With a transaction of half a million euros, Barion will turbocharge its international expansion
Hungarian angel investors are launching one of the most promising Hungarian fintech (financial-technological) startup companies, Barion, on an international track. Thanks to its radical business model, the Barion Smart Gateway online payment solution has been introduced by 1800 merchants in a year and a half, and 400 customers have already used the service.
Experts say digital technology is revolutionizing the field of financial services, which is expected to completely change our banking and payment habits. The potential of the segment is well indicated by the fact that in 2016, a total of nearly USD 17,5 billion (nearly HUF 5 billion!) Of venture capital was invested in fintech startups worldwide, which represents an increase of about 11% compared to the previous year.
Judge Tamás Bíró
One of the leading Hungarian players in the rapidly developing field in Hungary is Barion, which offers several online payment solutions, mainly for web stores and mobile applications. The service provider, licensed by the Magyar Nemzeti Bank, already has 400 users and more than 1800 trading companies using the system, generating billions in monthly traffic. Barion's partners include Extreme Digital, Jófogás, Telenor, Szallas.hu, Budapest University of Technology, the A38 ship or the award-winning Lumenet, which specializes in lighting technology.
As part of a transaction worth a total of EUR 500 (more than HUF 150 million), Barion Payment Zrt. Raised capital in two stages, and the founders bought out their previous investor, Primus Capital, acquiring an 83% stake in the company. The clear goal of the investment is for Barion to increase its foreign presence by making a larger, multi-million euro international investment. 5% of Barion's turnover is already generated by its foreign partners.
Among the investors we can find Roland Pecsenye, one of the founders of IND, one of the largest Hungarian fintech success stories, acquired by Mysis a few years ago, who also became the head of the Barion Supervisory Board. In the second round, Dániel Nemes, one of the pioneers of the Hungarian Internet world, the founder of Telnet, joined the circle of angel investors and also became a member of the Board of Directors.
A big advantage of Barion compared to similar payment services is that you can pay with a plastic card through the system in a simple way, quickly and without having to re-enter your credit card details. In addition to the easy-to-use and user-friendly interface, the service is also made unique by the business model. Barion offers a very favorable commission system for merchants, for which the company asks for purchase data, as the precisely personalized marketing service based on them is of enormous value.
