Thinking of strengthening this relationship even further, the company has just entered into a partnership with BizCapital, a credit fintech for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The aim is to provide the best experiences and financing conditions for companies.
"At Kalea, the first step was to curate good credit financial agents to start working on our platform. Then, the opportunity arose with BizCapital, which soon presented itself as the company that wanted to automate this process and make life easier of the entrepreneur, exactly how Kalea works", says Luiz Falbo Di Cavalcanti, CEO and founder of Kalea, to Finsiders.
Fintech launched the first version of its platform in February this year, after having its project accelerated last year by the Central Bank's Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations (LIFT Lab), with support from Microsoft. Today, the startup is also incubated at the Banco do Nordeste (BNB) innovation hub, at Porto Digital, in Recife (PE).
Kalea's current customer base ranges from ME-ls to midsize companies. In all, the company has 16 partnership contracts distributed in several Brazilian states, such as São Paulo, Parana, Para, Pernambuco, Cearå and Bahia. For BizCapital, the partnership appears as a way to add even more value to the companies ecosystem and bring partners with the same business idea.
"We are increasingly looking for partners who have a vision of the world in line with ours. With Kalea, there is a genuine intention to give more access and contribute to the evolution of small Brazilian companies. When I listen to a partner who thinks in a good way. similarly, I see that we are on the right path", comments Bruno Israel, head of marketing at BizCapital.
With a base of 12 thousand customers, fintech's portfolio has been growing at an accelerated pace — in October 2020, for example, there were 7 thousand. The expectation is to end 2021 with 100 thousand customers — the focus is on small and medium-sized companies that earn up to R$ 10 thousand/month and at least 12 months of active CNPJ. However, since it doubled the maximum limit to R$400,000, Biz began to attract more mature clients who are familiar with financial management, reaching out to those who earn more than R$3 million/year.
In June, the company announced Ricardo Lopes, ex-ltaü Unibanco, as the new head of credit. The information was released first hand to Finsiders.
This year, BizCapital also partnered with IBM to adopt Watson Assistant, fintech's chatbot. The Berta robot, as it is called, answers questions about products and the requirements for applying for credit, explains the steps in the process, gives information on the status of orders placed by customers, conditions and balances, in addition to indicating missing documents. The average percentage of service via Berta is 95%.
Israel also recalls that the lack of financial education in Brazil, combined with excessive bureaucracy, creates a very hostile business environment. "Biz's role is to reverse this situation with simplicity, a sense of urgency and really relevant and educational solutions for SMEs. At the end of the day, we have in our hands the opportunity to transform the entrepreneur's journey into an easier, more productive and, why not, more fun," he says.
Hot market
The SME segment has become the "apple of the eye" for banks and fintechs, which reveals an increasingly competitive market. The lineup includes names such as BTG+ whose portfolio reached R$14.4 billion in the second quarter, an annual increase of 142% Business, Original, Inter and BS2 — which brought the CEO of the Network as the new president, the former CFO of Cielo to the council, and even bought fintech in advance of Wee' receivables.
Another competitor is Linker, which this year doubled the number of customers and grew 4x the total volume transacted on the platform. fintech started with a digital P] account, launched the physical debit card and payment link last year, and in recent months has been adding new features. It also signed a partnership with Company Hero, revealed exclusively by Finsiders.
On the other hand Conta Simples, which raised in June an extension of seed money of US$ 2.5 million (about R$ 14 million at the time) from YCombinator, is now positioning itself as a fintech that brings together, in a platform, management software and checking account.
Cora, from ex-Moip Igor Senra and Leonardo Mendes, also leads the line. At the end of August, it received an investment of US$ 116 million (more than R$ 600 million) in funding led by the American fund Greenoaks Capital (which invested in QuintoAndar and Brex, for example). Since it was officially launched in October 2020, Cora's solution has had around 140 thousand customers (60 thousand in April) and by the end of the year the expectation is to exceed 380 thousand. For 2022, the goal is to surpass 1 million, Senra said in a recent interview with Finsiders.
