Revolutionizing Financial Pools for Economic Empowerment

Q: What is Moneypool's business model and what are the main benefits it offers to customers in Mexico?
A: We focus on simplifying the collection of money in social situations through a platform that allows users to create and manage pools of money for events or shared purchases. By allowing users to pay by credit card, debit card, or through a digital wallet, we facilitate a more transparent and efficient process. The platform also distributes responsibility for collection and payment tracking, ensuring a more organized and hassle-free experience for our customers in Mexico. We generate revenue through a fee applied to payments made by credit or debit card. 

Q: How have Moneypool's services evolved since its inception?
A: Moneypool has undergone a significant evolution since its launch, going through three distinct stages. We initially faced numerous chargebacks, a critical problem in e-commerce that affects up to 4% of online transactions. To address this, we developed a prevention system tailored to the social dynamics of our users. The pandemic was the second stage. During this period, key activities were disrupted and we lacked advertising resources, pausing our growth. We overcame these obstacles by improving our technological infrastructure and optimizing our payment management, which enabled us to resume and accelerate our growth from 2022. 

We are now positioning ourselves as the leading cash collection solution. There are about 90 million people who regularly split costs at social events in Mexico. Our ability to adapt and optimize the platform, together with an effective referral strategy, has been fundamental in maintaining continuous growth, going from US$800,000 in sales in 2022 to US$2.4 million in the this year.

Q: How has your goal of becoming the largest financial products distribution network in Mexico evolved over the years?
A: We have made significant progress toward this goal. Our vision is to be the Amazon of financial services, connecting between 40 million and 50 million Mexicans and offering them financial products tailored to their unique needs. We have developed and perfected our chargeback prevention system, achieving a card acceptance rate of 99% and a chargeback rate of 0.15%, well below the national average of 4%. This system is our first financial product built on the social plus transactional context our users have and distributed through our network. Over the next three to five years, we plan to expand this network and use contextual information about our users to design and distribute additional financial products tailored to their specific behaviors and needs.

Q: How are you using emerging technologies to further your goals?
A: Advanced technologies have been a cornerstone of Moneypool’s development since its launch. We evolved from using basic tools such as Microsoft Excel to implementing advanced data capture, cleansing, and network analysis technologies. These tools allow us to process large volumes of data in real time and to perform complex analyses, such as social network and risk profiling. Thanks to these advances, we can capture accurate data on user behavior and adjust our payment acceptance decisions in fractions of a second. 

Q: What specific measures has Moneypool implemented to ensure the protection of data and transactions on its platform?
A: As an entity regulated by the National Banking and Securities Commission, we adhere to rigorous security protocols, including encryption of sensitive data and secure storage in vaults. Personal information is handled with strict limited access policies, while credit card data is encrypted and stored without direct exposure. We also conduct annual audits and penetration tests to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities, ensuring that even in an environment of increasing cyberthreats, our operations maintain a high level of security and protection for our users.

Q: How does Moneypool plan to expand its presence and penetration in the domestic and international market?
A: We are focusing on attracting parents of children in private kindergarten, elementary, and high schools, which represents about 2 million potential users in Mexico. This segment experiences between 10 and 15 collection events per child during the school year. Our strategy for the next three years is to integrate these initial users, leveraging their social network to reach an estimated 4 million users. This group of users not only actively participates in school and social activities, but also has significant influence in their wider social circle. By connecting with this key segment, we plan to extend our presence to other groups, such as young professionals and university students, consolidating our position in the domestic market and laying the groundwork for international expansion.

Q: How is Moneypool planning to adapt its offering to attract the B2B sector?
A: We are orienting our B2B offer toward the integration of financial products based on social and transactional profiles. The strategy includes partnering with financial institutions to offer products that are not necessarily developed by Moneypool. For example, instead of issuing its own loans, Moneypool could facilitate loans from institutions such as BBVA or Santander to users based on their history and reputation on the platform. This is exemplified by an experimental credit reputation sharing feature, where one user can offer his or her history as collateral for a loan requested by another. We also plan to leverage our network to facilitate savings products and other financial services. 

Q: How is Moneypool driving financial inclusion in Mexico?
A: Moneypool is driving financial inclusion by connecting millions of users and contextualizing their transactional and social profiles. By integrating social and financial data, Moneypool makes financial products, such as loans and savings services, accessible to more people who traditionally do not have access to these products. This functionality is designed to include people with limited access to traditional banking services, such as domestic workers, by providing them with credit options secured by their contacts on the platform. 

Q: What are the main challenges Moneypool faces in its B2C and B2B approaches, and how do you plan to address them?
A: One of the main challenges in the B2C segment is scalability and speed of propagation within school communities. While the platform has demonstrated strong organic virality, the challenge is to scale this virality more efficiently. To reach 600-700 schools in the next two to three years, we need to optimize and scale our processes. The strategy includes intensifying promotion and improving the referral program to accelerate the recruitment of new schools and communities. The key is to extract and effectively use referrals from existing users to drive faster and sustained growth. 

On the B2B front, we face the challenge of handling large volumes of data and turning this data into useful products. The company needs to secure a significant amount of data and leads to justify and sustain its big data-driven business model. The ability to analyze this data and translate it into relevant financial products is crucial. This includes developing risk models and offering customized financial products based on consumer profiles, such as credit and savings products tailored to the needs of identified communities and profiles.