Venio, the mobile application providing “nano-credit” facilities to unbanked consumers in emerging markets accessed via a smartphone, today announces its launch in Mexico.
Venio Aplicaciones de Mexico, the Company’s Mexican business arm, has been established to support Venio’s expansion across the high growth emerging market.
Venio’s international rollout has been expedited on the back of an oversubscribed and successful debut in the Philippines. The Venio app has now been translated into Spanish and will be available to consumers across Mexico with a strong foothold in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey.
Venio’s aim is to lift a generation of unbanked people into the financial system, help them to achieve financial discipline and a credit footprint in order to open up fair and equal access to useful financial services that wouldn’t otherwise be available to them. The need for these services has become more acute as COVID-19 has caused unprecedented impacts, increasing hardships and difficulties in accessing basic necessities.
The Mexican market is well placed to benefit from Venio’s “nano credit” loan facilities due to underlying demographic trends and high mobile penetration alongside the unmet demand for fintech payments in the population, where rates of financial exclusion remain high. According to the latest report from the World Bank Group, as many as 1.7bn adults are unbanked globally, a figure approaching one fourth of the global population, the majority of these cases are in emerging markets. In Mexico a high proportion of the population is unbanked with 63% of its 126 million inhabitants without access to a bank account[1].
Venio offers its customers responsible loans without the need for upfront collateral, this will revolutionize Mexico’s existing credit culture and improve people’s ability to access financial support with ease. At launch, loans with a value of US$1.20 - US$7.00 (MXP25.00 - MXP150.00) will be available to Venio customers. In Mexico 25.00 Pesos can cover the cost of a meal, basic medicine or transportation to and from work.
Venio’s highly scalable app is easily transferable to the Mexican market as the country’s retail landscape is highly developed and therefore similar to what can be found in the Philippines, where Venio proved its model following a launch earlier this year. Venio will leverage Mexico’s extensive network of local Changarro stores that are akin to the Philippines’ ‘mom-and-pop’ Sari-Sari convenience stores, again placing accessible local community retail at the core of Venio’s redemption network model.
Strategic partnerships for billing and fulfillment have been developed to enable Venio to accept payments and to cement the Company in the Mexican retail marketplace with national retail partners bolstering Venio’s presence. The app’s credit facilities will be redeemable with partners across retail, transportation, and healthcare.
Venio’s local team which is already operational is highly experienced, featuring senior leadership from Venio’s core management team alongside local expertise. Due to Venio’s strong emerging market focus the Company’s strategy is to deepen relationships across Latin America. The company is poised to establish itself as a leading provider of nano credit across multiple emerging markets tackling endemic financial exclusion.
In the post-COVID era financial inclusion must be ensured for the economic development of communities impacted by the pandemic. In its wake there has been an increased demand for both credit facilities and for digital financial solutions that allow for services to be accessed remotely and for contactless transactions. Credit can help users meet needs for emergency cash flow shortages, food, transportation, communication and home expenses.
Warren Platt, Founder & CEO at Venio commented: “Mexico is a dynamic market where we have established key contacts and excellent partnerships and we now look forward to capitalizing on this to build Venio’s growth and achieve our targets for the Mexican market . Venio’s arrival in Mexico will have an immediate impact on the country’s underbanked where there is growing demand among customers for new products that meet their needs. Venio wants to change how people access financial services by making access to responsible loans easier and fairer, this will offer a whole segment of the population the chance to build a credit profile and take the first step on the journey to financial inclusion. Access to financial products and services opens economic opportunities for individuals and entire communities.”