The Rijeka company Bizzaro fintech, which works on the digitalization of banking processes using artificial intelligence algorithms, started operating last year and has already achieved a valuation of 2.5 million euros in its first year of business, raising three million kuna in investments. Among others, it was supported by the venture capital fund Fil Rouge Capital. Today, its services are used by all major banks in Croatia.
The digitalization of banks and banking services is inevitable, especially since digital banks are increasingly breathing down their necks with their fast and simple solutions. The strength of this impulse for change in traditional banks is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that digital banks like N26 and Revolut approve cash loans within three seconds, while, in comparison, the loan approval process in Croatian banks can take more than fourteen days. Loan users are willing to accept higher interest rates as long as the loan approval process is simpler and faster. All of this opens up enormous space for financial technology (fintech) companies like Bizzaro to shorten banking procedures and bring them into top shape so they can compete equally with market challengers. How they do this at the Rijeka company is revealed by Marko Radosavljević, the technology director at Bizzaro.
What symbolism lies behind the name Bizzaro fintech?
– The name of the company comes from one of the episodes of the series ‘Seinfeld’ – ‘The Bizarro Jerry’, when Elaine encounters a bizarro world where everything is faster, better, and simpler, and the characters are smarter and cool. Our idea is to create better and simpler processes in the field of banking. Hence the name Bizzaro fintech.
What prompted you to establish the company, what were you doing before, and what mission have you set for Bizzaro?
– I have always been interested in developing my own software solutions. Before fintech, I worked in many different industries, but when I, along with my partners, noticed the market opportunity opening up in the digital banking services market, I decided to venture into that area.
The first year of business has proven to be quite promising, especially in a year that was anything but promising for many. What can you attribute such results to?
– We can attribute the results we achieved to a 21st-century idea, good connections, partners, investors, but perhaps most of all to the banks, both digital ones like Revolut and N26 and traditional ones. Traditional ones because they did not follow innovations, and digital ones because they showed the way banking will develop in the next period.
Does this also mean that our market is ripe for fintech services and that the banking sector has truly embraced former rivals?
– The market is indeed ripe, but certainly, traditional banks are quite lagging behind in the innovations that digital banks are widely applying. More and more people rely on smartphones in their daily lives; these are people who do not want to wait in lines in front of the bank. The pandemic helped society realize that we can function online and further accelerated the digitalization, which was an inevitable process.
Although the banking sector is, on one hand, at an advantage due to the number of users and long tradition, fintech companies swim much better in the area of digitalization and offer much simpler and faster services, such as, for example, loan approvals. How can banks respond to the demands of a market accustomed to plug and play solutions even when it comes to serious areas like banking?
– Banks certainly need to keep up with the innovations provided by fintech companies. They have two options: they can develop solutions independently and rely on their employees or use solutions offered by fintech companies like ours. We believe that our development niche is small and medium banks that cannot afford the first option, so they must opt for cooperation with fintech companies to remain competitive in an increasingly demanding market.
