The fintech was the first neobank created in the Catalan capital, a location chosen to find the investment and talent necessary for its business model to work. bnc10, which presents itself as an alternative to the bureaucracies and fine print of traditional banks, claims its connection to Barcelona as one of its main attributes. Not only because of the panot that serves as its logo, but also because many people confuse its name and write the city's acronym, even within the organization itself.
Neobank means that money is virtual and not physical. bnc10 does not give loans or offer mortgages. Neither the product nor the way it operates fits how things have always been done: they have the operation prepared so that users can open an account and start operating in just five minutes through their app, as one of its co-founders, David Montanyà, points out. But they also differ in communication with clients, which is done through WhatsApp or Telegram.
Since its founding in 2018 by Manel Vallet (Hoteles Catalonia), David Montanyà, and William McCahey and its market launch in 2019, bnc10 has been renting the EMI license, which is what institutions that want to issue electronic money and make payments need. For this year, the startup has set the goal of closing its first Series A round, for five million euros, explains Montanyà. The resources they expect to obtain must also serve to continue growing, adding more users and hiring more staff, and opening their first branch in Latin America, specifically in Mexico.
The startup led by Albert Llorens has managed to raise about four million euros in different rounds during its more than two years of existence. The first was in 2018, with a seed round for 1.6 million euros; the second, in 2019, when they obtained 1.1 million, and the third, in 2020, the first open to the public, through Crowcube, where they asked for 300,000 euros and more than quadrupled the initial figure.
More than 50,000 active users
With a staff of 20 workers, bnc10 has about 300,000 registered users on its mobile application. Of these, more than 50,000 are active and have transacted more than 40 million euros through the platform. The startup, which does not provide registered turnover figures or forecasts, offers a series of free services, such as opening a current account with a Spanish IBAN, making payments or transfers with a mobile phone, and direct debiting bills, while it monetizes others, such as payments made through its prepaid card or the contracting of insurance.
bnc10 offers free services, such as opening an account and making transfers, and monetizes others, such as payments made through its cardToday, the services paid for by bnc10 users represent a small part, but the fintech expects them to gain strength this 2021.The client profile consists of young professionals, but also expatriates and students. In this sense, one of the strengths of the Barcelona neobank is that it allows currency exchange, withdrawing money, or paying abroad without commissions, or opening free shared accounts for trips, flatmates, or couples.
Misses Pier 01 of Barcelona Tech City
The fintech began its journey at Pier 01 of Barcelona Tech City, but, like so many other startups born in this space, it ended up needing more square meters for its expanding team and moved to a coworking on Aragón street, between Nápoles and Roger de Flor. Montanyà explains that they miss the atmosphere at the Pier, where visits from investors and foreign companies were constant and contacts with other agents in the sector arose spontaneously.
The financial hub that Barcelona Tech City is developing at the Barcelona Stock Exchange opens as an opportunity for bnc10, which has been offered to move to the new building when it is ready. "Everyone will be there. As the first neobank in Barcelona, it interests us because where you can't reach alone, you can reach with other companies," summarizes Montanyà.