Thinking of strengthening this relationship even further, the company has just entered into a partnership with BizCapital, a credit fintech for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs). The aim is to provide the best experiences and financing conditions for companies.
"At Kalea, the first step was to curate good credit financial agents to start working on our platform. Then, the opportunity arose with BizCapital, which soon presented itself as the company that wanted to automate this process and make life easier of the entrepreneur, exactly how Kalea works", says Luiz Falbo Di Cavalcanti, CEO and founder of Kalea, to Finsiders.
Fintech launched the first version of its platform in February this year, after having its project accelerated last year by the Central Bank's Laboratory of Financial and Technological Innovations (LIFT Lab), with support from Microsoft. Today, the startup is also incubated at the Banco do Nordeste (BNB) innovation hub, at Porto Digital, in Recife (PE).
Kalea's current customer base ranges from ME-ls to midsize companies. In all, the company has 16 partnership contracts distributed in several Brazilian states, such as São Paulo, Parana, Para, Pernambuco, Cearå and Bahia. For BizCapital, the partnership appears as a way to add even more value to the companies ecosystem and bring partners with the same business idea.
"We are increasingly looking for partners who have a vision of the world in line with ours. With Kalea, there is a genuine intention to give more access and contribute to the evolution of small Brazilian companies. When I listen to a partner who thinks in a good way. similarly, I see that we are on the right path", comments Bruno Israel, head of marketing at BizCapital.
With a base of 12 thousand customers, fintech's portfolio has been growing at an accelerated pace — in October 2020, for example, there were 7 thousand. The expectation is to end 2021 with 100 thousand customers — the focus is on small and medium-sized companies that earn up to R$ 10 thousand/month and at least 12 months of active CNPJ. However, since it doubled the maximum limit to R$400,000, Biz began to attract more mature clients who are familiar with financial management, reaching out to those who earn more than R$3 million/year.
In June, the company announced Ricardo Lopes, ex-ltaü Unibanco, as the new head of credit. The information was released first hand to Finsiders.
This year, BizCapital also partnered with IBM to adopt Watson Assistant, fintech's chatbot. The Berta robot, as it is called, answers questions about products and the requirements for applying for credit, explains the steps in the process, gives information on the status of orders placed by customers, conditions and balances, in addition to indicating missing documents. The average percentage of service via Berta is 95%.
Israel also recalls that the lack of financial education in Brazil, combined with excessive bureaucracy, creates a very hostile business environment. "Biz's role is to reverse this situation with simplicity, a sense of urgency and really relevant and educational solutions for SMEs. At the end of the day, we have in our hands the opportunity to transform the entrepreneur's journey into an easier, more productive and, why not, more fun," he says.
Hot market
The SME segment has become the "apple of the eye" for banks and fintechs, which reveals an increasingly competitive market. The lineup includes names such as BTG+ whose portfolio reached R$14.4 billion in the second quarter, an annual increase of 142% Business, Original, Inter and BS2 — which brought the CEO of the Network as the new president, the former CFO of Cielo to the council, and even bought fintech in advance of Wee' receivables.
Another competitor is Linker, which this year doubled the number of customers and grew 4x the total volume transacted on the platform. fintech started with a digital P] account, launched the physical debit card and payment link last year, and in recent months has been adding new features. It also signed a partnership with Company Hero, revealed exclusively by Finsiders.
On the other hand Conta Simples, which raised in June an extension of seed money of US$ 2.5 million (about R$ 14 million at the time) from YCombinator, is now positioning itself as a fintech that brings together, in a platform, management software and checking account.
Cora, from ex-Moip Igor Senra and Leonardo Mendes, also leads the line. At the end of August, it received an investment of US$ 116 million (more than R$ 600 million) in funding led by the American fund Greenoaks Capital (which invested in QuintoAndar and Brex, for example). Since it was officially launched in October 2020, Cora's solution has had around 140 thousand customers (60 thousand in April) and by the end of the year the expectation is to exceed 380 thousand. For 2022, the goal is to surpass 1 million, Senra said in a recent interview with Finsiders.