Meet Waya Technology: Winner of the Main Software 50 Nordics 2026 “AI Amplify Award”

Each year, Main Capital Partners brings together Enterprise Software companies at its annual Main Software 50 events, offering them the opportunity to benchmark their performance against industry peers and compete for recognition as their respective regions' top-performing software companies.

First launched in the Benelux in 2012, the initiative expanded to DACH in 2022 and the Nordics in 2024, recognizing the growing contribution of software companies to the European economy. Based on objective company data rather than jury assessments, the ranking evaluates performance across key indicators, including revenue growth, recurring revenue, profitability, internationalization, and innovation. Beyond the overall ranking, the Main Software 50 events honor exceptional achievements in growth, innovation, and entrepreneurship through a series of special awards.

In 2026, Main introduced the AI Amplify Award, recognizing software companies that successfully integrate AI into their products and operations, translating technological innovation into tangible business impact. The award highlights companies leveraging AI to increase productivity, improve operational efficiency, and deliver greater value to customers.

Waya Technology wins inaugural AI Amplify Award at Main Software 50 Nordics 2026

Headquartered in Stockholm, the Swedish fintech company develops solutions that simplify invoice management, payments, financing, and debt collection.

We spoke with Waya Technology’s co-founder, Niclas Josefsson, about the company’s approach to AI, the impact it has had on the business, and what it takes to turn emerging technology into lasting value.

Could you briefly introduce yourself and Waya Technology to those who are not yet familiar with the company?

I’m Niclas Josefsson, Head of Innovation, Co-Founder, and Principal Owner at Waya. I describe myself as an “unemployable entrepreneur”, with 34 years of experience in payments and four exits behind me. On a personal level, I have a fantastic wife and two wonderful, healthy adult daughters.

We founded Waya in 2015, initially under the name ‘Inkassogram’, after experiencing how slow and manual the process of getting paid could be. We could not find a suitable solution, so we built our own.

Today, Waya manages the entire invoice lifecycle, from issuing invoices and collecting payments to supporting cash flow management. More than 7,800 companies use our platform, and we expect to process approximately SEK 9 billion in invoices this year. We work with seven banking and financing partners and have been profitable since June 2026. Our purpose remains simple: making it easy to pay and get paid.

When did you first start integrating AI into your products and operations, and how has your approach evolved since then?

Automation has been part of Waya since we started in 2015. We began using AI in 2023, initially for individual tasks. Today, AI operates as a layer on top of our entire platform, with each new function building on the same underlying data and engine.

In a regulated industry, this allows us to expand our use of AI step by step while maintaining the trust of our banking partners.

The AI Amplify Award recognizes companies that translate AI innovation into tangible business impact. Could you share a concrete example of how AI has improved your operations or enhanced the value you deliver to customers? What results have you seen so far?

Most importantly: AI makes our clients’ lives easier. They get full insight into their finances, while helping them work faster and at a lower cost. For example, a client can simply email an invoice to Waya. Our AI reads it and initiates the process, without manual data entry. AI also matches payments, analyses receivables, and handles more than 86% of our support interactions across all channels, around the clock.

For our clients, the results include 35% faster payment, approximately 90% less administrative work, and 88% fewer payment orders. For Waya, this translates into lower costs and higher margins, a Google rating of 4.5 out of 5, and the highest customer satisfaction score among credit management companies in Europe.

The client does not see the AI; they see the results.

Looking ahead, where do you see the greatest opportunities for AI to transform Waya Technology and the broader fintech sector?

The greatest opportunity is to move from providing tools to delivering results. We call this, “Service-as-Software” (SaS), using AI to carry out the work on the client’s behalf.

For Waya, this means providing finance managers with a clear overview each morning of what is happening with their money.

Across fintech more broadly, AI has the potential to make payments faster, cheaper, and fairer, while reducing reminders, disputes, and debt.

Finally, what does winning the inaugural Main 50 AI Amplify Award mean to you, and what advice would you give to other software companies embarking on their AI journey?

It is a great honor to be the first recipient of this award. The recognition belongs to my colleagues and to our CEO and Co-Founder, Jörgen Fredman, who leads our AI initiative.

My advice is to start with how you can make your clients’ lives easier. Measure the results, build on your own data and platform, be honest about what AI can do, and move quickly.