payment for e-commerce integration. The benefit portfolio includes Exercise Benefit, Exercise & Culture Benefit, Lunch Benefit, Massage Benefit, Commute Benefit, Epassi Flex (flexible allocation), and Bicycle Benefit. Smartum connects to nearly 40,000 service venues across Finland and serves over 500,000 users. In September 2024, Smartum was acquired by Epassi Group, joining their European expansion while continuing operations under the Smartum brand.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Smartum Saldo Prepaid benefits management service where employers order all benefits at once and pay in advance; employees can use benefits digitally or with vouchers and unused balances return to the employer's account. Benefits valid for 15 months after activation.
- Smartum Plus Post-invoicing benefits service where employers pay monthly only for actual benefit usage, with no capital tied up in advance. Benefits valid until end of the current calendar year after order time.
- SmartumPay Free mobile application for benefit users enabling contactless QR-code payments at partner venues, online payments, and in-service-app payments; available on iOS, Android, and Huawei AppGallery. Rated 9/10 by users.
- Smartum Online Payment Secure online payment solution enabling customers to pay with Smartum benefits on partner websites and e-commerce stores. Free to add to an online store; customers log in with Smartum credentials or bank ID.
- Smartum Voucher Traditional paper voucher payment method valid at exercise, culture, and lunch venues for at least 12 months; customers write their name on the voucher to redeem.
- Exercise Benefit (Liikuntaetu) Tax-free employee benefit of up to €4,200/year per person combined with culture benefit, usable at more than 11,000 exercise venues in the Smartum network including gyms, swimming, and sports clubs.
- Exercise & Culture Benefit (Liikunta- ja kulttuurietu) Tax-free combined benefit usable at 15,000+ exercise and culture venues, where employees choose how to allocate their budget across exercise, culture, massage, and commuting benefits.
- Lunch Benefit (Lounasetu) Tax-subsidized employee benefit of up to €2,933/year per person, offered either as a fringe benefit on top of salary (employee pays 25% tax) or as a lunch deduction from salary (employer pays 75%). Redeemable at nearly 9,000 lunch venues.
- Massage Benefit (Hierontaetu) Tax-free employee benefit of up to €4,200/year per person combined with other benefits, valid at more than 5,000 massage and physiotherapy venues.
- Commute Benefit (Työmatkaetu) Completely tax-free employee benefit of up to €3,400/year per person, usable for public transport via HSL or VR apps or by purchasing tickets through the SmartumPay app.
- Epassi Flex Flexible employee benefit that combines exercise, culture, massage, commuting, and health benefits, allowing employees to allocate their benefit budget across multiple categories.
- Bicycle Benefit (Pyöräetu) Employee benefit for bicycles including e-bikes, designed to encourage employees to cycle for commuting and leisure.
Quantifiable outcome
- 9/10 benefit users report SmartumPay app works well or very well
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Smartum
Customer profileNamed customers3 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Smartum technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration5 records
Feature4 records
Smartum partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Epassi GroupcoreEpassi, one of Europe's leading employee benefit payment service providers, acquired Smartum to strengthen its expansion in Europe. Smartum becomes part of Epassi Group which operates in Finland, Sweden, UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, and Netherlands. The Orange Company (previous owner) became one of Epassi's shareholders. Smartum CEO Anni Hyökyvaara and Epassi CEO Niklas Löfgren committed to continuing business as usual.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Smartum competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Epassi Group: Smartum's parent company and direct competitor offering Epassi Flex, Epassi Lounas, and Epassi Pyöräetu — the same product categories Smartum serves in Finland, making it the most comparable operator and now a sister brand under the same strategic owner.
- Swile: French-headquartered employee benefit and payment platform competing in the same meal-voucher and multi-benefit wallet space as Smartum, with strong employer B2B2C distribution across multiple European countries.
- Thanks Again: Employee benefit card and platform provider for restaurants and merchants in the US/Canada, structurally analogous to SmartumPay and the 40,000-venue partner network model in Finland.
- Alelo Benefícios: Large Latin American employee benefit card and meal-voucher operator with a multi-product platform (food, culture, wellness), the same multi-benefit B2B2C architecture Smartum operates in Finland.
Broad incumbents
- Pluxee: Sodexo's former Benefits & Rewards spinoff, operating a multi-country employee benefit payment network (lunch, culture, gift, mobility) across Europe — directly analogous to SmartumPlus/Smartum Saldo but at much broader geographic scale.
- Sodexo Benefits & Rewards: Global incumbent in employee benefits and incentives, including the legacy meal-voucher and culture/pass products that directly overlap with Smartum's lunch, culture, and gift benefit categories.
Emerging players
- Benefex: UK-based employee benefits platform serving employers with total rewards and flexible benefit administration software, structurally similar to SmartumPlus but focused on UK/Ireland enterprise HR customers.
- Perkbox: UK employee benefits platform offering perk marketplaces and reward wallets to employers, addressing the same horizontal 'all benefits in one platform' thesis that SmartumPlus pursues in Finland.
- Ben (benefits platform): UK multi-benefit employee platform consolidating perks, insurance, and wellness into one app — comparable to Smartum's Epassi Flex wallet approach in a different geography.
Regional players
- Up (Upward): Swedish employee benefit fintech combining payment cards, wellness benefits, and a merchant network across the Nordics, a direct regional parallel to Smartum's prepaid/post-invoicing model.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Smartum social profiles
Digital presenceSmartum financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Smartum leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
Smartum funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Smartum M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Smartum
What does Smartum do?
Smartum provides digital employee benefits management platforms — Smartum Plus (post-invoicing) and Smartum Saldo (prepaid) — that enable Finnish employers to offer tax-free and tax-subsidized benefits (exercise, culture, lunch, massage, commuting, bicycle, and flexible benefits) to their employees. Employees redeem these benefits at a network of roughly 40,000 partner venues in Finland via the SmartumPay mobile app, Smartum Online Payment integration on partner websites, or paper vouchers.
Is Smartum a public or private company?
Smartum is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was Smartum founded?
Smartum was founded in 1995. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Smartum based?
Smartum is headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, in the Europe region.
How does Smartum make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. SmartumPlus Subscription Fees are the primary driver. The others are partner Service Fees and smartum Saldo Prepaid Benefits.
Who are Smartum's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Epassi Group, Swile, Thanks Again and Alelo Benefícios. Broad incumbents are Pluxee and Sodexo Benefits & Rewards. Emerging players are Benefex, Perkbox and Ben (benefits platform). Up (Upward) is listed as a regional player.
Does Smartum have an API?
Yes. Smartum exposes a public API. Developer documentation is at developers.smartum.fi.
What industry is Smartum in?
Smartum's product category is Employee Benefits Platform. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPACAPAC, Benefits Administration, with a secondary code of BPACAKAE, Benefits Administration & Total Rewards Outsourcing. Its NAICS code is 525120 and its SIC code is 7372.