ADDI

With a little over a year operating in the Colombian market, ADDI is positioning itself through its technology in a segment that is very familiar and used by Colombians: the financing of their purchases by requesting loans at the point of sale. Traditionally, merchants grant credits directly to their customers from their own stores, as does, for example, Jamar or Flamingo.

Now, ADDI is breaking into the payment method market, combining cutting-edge technology with a disruptive loan model that is already seen in countries like Australia, where the Afterpay company is generating billions of dollars in credits, or in the United States, where Affirm generates more than three billion dollars a year. ADDI grants credits digitally from the point of sale and ensures the financing of purchases without the need to process physical papers and in a few minutes. Santiago Suárez, founder and CEO of ADDI, comments that this Fintech is the result of having lived for more than 15 years outside of Colombia, working in finance and technology, in banks as important and recognized as JP Morgan and in LendingClub, the largest and most important Fintech in the world at that time. His experience allowed him to know first-hand and understand the dimension of the impact of technology on access to credit, financial inclusion and experience from the consumer’s angle.

Upon arriving in Colombia, and with the aim of contributing to the development and growth of the country, Santiago observed that in the national market only 15% of the population has access to a credit card. He also discovered that to obtain a loan you have to carry out a large number of procedures, get co-debtors, in addition to the high interest and intermediation

rates, among other obstacles that appear during the process. With this outlook, he identified a great opportunity to help people achieve their dreams and goals through the approval of agile loans by creating a world-class technology company. Finally, together with Elmer Ortega, currently in charge of the financial core and transactional data for clients and Daniel Vallejo, who is in charge of accounting and portfolio, they founded ADDI.

The process began with the planning and development of a technology company, whose medium-term product can be operated anywhere in the world. “We are going to focus first on Colombia and Latin America, where we see that the model we are implementing does not exist,” says Santiago.

“We want to reach the hearts of customers, making a reality the possibility of making those purchases that are important to them, those purchases that fulfill dreams. Examples of this are important purchases for the family such as a refrigerator, a mattress, an English course, children’s school supplies, Christmas gifts, house renovations, medical treatment; purchases that fulfill family goals and dreams. If we do it well, in an agile and very easy way, our clients will be happy and will return to us many times ”, says Santiago.

ADDI has a price structure that is very favorable for customers: no handling fees, no paperwork or co-debtors. The process is very transparent with the client, with annual effective interest rates of 19.99% to 27.24%, and that allow saving between $ 50,000 and $ 100,000 in interest in a single year for a loan of one million pesos, thus contributing to the well-being, tranquility and financial health of its clients.

Obtaining a loan with ADDI is very easy. The client can do it from the ally store where the purchase is going to be made, any day of the week, simply with his cell phone and his ID card. In real time, ADDI’s intelligent software analyzes more than 200 variables and generates a credit approval in a matter of minutes. The credit can be between $ 100,000 pesos and $ 15,000,000. And most interestingly, they reward the customers who have a good credit history with better rates.

In one year of operation, ADDI has granted more than one hundred billion pesos in loans from the points of sale of its allies, among the main ones are: Wall Street Institute, Open English, Bikehouse, Corona, Cemex, Pepe Ganga, Thermos; all leading and highly recognized companies in their sector. Allies are fundamental to ADDI and together they work hand in hand to increase the volume of clients and sales. ADDI currently has more than 90 allies that translate into more than 1,400 points of sale. The allies have indicated that since their relationship with the Fintech, their sales and average ticket have increased by 20% and 25% respectively. On a weekly basis, merchants receive payments for all

sales made with ADDI loans, thus eliminating any risk in their collection and portfolio processes.

Since this year, ADDI is also offering its credits in the virtual stores (e-commerce) of its allies, becoming the first Company in the country to do so. With just entering some data, the system generates the customer approval of their credit in a few minutes so that they can finalize their purchase.

“We want to be present in all e-commerce in the country as a payment method and give people the option to finance the purchases that matter to them, without having to depend on traditional, inefficient and expensive means”, says the director of the online sales channel of ADDI. In addition, ADDI has just launched a product called PayLink, a new way to access their credits that allows the customer to request one by simply clicking on a link that he receives on his cell phone and through which he can fill out the data at his own pace, without limit of time or data loss, to complete the purchase. PayLink activates in a single day and is perfect for speeding up the sales process for merchants that do not yet have online stores. The impressive thing about the technology and the business model that ADDI has developed is that it allows custody of the credit title without having to generate a promissory note. The process is fully digital and controlled in the chain of custody at all times. Besides, the technology they have developed makes it possible to avoid fraud by applying the

strictest security protocols before the approval of each loan.

ADDI has managed to fund its operation with the most important global players in this segment:

The seed capital for US $ 4,000,000 was obtained through Village Global, an investment fund of which Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are part, which seeks companies with projection to revolutionize the technology sector, and through the Andreessen Horowitz fund, an American venture capital firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, which invests in early-stage start-ups and fast-growing companies. The fund has invested in companies such as Facebook, Instagram, Rappi and Pinterest. In this way, ADDI became the first Latin American company to receive the support of the Village Global investment fund; In addition, it obtained the continued support of Andreessen Horowitz, who led its Series A financing round, which raised US $ 12,500,000. The Village Global, Sinai VC and Monashees funds also participated, a Brazilian investment fund, expert in supporting companies that have exponential growth projection in LATAM. And in recent weeks, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the company received capital of US $ 15 million in a round led by Quona Capital, which participates in leading Fintech companies in Brazil and Mexico; Foundation Capital, investors in Rappi, and S7 Ventures. This injection of capital has made ADDI one of the Colombian companies in the Fintech sector with the highest investment.

This is why we can say that there are no employees at ADDI. There are founders, partners, and colleagues. Each member of the organization owns shares in the company. Today there are around 120 collaborator-partners, who mostly work in the technological area, the heart of the organization. In 2020, ADDI will focus on consolidating itself in the Colombian market, where there is enormous potential. It is estimated that in our country credits can be originated for more than US $ 500 million per year. By the end of 2020, the expansión plan will focus on entering the markets of Brazil.