E-commerce is driving up installment payments, known by the English acronym BNPL, which stands for buy now, pay later (buy now, pay later). Even after the online boom experienced during the pandemic, these types of operations continue to rise. This is corroborated by the startup Sequra, one of the veterans of the sector in Barcelona.
The company expects to bill more than 53 million euros, compared to the 40 million it entered in 2022, and the 32 million of the previous year. “We are going to grow in France, Italy and Portugal with the aim of turning Sequra into the main player in the sector in southern Europe,” says Adrián Escudé, the company’s revenue manager. The company landed last year in the three neighboring countries, which at the moment contribute less than 10% of the income. Another avenue for growth will be the launch of personalized services for customers, such as a subscription service for companies in the optical sector.
Altogether, Sequra collaborates with 5,000 companies from 15 sectors, such as electronics, travel, perfumery or home. Recently, it has incorporated clients such as Iberia, Hotmart, Vorwerk, Bricodepot, Visionlab or Aristocrazy.
Like other companies in the sector (Klarna, Clearpay), Sequra’s technology allows its clients to make it easier for users to pay in installments for the products they purchase online. The payments that it allows to divide range from 60 to 4,000 euros.
“With this model, we have achieved that our technology reaches 2 million users since our birth in 2014”, says Escudé.
The manager points out that the company will also work to get as close as possible to profitability. The forecasts point to the recording of slight net losses, at a level similar to that of last year. Escudé recalls that in 2022 the company carried out a strong investment –of 9 million euros– in the opening of an innovation center in Barcelona and the hiring of personnel. In fact, in just one year the workforce has grown by 45% and now exceeds 280 people. The majority work in the Barcelona offices and a small part do so remotely from foreign countries.
Sequra is owned by the founder and CEO, David Bäckström, and the Swedish bank Svea, which has a minority stake after contributing 35 million euros to the business in 2022.