Brazil's Multiplicar Investimentos and 300 Franchising create neobank for franchises

300 Bank wants to fuel the franchise ecosystem and has the goal to reach transactions of BRL 800 million this year

01.Jun.2021 08:00 BRT
UPDATED 08:05 BRT

300 Bank is a technology intermediation platform between the settling bank and the client;
300 Bank was created with an investment of BRL 10 million from Multiplicar and 300 Franchising.

Multiplicar Investimentos, a Brazilian investment holding, and 300 Franchising, a Brazilian franchising accelerator and holding company, announced on Tuesday the launch of 300 Bank, a neobank for the franchise system.

The unprecedented idea of creating a neobank for franchises in Brazil arose at a dinner where the CEO of Multiplicar Investimentos, Daniel Corrêa, and the co-founder of 300 Franchising, Leonardo Castelo, met. “Daniel started explaining about how Multiplicar was a financial and technology platform and we made the junction, because we have a lot of knowledge of the tip, of how retail moves, of the pain-point of retail and franchising, and Daniel has a lot of knowledge of all this banking part,” Castelo said in an interview with LABS.

“Now as a digital bank what we hope is to add speed in decision making for the franchisee and customization with products specific to franchising.”

Usually the franchise ecosystem outsources financial services. But Multiplicar and 300’s idea is for the ecosystem to feed itself through rates up to 50% lower than traditional banks on financial solutions to franchisees, such as loans. “We know the need for financial products that banks don’t offer, such as specific credit lines for franchising, for retail, where there is often a need [for credit] for the growth of new units.”

300 Bank’s execs Daniel Corrêa and Leonardo Castelo. Photo: Courtesy/300 Bank

According to Corrêa, if the franchise ecosystem with financial products fuels itself, it doesn’t make sense for franchisees to seek outsourced products from retail banks. “The financial institution sees a company only as a number. The 300 Franchising sees it as an entrepreneur who has needs and paths to follow. If the franchisee needs a renovation, the bank does not care. It only cares about financial health. 300 Bank, on the other hand, will do this in a slightly less bureaucratic and more directed way.”

300 Bank is a technology intermediation platform between the settling bank and the client. It will offer everything that is seen in retail banks (such as salary accounts, payroll loans, working capital, credit linked to billing with anticipated receivables, POS, cards, consortium sales, health insurance, payment transfers, and investments) through partnerships with other institutions.

In short, Multiplicar connects end users to financial institutions and fintechs, which effectively provide financial services. This will also be the case with 300 Bank’s services, which will be offered through POS, internet banking, and its own application.

As a sub-acquirer, 300 Bank plugs into financial institutions through APIs. The bank will serve the 47,000 franchise units connected to 300 Franchising, which have a projected annual turnover of BRL 1 billion by 2021. The estimate is that 300 Bank will double in size by 2022, since the holding incorporates about 450 new franchised units per month.

300 Bank is born with BRL 10 million investment from Multiplicar and 300. Founded in 2013, Multiplicar does the securitization and the purchase of assets with consolidated revenues. The company is a mixed investment holding company focused on technology, real estate and development assets, and has more than 30 companies invested with 100% equity.

With technology to provide bank as a service (BaaS) for companies seeking to offer financial services to their clients, Multiplicar develops banks for niche markets. But even though the 300 Bank operation starts focused on franchises, the bank should gradually gain capillarity for small and medium retailers, the execs say.

The prepaid card of 300 Bank will be Visa and the credit one will be Mastercard, “but we are still in negotiations with the acquirers to find out who has the best product, the cheapest for our franchisee,” adds Corrêa. He estimates that 300 Bank will transact about BRL 800 million by the end of 2021.

300 Franchising brings together 67 brands. In five years, the accelerator plans to have 300. “By our account today about 2.4 million people per month pass through our retail units, who are also potential bank account holders,” says Castelo.