The curious business model of N5, the software factory that develops technology for financial entities, fintech and insurance companies, attracted investors and technology companies but the founders rejected their offers. Who are the seven Argentines behind the company and why do they refuse to receive investment rounds?
In 2017, a group of seven Argentines traveled to the United States and founded their own company. Today, they refuse to sell it “at all costs.”
This is N5, a startup that develops software for financial technology companies, banks and insurance companies. Among its clients, -although they do not reveal names- there are Argentine public banks, Swiss companies and means of payment from the Middle East.
In the last two years, it received a total of 20 investment proposals, however its CEO, the Argentine Julián Colombo, rejected them all. The company received calls from large technology companies and investment funds in the United States, but no offer was good enough.
According to the company, this does not mean that they are not interested, but rather that they are looking for “an investor that accompanies the company’s strategic plan and helps to meet its long-term objectives.”
“Our model is structurally different from that of our competitors. Most software solutions for companies are born with the ambition of being universal, serving all industries. We not only focus on the financial industry but also understand its regulation, its legacy systems , its interoperability and the fundamentals of its business”, explains Colombo.
On the other hand, the company’s business model seeks to be 100% financed by its clients and the entrepreneurs decided to reinvest all their profits.
According to data from N5, they are growing by leaps and bounds: since their founding date, they have grown 500% a year and, according to company sources, it is thanks to the fact that fintechs, banks and insurers trust their developments.
“The financial industry is tired of huge technological projects, with chronic delays, uncontrolled expenses and without an evident impact on real business variables,” says María Bellati, Operations Manager. “That was what gave us the opportunity in the market. Word of mouth in the industry did the rest,” he adds.
Currently, they have a presence in four countries and have offices in Miami, Madrid, Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires.
In the medium term, its plan is to develop new verticals to its Open Baking and Open Insurance platform. In simple terms, Open Banking is considered the practice of sharing financial information digitally, securely and with the approval of the customers themselves.
This information is shared through APIs (Application Programming Interface). Open banking has been a trend in the global financial market for several years now and has also reached the insurance industry.
“N5 is focused on its clients being successful in their digital transformation. All other objectives are secondary. We will not reduce our quality, our speed or our depth to achieve any financial goal of our own. Our only commitment is to build long-term relationships. And the fact that we are profitable, that we have never lost a client and that they all come by recommendation is an indication that we are on the right path”, concludes Colombo.
Editorial: Infotechnology
