Business

Brazilian neobank Inter doubles customer base in a year; reaches 10 million users

About 30 thousand new accounts are being opened on Inter's platform every business day. To LABS, Inter's marketplace CEO said that reaching the end of the year with 20 million customers is a possible goal

Brazilian neobank Inter, headquarters — Photo: Inter/Courtesy

LABS

23.Mar.2021 16:16 BRT
UPDATED 24.Mar.2021 15:09 BRT

Inter announced it has reached the mark of 10 million customers this month, a 100% growth year-on-year;
Inter’s platform has about 30 thousand new accounts opened per business day in 2021;
Currently, Inter has five main operations: banking services, credit, investments, insurance and e-commerce – with the latter two being launched during the past year.

Brazilian neobank Inter, former Banco Inter, announced it has reached the mark of 10 million customers this month. A year ago, in March 2020, Inter had a customer base of 5 million people, a 100% growth year-on-year.

“We are living in a challenging period, with new demands, and we have a team that works every day to create solutions that simplify people’s daily lives, bringing together dozens of products and services in a single application”, says Inter’s CEO João Vitor Menin.

“The mark of 10 million customers shows us this multiplier effect.” Inter’s platform has about 30 thousand new accounts opened per business day in 2021.

Last year alone, Inter’s customers added up to BRL 6.7 billion in demand deposits, up 221% compared to the year before.

Card transactions reached BRL 18.2 billion in 2020, 119% more than in 2019. At Inter Shop, the firm’s marketplace where customers can online shop and get cashback on retail brands such as Carrefour, Lojas Americanas, and Magalu, sales volume reached BRL 1.2 billion last year.

According to what the CEO of Inter Shop Rodrigo Gouveia told LABS, the company believes that doubling again the customer base – reaching the end of the year with 20 million clients – is a possible goal. “The same goes for our marketplace, which in 2020 reached BRL 1.2 billion in sales (GMV) and can grow this number up to three times this year; and for other business fronts such as Insurance, Investments, Credit and Companies. We are strengthening partnerships and including new products and services to continue growing and offering better services in 2021.”

Other products on Inter’s portfolio such as insurances saw a 380% annual growth, to 265 thousand sales. Inter’s investment arm reached the end of 2020 with BRL 44 billion in assets under custody, up 136%.

In January, the neobank was planning to launch a delivery service within its app in partnership with the startup Delivery Center, in yet another effort to be a superapp. “The partnership is already in place and we started the service in March for a test base. The pilot project begins in the city of Belo Horizonte, in April, and will be gradually released to other cities where Delivery Center operates,” Gouveia added.

Currently, Inter has five main operations: banking services, credit, investments, insurance and e-commerce – with the latter two being launched during the past year.

Its e-commerce efforts, led by Gouveia, are about to become available also to non-account holders. According to the exec, while users are already able to access Inter Shop on desktop, the neobank will also allow them to access the service, make purchases and get cashback on Inter’s app by this year’s second quarter, through a simple registration that won’t require users to open a checking account.