Its name is redolent of the Minitel and the great era of telematics. BD Multimedia (which includes the initials of the founders) was created in 1986 exploding market of 3615. Thirty years later, the parisian company claims to have become ” a pure Fintech innovative “, both platform pos for e-commerce and “néobanque” general public, with a wireless card account sold in tobacconists, like the Nickel, recently purchased by BNP Paribas (for an astronomical amount estimated at 200 million euros).
Yet another transformation for this family-owned company entered the stock Exchange twenty years ago (a certain Xavier Niel is a shareholder, to 1.45%), which also has to time his pole it services company, his activities as a telecoms operator, paid games, and printed communication. Its turnover was divided by five in four years, under the impact of the upheavals in these sectors. It’s still a activity edit history of the sites “community” (gay meeting), which generated 1.7 million euros in turnover last year, which will be incorporated in a separate structure by the management team.
“We have organized the transfer of this activity to be very lucrative, as many other pioneers in the online payment had in the portfolio, as Dalenys (ex-Rentabiliweb) or HiMedia (now AdUX). The time has come to accelerate this mutation : it is the beginning of the story, we become a company 100% Fintech ” says Jim Dorra (son of co-founder Daniel Dorra), the director-general delegate to the payment services.
[The trajectory of BD Multimedia in more than thirty years, recalls that of other pioneers of telematics, such as the ex-HiMedia or the ex-Rentabiliweb]
In search of a new name and investors
In order to better reflect its repositioning, BD Multimedia has asked an agency for branding to find him a new name. The company, which employs twenty people, has also mandated that the small business bank BCE Fintech to enter the capital of new investors : it is hoping to raise 6 to 7 million euros, the double of its capitalization present in the stock Exchange and its turnover in the payment in 2016.
“These 6 to 7 million euros, this is not much compared to some néobanques which raise a lot of money” argues Bernard Sheikboudhou, the director of business development (ex-groupe BPCE). “We have set aside for the moment the use of the stock market. We want to build something sustainable, and we need partners that are capital-intensive, industrial or institutional. “
Actor of the payment for ten years, but on the niche of the micropayment with his solution Starpass (a small competitor to HiPay, ex-Allopass), BD Multimedia has operated its “pivot” in 2015 : it has received approval from the prudential supervision Authority and resolution (ACPR) the payment institution license hybrid by year-end and launched its platform pos multi-currency Payment.net while purchasing activity of card payment prepaid, Toneo First, the advice of a specialist prepaid cards of telecom (Central Telecom), which has generated 140,000 euros in turnover in 2016.
Still a néobanque
This offer, initially launched in early 2011, is distributed in the offices of tobacco, via a contract with wholesalers as Logista (28.000 tobacconists). Today, BD Multimedia wants to make a “néobanque”, as there is already a lot, between Account Nickel, Morning (taken over by the bank Edel Leclerc), and the C-zam Carrefour. The Mastercard Toneo First appears, however, not very competitive : it is sold 15 euros in blister packs with a package without a commitment of 5 euros per month (against 5 euros on the purchase and 1 euro per month for C-zam, 2 euros per month for Morning and 20 euros per year for Nickel).
“It is a contribution for three years and we have a Freedom package without monthly fee” hue, the director of business development. “We do not have an Account Nickel light, there is no interest to do the same thing. One of the big differences is the ability to reload the card by depositing cash up to 230 euros, it is one of the uses that is acclaimed by the users, ” he says.
The difference in the model Account for Nickel, where they are trained and responsible for the operations of verification of the identity of the customer on a kiosk, tobacconists who sell the card Toneo First (which would need a name change also) are “exempt from the time consuming tasks of the KYC [client knowledge, editor’s Note], and better paid,” say the executive officers of BD Multimedia, which do not communicate the number of users. The flows handled have been multiplied by ten since January of 2016 even if they remain very modest at 1.5 million euros per month.
The target is to close that Account Nickel, including the prohibited bank and other persons “in sub-financial inclusion” (500.000 French without access to the financial system, and 2.4 million in fragile financial situation), self-employed and auto-entrepreneurs.
“We assess the potential of people interested by the offers of néobanques to 8 million French : that is huge,” enthuses Jim Dorra. “We hope to place 2,500 to 3,000 cards per month from the first half of 2008. Above all, we want active users and important uses, it is here that we can make margins. “
Payment BtoB and BtoC
BD Multimedia is hoping to rise to 200,000 customers of its néobanque in 2020 (Having Nickel in a 639.000).
“We assess the potential of people interested by the offers of néobanques to 8 million French : that is huge,” enthuses Jim Dorra. “We hope to place 2,500 to 3,000 cards per month from the first half of 2008. Above all, we want active users and important uses, it is here that we can make margins. “
The company in full repositioning wants to convince him that his two offers, BtoB (business to business to business) and BtoC (aimed at the general public), have a coherence between them, especially with the rise of the collaborative economy..
“These autoentrepreneurs are also merchants. We have seen with Starpass : half of the commissions of the self-entrepreneurs in the gaming goes on prepaid accounts or Paypal. And in the fonds of trade of Toneo, there was a lot of drivers VTC ” notes Jim Dorra.
BD Multimedia provides provide tailor-made solutions for a variety of purposes, such as recovery of corporate expenses, for example. A dozen contracts with medium and large accounts are expected this year. The son of co-founder of BD Multimedia is satisfied:
“Between the old players, banks and payment service providers, and new entrants, global giants such as Braintree (Paypal) and Stripe, there is a place in a niche for people like us. “
