pathway solutions

pathway solutions is a Hamburg-based accounting-automation SaaS founded in 2018 by Ludwig Eisenblätter and Marco Feelisch, both still co-CEOs. The company operates remote-first with people in Hamburg, Cologne, Morocco and Indonesia. A Visma investment in February 2025 strategically anchors pathway in the Nordic-European cloud-software ecosystem. The product solves a specific German-market pain: turning thousands of e-commerce and SaaS transactions from Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Stripe and Chargebee Billing into clean, complete, tax-correct postings inside DATEV — the cooperative of German tax advisors whose data format is the de facto SME finance-exchange standard.

Functional scope

At its core, pathway automates the data flow between shop, payment provider and DATEV. Sales transactions, fees, taxes, refunds, disputes and payouts are pulled from Shopify, Amazon, WooCommerce, Stripe and Chargebee Billing, transformed into DATEV-compliant posting records, reconciled against bank movements and pushed to the DATEV system used by the customer's tax advisor. The platform handles the OSS (One-Stop-Shop) reporting requirements introduced by the EU VAT reform on cross-border distance selling, which is one of the operationally painful areas pathway addresses head-on.

Cloud architecture and positioning

pathway is pure SaaS. Customers register on the web portal, connect their shop and payment accounts, and configure tax and posting logic. The product is explicitly not a replacement for an accounting workplace, a Inventory Management (merchandise-management system) like JTL, a multichannel tool like plentyOne, or a full bookkeeping product. It positions itself as an add-on and integration layer between online sales channels, payment providers and the tax advisor's DATEV environment.

Target audience

Primary customers are digital business models: online shops, marketplace sellers, D2C brands, SaaS providers and subscription businesses. Tax advisory firms with many e-commerce and tech mandates also use pathway to standardise and accelerate the bookkeeping work across their client base. The product fit is strongest where the customer has hundreds or thousands of transactions per month across multiple platforms — manual reconciliation breaks down at scale and the alternative to pathway is typically expensive bespoke developer work.

DATEV integration and compliance

pathway has been an official DATEV partner since February 2025 — a meaningful trust signal for German tax advisory firms and Mid-Market finance teams. The platform supports the OSS / EU distance-selling VAT reporting requirements, generating compliant postings with correct destination-country VAT. GoBD-aligned audit-trail features — GoBD being the German principles for proper digital bookkeeping — are part of the standard product, alongside encrypted transmission, role-based access and DSGVO-compliant data processing (DSGVO being the German implementation of GDPR).

Onboarding and roadmap

pathway is typically set up jointly with a tax advisor or specialist e-commerce consultancy. The initial configuration covers tax and account mappings, mappings between shop items and DATEV accounts, plus onboarding of the connected payment platforms. With the Visma investment pathway has access to the network of one of Europe's largest cloud-software groups. The roadmap covers additional integrations to BigCommerce, Klarna, PayPal and vertical-specific subscription platforms, plus deeper monitoring and reporting capability. For German e-commerce businesses scaling beyond the manual-reconciliation threshold, pathway is one of the most defensible specialist tools on the market.

Strengths and limitations at a glance

Purpose-built for e-commerce DATEV automation — removes a recurring friction point between SaaS commerce stacks and German tax advisors.
OSS/IOSS VAT handling for cross-border EU e-commerce in scope.
Cloud-native architecture with rapid onboarding measured in weeks, not months.

Considerations:

Not a full ERP — merchant must still run a commerce platform, warehouse system and finance separately.
Younger vendor (founded 2018) compared to incumbent DATEV middleware specialists.
Best fit is mid-volume e-commerce; very small merchants are over-served and enterprise volumes will outgrow the tier.

Best-fit profile and comparable vendors

Best-fit customers are DACH e-commerce merchants of 1 to 50 staff with multi-channel sales (own shop, marketplaces, social commerce) and a German tax advisor on DATEV. Comparable products include Order Desk for the order-management layer, Billbee for SMB multichannel and DATEV-specialist middleware from the broader DACH ecosystem. A grounding in the DATEV interface mechanics is essential before scoping.

Vendor homepage of pathway solutions

Current view of the website https://www.pathway-solutions.de/

Screenshot of the homepage of pathway solutions

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Häufig gestellte Fragen

For which company size is pathway solutions suitable?

pathway solutions addresses a specific target group — size, industry, complexity and international scope all play a role. The vendor profile above provides concrete target-group recommendations plus comparisons with similar solutions under ERP comparison. The exact arrangement depends on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

What training does pathway solutions offer?

Most vendors offer user and admin training, often including consultant certifications. Independent providers listed under ERP training also offer product-neutral courses. The exact arrangement depends on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

Which languages does pathway solutions support?

ERPs from the DACH region are available in German as standard. International vendors (SAP, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle NetSuite) offer 20+ languages, often including localised accounting standards. The exact arrangement depends on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

Can I customise pathway solutions myself or do I need a partner?

Simple adjustments (custom fields, report layouts) are often self-service. Complex customising (workflows, modules, integrations) usually requires a certified partner — see the ERP consultant overview. The exact arrangement depends on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.

How significant is pathway solutions in the market?

Market shares and market movements are not reported publicly in exact figures for the DACH region. Studies such as the Trovarit ERP study and the Gartner Magic Quadrant provide orientation — see ERP market shares. The exact arrangement depends on the industry, company size class and customising depth of the specific ERP setup.