Since its founding in 2020 in Recife, as Brazil's first multi-currency digital bank, Z.ro Bank has reinvented itself to become a benchmark in financial technology. In just 4 years, it has penetrated the sports betting market, serving major national companies. Edísio Pereira Neto, CEO, shares how the entity has been expanding its operations, achieving significant numbers and anticipating innovations, such as the integration of Pix with foreign exchange and cryptocurrencies, and positioning itself as one of the sector's leaders in Brazil.
Games Magazine Brasil - Since last year, Z.ro Bank has shown significant growth. What are the main business performance numbers and goals for 2004?
Edísio Pereira Neto -
In 2023, we surpassed the barrier of R$ 22.5 billion processed in transactions via Pix, foreign exchange, and cryptocurrencies, increasing our net revenue by 1,200%. In 2024 we will deliver a net revenue above R$ 100 million, still maintaining an Ebitda margin of approximately 40% and proving the importance of being a technology company with high scalable potential in the financial market.
What factors do you attribute the current success to and how has the inclusion of major betting houses in Brazil contributed to this growth?
To operate in markets with very high volume of operations, significant investment in technology and compliance is necessary, so that our partner does not frustrate their customer at the end, resulting in revenue loss.
Z.ro Bank's technology operates as a multi-bank gateway, integrating, in addition to its own API, those of four other traditional banks, for instant payments and receipts, with dynamic QR Code generation. This variety of banks offers 100% liquidity, 24 hours a day, so that customers do not have problems during peaks, which can exceed more than 50,000 Pix per minute.
Z.ro Bank is present in more than 20 bets that have requested the license from the Ministry of Finance, including the country's largest players, such as Betnacional, Aposta Ganha, H2 Bet, F12 Bet, Galera Bet, and Caesars Sportsbook, from the American group Caesars, a publicly traded company in the USA and that will start its operation in Brazil from January 2025.
Z.ro Bank is heavily involved with the sports betting market, with partnerships or campaigns. What are the current initiatives that the entity has been promoting to serve this segment, and how has this impacted the bank's visibility in the market?
This year, we took advantage of the high cash generation to increase marketing investment, participating in more than 10 international events, in addition to tripling the technology team, currently over 100 people to serve a waiting list of companies that are already in the process of integration and developing new services. With these investments, we plan to multiply by seven the number of integrated companies in 2024.
What new services are planned for the coming months?
Our digital payments hub runs parallel to the Central Bank's release schedule. The Z.ro technology team works so that, from the first day of launching instant payments such as Pix Parcelado, Pix Automático, and Pix por Aproximação, our customers integrate these services into their operations.
The regulation of betting is a reality in several countries, and now in Brazil. What can it bring good to the market?
Regulation is fundamental for the country. Brazil was outside this segment in which more than 170 countries, including the world's major powers, normally coexist with gambling. During this time, Brazilians traveled abroad to spend money that could stay in the country or, with the advancement of technology, played online on foreign platforms, wasting all the potential for collection for both the private and public sectors. This moment is important precisely to separate serious companies from adventurous ones and brings enormous potential for investment in our country.
We know that the market is very heated and that part of the bets operate in a completely wrong way. The improper management of financial flow, with companies that do not make the exchange registration, especially of concomitant operations (Entries x Exits), is an example. The aggressive marketing, which seeks to deceive people with less information and sells the game as a means of life, instead of being a platform for entertainment, is another common occurrence. The regulation arrives just to balance all this and allow the market to grow organically and healthily.
And what are the differentials that Z.ro Bank offers to operate in the Brazilian sector?
Z.ro Bank is ahead of the financial market by having been operating for two years with the big Bets, not only as a Pix specialist with an A rating in the Bacen ranking and 99.98% availability, but also with various functionalities already adapted to the market, such as integration of the owner account with the transactional, possibility to create and manage subaccounts, chargebacks and refunds of third-party payments automatically, split of Pix, instant notifications via WebHook, 24h support from a team specialized in this segment, and various dashboards and reports customized for the sector.
These differentials are important for the players to understand that it is not just about transaction cost, since losing a few minutes with the service down or generating friction at the time of the transaction can cost a few million reais for these companies.
Source: Exclusive GMB
