Marcelo Lanfranconi studied and graduated from Systems Engineer at Universidad ORT Uruguay. In 2012, he co-founded Paganza, a startup incubated at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE), which offers an easier way to pay bills. The company recently won the BBVA Open Talent competition.
It was 2012 when Marcelo, along with Leonardo Vernazza—a computer engineer from the University of the Republic—realized that two developments were taking place that would allow the payment system to evolve. On the one hand, there was the rapid growth of smartphones, and on the other, the government’s push for financial inclusion.
In January of that same year, the two entrepreneurs founded Paganza, convinced that they could create a smarter way to pay bills. The app allows users to scan the barcode on their bills using a smartphone, confirm payment by entering a PIN, and have the amount debited directly from their bank account.
In June 2013, Paganza won the BBVA Open Talent competition in the "New Banking" category, which is dedicated to projects that explore new, more customer-centric approaches to banking with the goal of improving the user experience.
“Winning a global innovation award is a significant honor, and for us as entrepreneurs, it gives us the support we need to keep growing,” says Marcelo. Although they had the support of early adopters from the start—which was essential for developing the solution—the young entrepreneurs now hope to improve the service and grow the company, building on the positive experiences of users themselves and with the backing of institutions such as banks, the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), and Universidad ORT Uruguay of Universidad ORT Uruguay, through the CIE.
More than 900startups from around the world entered the competition, but only 20 made it to the finals. Although their hopes rose when they were selected as finalists, at the start of the competition they found it hard to imagine that they would win against nearly a thousand startups from all over the world. The entrepreneurs believe their company won because “the jury appreciated that Paganza offers a simple solution to a very important problem in Latin America.”
When asked about the company’s immediate future, Paganza’s founder says they are currently focused on growing and establishing the service in Uruguay. “We’ve received a lot of support from users, and thanks to their ratings on the App Store, we’ve become the number one app in Apple’s Finance category,” says the young entrepreneur.
Currently, the service is available to customers of Banco Itaú, BBVA, and BROU, but they are working to make it available to customers of all banks in Uruguay. “We are confident that this will happen, as we have seen that the solution is not only valued by users but also offers significant benefits to banks by reducing cash usage and, consequently, operating costs,” Marcelo concludes.
Interview published in July 2013.