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WestStein’s Year in Review – 2017

WestStein Year in Review

2017 was a year of many “firsts”.

This was the year we started our blog – the one you are reading right now. We gathered our first social media followers and email subscribers and began sending newsletters.

We discovered new markets like Germany and Scandinavia. And we proudly launched WestStein Business Solutions.

It’s also the first time we’re publishing an article like this. In full honesty, it was great fun to write it! While looking back at the freshly passed year, we realized that it was amazingly dynamic, challenging and full of surprises – some good and some less pleasant, but enlightening.

You – our customers, readers, and followers – are the most important pieces of our Year 2017 puzzle. Without you, there would be no big picture and no goals to strive for.

To thank you, we tried our best to make this article interesting and valuable to you. You will read revealing stories, find out astonishing stats, and hopefully learn from our achievements and aspirations.

This is our year in review. Dedicated to you!

WestStein then and now

2017 was so full of events and changes that it seems we could fit two years inside. However, in just 365 days, we have:

  • Grown our team from 4 to 20 people
  • Expanded from 3 to more than 25 countries across the Eurozone
  • Localized our website to six languages (LV, EN, LT, EE, DE, RU)
  • Grown our customer base by 1000% (from less than a thousand to 10k)
  • Began working on new and exciting products that will be rolled out in the next couple of months

WestStein 2017

We asked WestStein CEO Theodore Blik what do these changes mean for the company. Here’s what he said: “These numbers give us great confidence to conquer new heights. And with such a strong and continuously expanding team having our back, we have no limits for growth and development”.

Around the world in 365 days

WestStein was born in Latvia, but in our hearts, we are citizens of the world. We are happy about every customer in a new country, as it is our mission to deliver flexible financial solutions – anywhere, and anytime.

At the moment we are proud to say that WestStein Prepaid Mastercard has customers in more than 25 countries. There are 196 countries in the world, so, 150 more to go! It’s a pity that we didn’t manage to go around the world in 80 days as Phileas Fogg did. But who knows – maybe next year?

Look at what some of our international fans are saying about us:

Sven, Germany

“We use WestStein as a travel money card. It is safer not to carry around the credit card with all our money. And this helps us not to spend more than we have planned. I also know how much getting cash abroad will cost me because the fee is fixed in the Eurozone. You can avoid some bad surprises.”

Dieter, Netherlands

“I’ve been looking for a way to receive payments for my freelance work. I’m a web designer, and my clients are from across Europe, so it had to be international solution. I applied for my WestStein card and got it in just 5 days. The procedure was super easy and required almost zero paperwork.”

Stella, Switzerland

“As an Airbnb hostess, I recommend the WestStein card with IBAN account for receiving the rent payments. The apartment is in Brussels, I live in Zurich, and my guests are from around the globe. I can easily access the money on my card as Mastercard is accepted almost anywhere.”

How we met face-to-face with Google

We were honored to visit Google’s office in London after one of their representatives approached us as a fast growing and promising FinTech company. The meeting resulted in a partnership – this year we plan to integrate most of Google’s products in WestStein’s systems. With these improvements our customers will be able to manage and analyze their expenses, plan spending and control their finances even more efficiently.

Cheers to 2018 – a year with a positive balance!

Since we just had such a good year, you wouldn’t mind us setting ambitious goals for the next one, right?

WestStein future plans

So, here’s what we strive to accomplish in 2018:

  • Grow our customer base to 100K (yes, you read that right)
  • Launch new products which are currently in development and gain a foothold in their respective markets
  • Introduce new ways for customers to load their accounts across the entire EEA
  • Partner with other FinTech players to further improve the service for our customers and save them time and money
  • Establish partnerships with companies in AI and Blockchain industries to give even more possibilities for our customers

We’ve stopped for a while and reflected on WestStein’s last 12 months. Now it’s time to get back to work and achieve even better results this year!

Want to get in touch with us? Contact our customer team or sign up with WestStein here.

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