Stiven Muccioli, CEO BKN301: “After the 3 million round, we are focusing on emerging markets and blockchain”
It was founded in San Marino, but is already working in Egypt countries on the development of a digital bank for one of the most important in the African state and is also active in several of the Gulf and the East. It has just received a € 3 million seed loan, but heralds new rounds in the coming months. And it is betting (also) on the blockchain to reach its next goal: 3 million customers. Thus the CEO of BKN301, Stiven Muccioli, explains to EconomyUp how his innovative financial creature works.
BKN301, a fintech company from San Marino that offers payment services and Banking-as-a Service (Baas) functions, opened 2022 by announcing the closure of the first seed investment round for a value of 3 million euros. Round that involved the banking institutions of the autonomous Republic – Banca Agricola Commerciale, Banca di San Marino and Cassa di Risparmio of the Republic of San Marino – as well as Abalone Group, a Swiss active in wealth management and financial consultancy, and the three co-founders of the startup.
Or Stiven Muccioli, CEO of BKN301 as well as VC with previous successful experience in the sector and former founder of Tippest, SM Capital and Ventis (abandoned to embark on the new adventure); the CBO as well as former General Manager of PayPal Italy Federico Zambelli Hosmer; and the financial director Luca Bartozzi, former CFO of Ventis. A round that should be followed by other more important ones shortly for the San Marino fintech reality, born from an embryonic idea in 2019 of the co-founders which, once developed, materialized in the first months of 2021.
Banking-as-a-Service: 3 million euros to BKN301, fintech of San Marino
The birth of BKN301: aimed at San Marino, but with an eye on emerging markets
In fact, 2021 is the year in which, after leaving the five-year experience with Ventis – sold the previous year to Iccrea Banca after a long joint journey full of satisfactions -, thanks to contacts with the credit institutions of his native San Marino, Stiven Muccioli is proposed to take over the financial operator of the independent Republic.
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Having reasoned the case, the three co-founders decide to accept the challenge and propose an ambitious international Banking-as-a-Service project, which also counts on an asset already available with a precise geographical location. Circumstance not foreseen in the original plans.
Thus was born a customs in the first months of 2021, the company BKN301, to which local banks confer the old local operator Tp @ y giving life to the new reality. Which is immediately active and can also count on a license in San Marino, where it becomes a monopolist operator by immediately offering B2C e-money services: digital accounts, issuing of debit / credit cards, advanced POS and acceptance of online payments, covering over 90 % of the Titan’s total operations requirement.
Furthermore, fintech also and above all looks at emerging markets such as Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa. Regions in which it proposes itself to banks, other fintechs and Corporates with a product that, in fact, is a technological suite of 360 ° financial services.
The services are the same ones offered in San Marino, but on white labels. “Eg in Egypt we are working on the development of a real digital bank for Banca Misr, among the most important in the country, which also includes the acceptance of payments for e-commerce. The cards and all the technological component are developed by us, but are placed on the market with their brand and the wording ‘Powered by BKN301’ ”, explains Stiven Muccioli.
The role of cryptocurrencies and blockchains in the business of BKN301
Central the stellar blockchain on which the fintech product is entirely based, which specifically allows banks to offer services such as cross-border payments, peer to peer and the ability to manage purchases and custody of NFTs, cryptocurrencies and digital assets, along with traditional e-money services such as debit cards and loans. The open source Stellar blockchain makes operations more effective, safer, faster and less expensive when it comes to fees.
“In Eastern countries, the demand for cryptocurrencies is strong, many operators deal with them but do not have access to international payment systems” adds the CEO of BKN301. They encounter bureaucratic difficulties and we, respecting EU legislation, propose ourselves as an answer, without geopolitical preconceptions ”.
The B2B and B2C offer and the three-year goal: “Reach 3 million customers”
In this way, the San Marino startup has created a business model both B2B and B2C, with clear objectives and not hidden by the CEO: “We are working to close new rounds in the coming months and we aim to reach 1.5 million direct online customers, and the same number in emerging markets “.
BKN301 has already acquired 23 B2B customers in Egypt, the Gulf and Eastern Europe: “This is why we believe the potential is enormous, setting ourselves the goal of becoming the operator of banking technology for all those who do not have access to it today”.
Also, as of June BKN301 starting with activate a fully digital account from any corner of the world, giving up the current constraint of having to go through San Marino to open one. This derives from the development of the B2C offer of fintech on a global scale, parallel to the B2B one aimed mainly (but not exclusively) on emerging markets.
North Africa: the huge demand for fintechs of “non-banked” populations
Countries, especially in North Africa, where the average age is low (around 40), population growth has an unimaginable pace and there is a great availability and ability to use mobile devices.
Populations not “bankrupt”, which consequently easily adopt payment and financial solutions immediately and in full, also thanks to the wide availability and use of smartphones. The actual payment is therefore “imperceptible” for users, while it changes for the cards on the table for fintech which in this way “hooks” customers.
“The demand is huge – explains Muccioli -. In Egypt out of 100 million inhabitants practically all young people have a smartphone, but, even if they want to, they are unable to have cards (only 4% of the population has one, whether debit or credit), online accounts, the possibility to invest and, while remaining in Egypt, to make cross-border payments “. Which is around 20 billion annually with Europe alone.
A difficult question “also for us to satisfy, but European and American operators are looking to their respective markets. Leaving us, who are not in fact in Europe, the ability to focus on these countries and offer a response by bringing our financial technology. A huge opportunity that we intend to exploit ”, points out the CEO of BKN301. A massive market is not explored in fact.
Added value and business philosophy of BKN301
For Stiven Muccioli “the real added value of this market is linked to access. The choice to turn to these markets derived from our daily experience. In San Marino like the euro but we have the problem in accessing the financial system, the same we have every time we deal with emerging markets. We therefore want to offer a tool that puts an end to their isolation from the markets. This, in addition to being our ‘mission’, represents the business philosophy “.
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