Jenji

Jenji wants to revolutionize the world of expense reports. The company’s software is the first product to bring both a financial and an artificial intelligence approach to the professional expense management sector. With this innovative approach, Jenji has become the most attractive expense management product on the market. As recognized experts in AI, Jenji’s founders are making news in the fintech press and their pitches are regularly requested by consulting firms specializing in digital transformation. The company was founded in 2015 and is headquartered in Paris, France. Since then, it has doubled the number of its employees every year and now has around 60 employees in France, Romania, Australia, Singapore, and Switzerland.

Access to the DACH region from a strong base

When the company decided to expand into the DACH region in 2019, Switzerland became its obvious choice. Jenji already had a strong customer base in Switzerland. The management saw an opportunity to grow further in the Swiss market and at the same time access Germany and Austria from a strong base. 

In spring 2020, Jenji opened its first office in Zurich. According to Pierre Queinnec, CEO and co-founder of Jenji, there is a culture in Switzerland of appreciating and buying good products that are top-of-the-market. In his experience, Swiss customers evaluate products very thoroughly, so a company must be transparent about their promises and deliver. “The way Swiss companies benchmark is a very good enabler for us,” he explains in the interview with us. 

Jenji builds its presence in the market with the help and experience of Bruno Guggenheim the Head of Sales DACH, located in Zurich. He was attracted to Jenji because of its innovative technology and feels there is a big need for such a solution in the DACH market.

The local AI ecosystem keeps talent on the continent

In Zurich, the tech company sees a strong and science-based ecosystem around AI – another factor for choosing Switzerland. There is a high number of local-grown startups doing “real AI” (as opposed to providers of smart software solutions), helped by the fact that ETH Zurich is leading in subcategories of AI and Deep Learning. In the opinion of Pierre Queinnec, Switzerland does a great job of keeping good AI talent on the continent: “The global ecosystem in Switzerland is very good so it’s an easier choice for alumni to stay here. People really like the Swiss lifestyle and standard of living and don’t run off to the US.” Because the ecosystem provides sought-after AI talent as well as a multilingual workforce, Jenji plans to build up five teams in Zurich in the future: Sales, Marketing, Support, Operations and Core Tech (AI). 

A settlement process made easy

Pierre Queinnec and his team were positively surprised at how smoothly the process of setting up shop here went: “The ease of opening a company, the overall friendliness and the overall feeling that business is welcome as long as you invest in the country, is extremely good.” Compared to his experience in other European countries, he felt there were much fewer arbitrary hurdles in place and a much more welcoming attitude towards business. Jérôme Cukier, Country Manager Switzerland, underlines this statement firmly and stresses the service-oriented approach of everybody involved in the settlement process.

This success story was first published by Switzerland Global Enterprise.

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