Investors in small to medium businesses know that it’s not an easy task to get their merchandise up and going on the market.

In addition, to achieve a spot on the public trading venues and earn their right to boost up productivity, investors are pressured to acquire startup fundings. Investors are now choosing to get credits so as to not fall short with their stocks.

Therefore, Mexican citizens named David Arana and Francisco Padilla wanted to help these enterprises reach their designated place, so they established Konfio.

Konfio delivers software solutions and digital banking to aid medium-sized and small businesses - helping them to quickly succeed and grow. Of course, their journey wasn’t simple and straightforward - David and Francisco put in a lot of sweat, but the eagerness tells us much about their worth.

So let’s dive in to get a clue on how the two youngsters prevailed in the struggle, starting from the roots.

Youthful Beginnings in Latin America

David Arana was born in Sinaloa, on the Northern side of Mexico. Ever since he was a child he loved the idea of how markets in Mexico put up an enormous amount of effort for their customers.

But David didn’t know at the start that the merchants with small and medium businesses were making profits to live on a daily basis. While growing up and reaching adulthood, David eventually figured out how tough and miserable it is to work with such occupations, that he intended to brighten up the worker’s future.

On the other side of the shiny coin are Francisco’s early years. Being keen on understanding how computers work since their publicization, Francisco was smitten by the all-might machine. A child with great potential and limitless storage for bright ideas, Francisco grew up to a young adult ready to take on the world of business.

Mexican commerce was taking a downfall and only public markets made it through the ranks to meet the eyes of the consumers. Justice needed to be brought to light, so every small and medium-sized business was given the right to challenge bigger competition.

So, David and Francisco began their venture to dig up some useful options for such small market fields and help with their financing problems.

Professional and Educational Development

David’s brain calculator was on point as his mathematical abilities showed up even before he graduated from high school in Sao Paulo in 2003. Because of his love for maths, he immediately went to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to get his Bachelors of Science in Mathematics, in 2007.

His prosperity in the domain of technology and science flourished as the numbers in his head were meeting ends. This is his first step at calculating the sums later to help with lending small to mid enterprises (SME) for a better economy when he established Konfio in 2013.

Francisco, on the other hand, was absolutely fascinated with the new technology of computers presented to the human population. Since the dawn of computer functionality worldwide and with its usage - new possibilities and doors to success open along with it.

So, to get his bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Francisco enrolled at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Studies. Since his mind worked in such brilliant ways, and it still does, Francisco got the opportunity to engage in major activities. Thus, when the SISCTI Congress conference took place in 2007, he cooperated with Apple co-founder, Steve Wozniak.

Upon his graduation from the Monterrey Institute, he got the diploma with Magna cum laude, which means “with high honors “.

David worked at the Deutsche Bank in New York from 2008 up to 2013, while Francisco was a consultant for almost 5 years and got promoted to a Specialist Consultant at the MicroStrategy firm in Virginia, United States.

Upon leaving Deutsche Bank to pursue other massive prosperous projects, David got in touch with Francisco and started small. They founded Konfio as to grasp whether they can push through or not.

Konfio - Climbing up the Microfinance Ladder

In the beginning, David and Francisco started by handing smaller companies some beginner finance to test the liability of the Konfio platform. The idea behind such a move was to test whether they would get their money back or not. Investors are choosing the wrong option when they go to the bank for credit loans, because banks may require physical collateral from the owners. And this collateral comes with three times the loan to be paid off to the bank.

Additionally, business owners lose a lot of time and money when they go through the credit risk analysis whether the size of the debit ticket is big or small. But banks still prefer bigger clients and by doing business with those company profiles only, they disregard small and medium enterprises, possibly overlooking great potential.

Approximately 93 percent of Konfio’s valuable customers who take out a loan through the platform repay it in 8 days. If you’re gonna apply for a loan, filling up the application will take just 10 minutes of your time and you’ll receive instantaneous feedback.

Furthermore, if you're operating a small enterprise alone, you surely wouldn’t want to waste months of precious time when applying for financial aid. So, to meet its clients’ business needs, Konfio strives to react promptly and save every bit of its clientele’s time.

Konfio Steps up

Microfinance is much needed as an alternative to SMEs, and that’s where Konfio steps up. Short-term or mid-term loans are available at Konfio with a nine-month average tenure. When you go for a first-time loan, theoretically, it can get up to $10,000 while the typical debit ticket scope is $2,000.

When the annual cost of a loan to a borrower (APR) is brought up, lending companies charge 6,000 to 4,000%. In Mexico, for extremely modest group loans which are not collateral, conventional microfinance companies charge approximately 80-100%. Depending on the type of credit card, the fee ranges from 50% to about 90% while banks that offer collateral loans impose approximately 30%.

On the other hand, Konfio’s rates begin with a 24% per year and rise to a typical 60% yearly without any collateral required! Konfio has an aim set for its clientele as they grow and obtain some greater financing rates.

So, now is the time to ask how exactly does Konfio decides the worthiness of its credits.

David implies that two factors are key when trying to assess the worthiness of a credit - adequate cash flow of the client to repay the loan within an agreed-upon interval, and will clients pay up if they possess the amount of money. The trick of the trade that distinguishes Konfio from other finance companies is that the platform is a lot faster and possesses more data due to the technology utilized.

Mexican citizens don’t put their cash in banks for safe-keeping, meaning that the economy is quite monetary. To figure out how the enterprises are functioning, Konfio’s team has to look at different sources such as the transactional data coming from other financial platforms. Payment gateways are also looked at for clean-cut loans.

At this moment, Konfio has gotten fundings of around $125M and that number is sure to rise exponentially because the trend of funding in Mexico keeps going up. Konfio now has 6 key executives including David and Francisco.

Entrepreneurs who would like to secure a substantial amount of funds in the form of a loan can apply at Konfio to receive anywhere between $3,000,000 down to $100,000, taking up only 7 minutes. Furthermore, just 72 hours are separating you from collecting your money and it’s such a great offer for expanding your business.

Konfio,Today

Microfinancing small and medium-sized businesses is everything Konfio’s about. Today, Konfio holds its headquarters in Mexico City, Mexico, catering to the needs of the not-so-big companies in Latin America.

Before earning the trust of hundreds of companies, fintech platform Konfio had to trail its own path and shake off competition coming from Empire Software, Aitrade, and Naborly, among others.

Recently, Konfio hit a huge milestone when it partnered up with the financial Goliath- Visa.

Employing over 600 people, Konfio is reaching for the stars! Today, Konfio is guided by the business-oriented David as the company’s CEO and founder, alongside Francisco as the co-founder and CTO.

With the ever-growing market of financial technology, Konfio sure is securing its place among the big players. Offering fast, secure, and customized financial loans to small and medium-sized businesses, Konfio is confident that it’s here to stay.