Franq Open Banking has raised $12 million in a Series A round extension led by Quona Capital.
Franq is a Brazil-based fintech that connects customers and businesses to financial products through personal bankers.
Quona is a venture capital focused on impact fintechs, with a current portfolio of 47 startups in developing markets. The fund has already invested in fintechs such as Creditas, Contabilizei, Monkey Exchange, and Neon in Brazil.
The investment round had the participation of Globo Ventures, Broadhaven Capital Partners, and Valor Capital Group.
Connecting personal bankers to costumers
In June last year, Franq received $ 4 million from Valor Capital, which increased its participation in the company with this new round.
“Franq is focused on giving consumers more access, power of choice, and opportunities for bankers to work independently. In addition to integrating banks, fintechs, insurers, and brokers on a single platform, we offer full support for bankers to undertake technology, training, content, marketing, accounting, and product specialist support,” said Paulo Silva, CEO of Franq, in a statement.
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Silva has extensive experience in the Brazilian market and a career in financial institutions such as Banco do Brasil, Citi, HSBC, and Santander.
With the new investment, Franq’s goal is to use the funds to strengthen its technology, data, and new solutions and systems teams, especially for the corporate segment, which already represents 40% of the fintech company’s transaction volume.
A virtual store of banking products
The startup originates credit proposals for individuals and companies, distributing insurance products, investments, consortiums, financing, and digital accounts.
Founded in 2019, the fintech based in Florianópolis, Brazil, provides each personal banker with a sort of virtual store on its platform, with products sourced from the institution’s partners, such as Itaú Unibanco, Porto Seguro, BizCapital, Guide Investimentos, Santander, and Creditas, among others.
When the user chooses the personal banker of their preference, at least three options of financial institutions are available for each type of product. These institutions remunerate the personal bankers on the products sold, and a fraction of this remains with Franq.
The company then acts as a financial curator with no charges or fees for the end user.
Franq has more than 7,000 independent personal bankers registered on its platform, operating all over Brazil. The type of professional that enters the company’s scope has, on average, 10 years of experience working for large retail banks. With the new intake, the company aims to more than double its reach by 2024.
Transforming financial services in Brazil
Franq is becoming a multi-brand ‘one-stop-shop’ for its 120,000 individual customers and 35,000 small and medium-sized businesses, bringing them a wide range of products.
With more than 50 financial institutions integrated into its platform, Franq is present throughout Brazil, serving more than 120,000 individual customers and 35,000 businesses.
“Franq provides a win-win solution for all stakeholders in the value chain: financial institutions amplify their distribution, Personal Bankers improve their product offering and workflow, and consumers benefit from access to a wider and fairer range of products. We are very excited to support Franq’s team in transforming the financial services ecosystem in Brazil,” added Luis Lora, Managing Partner at Globo Ventures, in the company’s market statement.
The recent investment in Franq comes at a time of exponential growth of open banking in Brazil, which allows for the open sharing of information between customers and financial institutions in the country and is supported by the Brazilian Central Bank.
