The Scanian export success improves the swing with a small electric shock
Published: March 29, 2023, 1:57 p.mLaszlo Varga is CEO of DeWiz Golf AB. By offering both vehicles and banking services under the same roof, the Nordics’ second largest bank can lower customers’ costs – and help them become greener. – We have the same goal: to be a driving force in the green transition . That makes us a perfect match, says Pernilla Alkell, sales manager at Autolease Sweden.Read more about how you can secure financing for your continued growth – When you wear DeWiz around your wrist, it measures your golf swing in detail – speed, angle, drive, slope, time, where your backswing ends and much more. It measures all of this in real time so that you can train consciously every time you hit a shot, explains Laszlo Varga who is the CEO of the Scania wearable tech company. There has already been technology to measure the ball path and everything that happens after the shot. Laszlo Varga explains that his company can now contribute with the “input” itself, that is, what actually leads to a certain result. Being able to measure the golf swing is one thing, but all golfers know that it is not always enough to know where the error lies. One must also work away the bad habit. That’s why DeWiz has yet another educational feature – namely the slight electric shock you get when you don’t swing as you should. This is all about conditioning – the slight discomfort you feel causes the brain over time to avoid that particular mistake and instead change behavior towards the swings that do not result in discomfort.
Sold out of everything
The combination of real-time analysis and modification of the golf swing has led to formidable export success. After less than two years, DeWiz is sold in 53 countries and the export share is 96 percent. – We thought about exporting from the start given that the vast majority of the world’s 70 million golfers are abroad. And we thought right, so right that by the end of last year we had sold out of the entire production. It was a pleasant problem, but a problem nonetheless – and that’s when we contacted EKN. Laszlo Varga realized that DeWiz needed an injection of capital to continue growing. Marketing costs money and at the same time production required resources. A number of components had a long delivery time and were also to be paid in advance, which would unlock capital for a period. And raising more money via investors would dilute the share capital.
EKN can cover 75 percent of the bank’s risk
– A bank loan was therefore the right way to go. I had heard about government EKN and knew that they could be involved and share the bank’s risk when export companies need to borrow money. When I contacted EKN, I also learned that they can now also help newly established growth companies and cover up to 75 percent of the bank’s risk. That obviously makes it much easier for the bank to say yes. Thanks to the collaboration with EKN, the Export Credit Board, the bank very much indeed said yes. According to Laszlo Varga, the support was crucial for the growth journey. – Without EKN, we would have had to choose between investing in sales or locking up the capital in components that will be delivered in a year. But of course we need to do both. With EKN and our bank behind us, we don’t have to choose and can think about growth both in the short and long term.Read more about how EKN can help companies with bank financing
About EKN
EKN, the Export Credit Board, has the government’s mandate to promote Swedish exports and the internationalization of Swedish companies. This is done by insuring payments and sharing risks with the exporting company, its subcontractors and banks. The operation is financed with the premiums of the policyholders. The article is produced by Brand Studio in collaboration with EKN and not an article by Dagens industri
