2024-04-24 04:31:25
Neobanken Vivid started in Europe many years ago with ambitious plans. But after the initial growth, it became quieter around Fintech. It is now breaking away from its long-standing partner bank Solaris with its own license and is planning the next phase of growth. Founder Alexander Emeshev explains in the podcast how it will eventually work to reach 100 million customers in Europe.
The inspiration to found fintech came from Japan. Vivid is supposed to be nothing less than a super app. Like Rakuten, they wanted to use their app to offer financial services as well as a mix of non-specialized services, including mobile communication, shopping or ticket and travel bookings.
There is nothing coming from the European super app for now
Vivid wanted to create a similar success story in Western Europe. Two years ago, the team launched a shopping feature, alongside the bank account, card and merchant functionality that Vivid already offered. It should be the first step towards becoming a super app.
But great ambitions are now followed by disillusionment: “We have the dream of reaching 100 million customers one day”, says Vivid founder Alexander Emeshev in the podcast. “But that’s not a goal we have in front of us in the next few years.” but for them, too, they at last receded into the distance.
In fact, Vivid’s growth has stalled noticeably for a good 18 months. After being known for aggressive marketing and rapid product development, especially in the first two years, the account startup significantly scaled back its activities. The number of active users that Vivid communicates has been around 200,000 for years – however, the number on all accounts is around 500,000.
“We realized that we couldn’t grow enough with the infrastructure we had at the time,” says Emeshev today. “That’s why we decided to build our own setup first and become independent.”
Criticism of Solaris?
Vivid can now finally offer a service it is proud of, says Emeshev. It indirectly sounds like criticism of the former partner Solaris. Since its foundation, the fintech has used the banking startup in Berlin as a partner due to the lack of its own licenses. Vivid now has its own electronic money license (e-money license) through the acquisition of the Luxembourg company Joompay has already announced the migration of its customers from the Solaris system to its own infrastructure. As a result, Solaris is now losing around half a million accounts.
However, it is still unclear how many of the customers will actually take part in the move. Emeshev is therefore promoting his “shiny new Vivid 2.0” with benefits such as cashback, interest payments and unlimited Sepa instant transfers. He is confident that almost all customers want to continue using Vivid. “The first numbers look very good – I wouldn’t be surprised if at least 95 percent of customers stay with us.”
Alexander Emeshev talks about how Vivid wants to increase marketing again and have 100 million customers in ten years in the podcast.
On the FinanceFWD podcast, Emeshev talks about…
… the dream of a super app for Europe
… the departure from Solaris
… the start of the offer to business customers
… the financing situation of Vivid
The FinanceFWD podcast is also available at Spotify, Deezer or iTunes. If you like the format, we would love to receive a positive review!
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