Expensify eyes Europe for growth as the fintech startup launches its first hub outside the U.S.

Expensify, the fintech startup that offers an online platform for businesses to track and manage employee expenses, is expanding its operations with the launch of its first office outside the U.S.

The new hub is located in London, where Expensify will focus on growing its operations across the U.K. and out into Europe. Expensify told VentureBeat that although it already claims 1,000 customers in the U.K., having a physical presence on the ground will help the company take things to the next level.

Though the company hasn’t confirmed plans for any additional offices in Europe, it did say that it’s seeing “promising growth” in France, Germany, and Spain, though the U.K. will be its main area of focus for now.

“The U.K. is a hotbed for the growing financial tech sector, so London was an obvious choice for our international expansion,” explained David Barrett, founder and CEO of Expensify. “Our U.K. team is looking forward to bringing on many new clients and better serving the nearly 1,000 existing U.K. Expensify customers.”

Founded out of San Francisco in 2008, Expensify launched with the promise of “expense reports that don’t suck,” a mantra the company maintains today. The company’s technology covers the entire process of expense reporting, from scanning receipts and importing card transactions to approval and exporting results into third-party accounting software. Expensify has raised more than $27 million to date, including a $17 million round six months back, which also saw the company launch a venture capital arm of its own.

Of course, when a company says it’s “expanding” in a new region, that often leaves a certain level of ambiguity. Besides setting up an office, what else is Expensify doing to actively grow its presence? It turns out that much of that effort relates to localization, catering specifically to a region that’s demonstrating an interest in the product.

“We substantially upgraded our tax functionality in order to handle VAT and other taxes outside the U.S.,” a spokesperson told VentureBeat. Additionally, given that the U.K. handles mileage/distance tracking differently from the U.S., Expensify has made some product tweaks to accommodate those differences, as well as to cater better to local currencies. And, of course, having staff on the ground locally will likely lead to better customer service.

As part of its expansion into Europe, Expensify said that any new Europe-based customer that signs up before May 31 of this year will be able to use the entire service free for the remainder of the year.