Bnext is a project created by Guillermo Vicandi, the company’s CEO, and Juan Antonio Rullán, the company’s production manager. The financial idea of these two directors emerged in 2016. But it wasn’t until 2017 that the beta version of Bnext was launched to the market.
“We were looking for a name by which users could identify us as an alternative to traditional banking, reflecting our idea of being a revolution within the banking sector”, they explained.
The idea was therefore the creation of a marketpalce of financial, insurance and travel-related products, all managed through a single account. The financial company also works with an electronic money institution regulated by the Bank of Spain.
In the words of the founders, “this is the first fintech company to offer an account and a card that is not linked to a bank”.
So far, banks have offered an aggregated model, i.e. a package that has included different products, while what Bnext offers is the opposite. Within this framework, the platform is based on a reaggregated model, thus creating the “first marketplace” of financial, insurance and travel-related products in Spain.
In addition to the entity regulated by the Bank of Spain Bnext works with licenses from third parties. This has resulted in the platform being able to give customers the opportunity to have an account without a bank and a prepaid card through which money can be withdrawn, at any ATM in the world, with the guarantee of the official VISA exchange rate and the refund of the corresponding fees. Although it is currently only operative in Spain, the founders have stressed that they “hope to be present in other countries soon”.
300,000 EURO IN LESS THAN 24 HOURS
The project, which began in 2016, was initiated through an FFF round, with the aim of providing the necessary resources to launch Bnext’s activity. Subsequently, in 2027, the creators of the platform resorted to a round of financing of 300,000 Euro in around 24 hours, through the electronic investment platform Crowdcube.
Around 66 private investors participated in this round and invested in the platform in exchange for 29% of the capital. So far, Bnext has carried out two rounds. After the first round, they launched another, reaching one and a half million Euro. With this, the company managed to improve the marketplace, user acquisition through marketing campaigns, sending cards to the homes of users, as well as the incorporation of new services, as is the case of “Bnext Rewards loyalty points and the universal payment system Bpay”, as specified by Guillermo Vicand and Juan Antonio Rullán.
In this second round they had the collaboration of international investors such as Founders Future, Pipeline Capital Partners, Tekton Ventures and Andreas Mihalovits, winner of the prize for the best Early Stage Investor in Europe awarded by EBAN (European Business Angel Network).
Bnext’s objective for the future focuses on “consolidating the platform’s position in Spain, as well as the growth in both the number of clients and services, and of course, expanding the company internationally”, as the creators explained.