Juan Guruceta established divilo It was established in January 2020 to provide payment, collection and accounting services to companies and the self-employed, but did not become operational until January 2022, immediately after obtaining a license from the Bank of Spain. About 6,000 users use it Tap to Phone app that turns your mobile phone into a data phone. They have signed a new agreement with Boyacá and Visa to digitize payments from newsstands and have been collaborating with Cabify for a year. Guruceta assures in this interview that they have postponed their plans to go public in 2024 but still aspire to cross the ocean to expand their business in Latin America through the Dominican Republic.
-Which sectors use your application the most?
Urban mobility, delivery, distribution and logistics. I think Cabify has four thousand chauffeurs working with us, so we have a serious weight in this sector.
-Do taxis also work in Divilo?
To a lesser extent, it’s real. We are satisfied and have a large number of customers, but we have more customers from the VTC sector than the taxi sector regarding volume. It’s true that the ride-hailing part is easier for us because ultimately it would be a huge adoption if one of the three main companies in Spain made all their users, passengers or drivers aware of the existence of our product. In the taxi world you have to go one by one and there are times when banks compete with us on price, so people prefer dataphone because we claim to be the best, not the cheapest.
-Do you also focus on startups and large companies?
We’re less in the startup, but after all, we’re in everything B2C or B2B. Our client profile today is a large company with a large number of freelancers; so we try to ensure that ‘enterprise’ is there to reach freelancers who are traveling or self-employed much more efficiently.
-In addition to alliances such as Visa and paint or Cabify, do you have other alliances in sight?
Yes, we actually have a few signatures, but they are confidential or at least not made public yet. One of the four verticals I give you will be delivery.
-Are you continuing the same growth after the explosion in digitalization due to the pandemic?
Now we’re getting bigger because in 2020 Divilo still didn’t have a license to operate from the Bank of Spain, so we were basically programming, making technological advances and preparing all the license files during the pandemic year. Although it was established during the pandemic period or just before the start of the pandemic, we are a company that entered the market after the pandemic.
Think your cash will disappear?
Absolutely not, at least not throughout my professional career. And even more in Spain, where there is a very significant amount of cash. Spain is among the countries with the most cash in the world, and I think that withdrawing cash is also a way to give people freedom, the freedom to choose the payment method. However, the use of cash is indeed declining at an astronomical rate. The new generation does not want to have cash anymore. I haven’t had an inch left in my pocket for years either, which isn’t a good thing, but I’m already used to a fully digitized life in terms of payments. But of course I can’t see the money disappearing 100 percent in Spain.
-Do you think the app is a way to expand digitalization in rural areas?
Yes definitely. Our technology is much better and cheaper than dataphone. First of all we have 5G, we use mobile phone or SIM card technology, so all improvements made in a mobile phone benefit us and above all the customer. Also in rural areas where you don’t always have the required coverage and, of course, a data phone. And if your data phone runs out of paper, you’ll be pissed. We have eliminated paper, aiming for comfort and efficiency as well as the sustainability advantage that has been fundamental to me since I founded the company.
-Divilo has set the date of going public as 2024, are you still keeping this goal?
Things have changed a lot in two and a half years. We will definitely open it to the public next year.
– Do you have a new date?
Right now my goal as president of the company is to grow, I’m not thinking about such ambitions right now, I think we have a huge catalog of clients that we need to serve right now, and I’m thinking about going into the stock market right now, after all, it’s our customers who are asking us and to whom we need to dedicate all our focus right now. It causes us to stop paying attention.
-What are your plans for internationalization?
We already have a European passport, so we will soon launch it in Portugal and expand it throughout the European Union. We also want to reach Latin America, starting with the Dominican Republic at the end of 2024 or at the end of 2025.
-Why the Dominican Republic and not Colombia or Mexico?
Because the Dominican Republic is a highly developed region in terms of tourism. Especially thanks to this sector, it has a very high GDP. Payments is not very developed and we believe there is an opportunity because we have very little competition there. We believe that we will reach a very strong business volume there in a very short time. And of course we’ll go to Colombia or Mexico later, but we think that’s a good starting point because that’s not the usual strategy a company would use to expand in Latin America. Having too many competitors in Colombia and Mexico makes it even harder. That’s why we started with the Dominican Republic, where we have many connections, have relevant knowledge and can add value there. The business volume is huge.
-Do you intend to combine payments with cryptocurrencies in the future?
Not now. This is something that is emerging, but we have already seen that cryptocurrencies are very high risk, very volatile. I’m not closing the doors, but in the short term, we don’t consider it for the next 2-3 years.
How much turnover and benefit did you get in 2022?
This is confidential. We don’t have any advantage right now. Last year was the first year we went into operation, we did not have any accumulated losses yet.
Do you know when you can reach profitability?
We expect profitability in June next year. The date is very precise, but we have this goal. Also, we don’t have a huge team. I’ve always loved having small teams and made a profit in my first company in the third year, so I’m very happy. I am moderately optimistic about achieving this in the third year of operations.
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What plans do you have in the short and medium term beyond international expansion?
Keep improving our product. I think we are at the forefront of payment method technology at the European and global level, but it can always be improved and we will continue to work on it to provide better support and service to these four industries, especially those with many needs beyond that. We continue to collect and focus on customer. And of course, keep scaling on both large, medium and small customers to achieve this profitability as quickly as possible.