Yokoy

Market position

Described as a European market leader for AI-powered expense, invoice and card payment processing, serving more than 400 midsize and enterprise customers worldwide as of October 2021. It competes with established spend and expense management vendors including SAP Concur, Expensify, Coupa, Spendesk and Zoho Expense. The company cited a global spend management tool industry worth more than $200 billion, growing 11% year on year.

Yokoy combines expense management, supplier invoice management and corporate cards in one platform rather than as separate tools, and applies in-house AI to process expense reports largely without human intervention while flagging fraud. Configurable, no-code workflows and two-way ERP integrations let enterprises decide how much of each process to automate; the company claimed spend management cost reductions of up to 90% and around $1,000 per employee per year.

Technology

Machine learning developed in Yokoy's in-house AI research lab in Zurich underpins automated receipt and invoice capture, matching of receipts to card transactions, policy checks and fraud detection. The platform offers a no-code drag-and-drop workflow builder, real-time visibility over global card spend, self-learning process optimisation, two-way ERP integrations via APIs, and security and privacy certifications.

Go-to-market

Direct enterprise sales supported by early customer-to-customer referrals, complemented by partnerships and integrations with third-party systems and travel platforms; the company had partnered with TravelPerk since 2020 to offer combined travel and expense management before being acquired by it. Startup-ecosystem visibility came through the F10 incubator/accelerator programme, Swiss startup awards and television exposure.

Finance and accounting teams at midsize and large enterprises, including so-called hidden-champion mid-market firms and financial services companies. Named customers include DPD Group (Dynamic Parcel Distribution), Stadler Rail, Sberbank, Swissquote, Breitling, On Running and Medskin.

Geography

Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, with additional offices in Munich and Vienna, and expansion into Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. Series A and B proceeds were earmarked for deeper expansion into the US, Europe and other regions. One report described the company as an Amsterdam-based software startup.

History

After its 2019 founding in Zurich, Yokoy raised a seed round in January 2020 with participation from SIX FinTech Ventures and took part in the F10 scale-up programme. It won a 2021 Swiss FinTech Award, appeared on the TV show Höhle der Löwen and was a finalist at the 2021 Swiss Economic Forum, and was named to the Top 100 Swiss Startup Awards each year from 2020 through 2024. A $26 million Series A led by Left Lane Capital was announced in October 2021, followed by an $80 million Series B led by Sequoia Capital in March 2022, bringing total capital raised to more than $107 million. The company opened offices in Zurich, Munich and Vienna and expanded into Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. In December 2021 it announced a collaboration with Visa on a virtual B2B debit card for businesses in Europe. TravelPerk, a partner since 2020, agreed to acquire Yokoy in January 2025; the deal closed in April 2025.

Risks & controversies

Yokoy operated in a market its own investors described as intensely competitive, with large incumbents and multiple venture-backed rivals. Its customer list as of 2021 included Russia's Sberbank.