Words like 'check', 'call', 'raise' or even the butterflies in the stomach, 'all-In', may not be part of many people’s daily life, but for 7 million poker players in Brazil they are. Not to mention those who make this game their “breadwinner”. Quite a market when it comes to financial transactions.
It's not just that. According to the Game Brasil Survey (PGB) of 2021, 72% of Brazilians play some type of electronic game, regardless of the platform. And buying an online game or equipment requires a real financial transaction. It was with this in mind that GamersCard was founded in 2019.
At first, the fintech only offered a specialized international prepaid credit card for gamers and poker players. In July of this year, it had an application developed in partnership with Mobile2you Tecnologia. The application uses Acesso, with the services of “banking as a servisse” (BaaS) of the Bankly business unit, responsible for the regulatory layer with Brazil’s Central Bank (BC).
Now it takes over as a fintech with plans to be a payment initiator (IP) one day. “On the wallet alone, 16 thousand accounts were opened in 2 months,” says Paulo Gerber, GamersCard co-founder and CEO, in an exclusive interview with Finsiders.
In its first year of operation, the company had already issued 20 thousand international prepaid credit cards. And, with the latest product, the wallet for poker players (launched more than 2 months ago), they not only beat the company's goal of 60,000 users on their platforms (website and app), but it will close this year with a base of 90 thousand.
In addition, the company projects a turnover of of R$ 45 million (US$ 8m) and R$ 80 million (US$ 14.5m) in total transactions processed this year. In 2022, the expectation is to triple these transactions, reaching R$ 250 million (US$ 45m). “But we hope that this value can be even greater,” adds the entrepreneur.
On the website or the application, the customer can also pay bills (boletos, utility bills, taxes, etc.), top up to mobile phones and transfers to other GamersCard cards.
The card, like other similars on the market, has benefits. In the case of GamersCard, there is the GamersPoints loyalty program, where for every dollar spent with the card, it accumulates points and can be exchanged for more than 3,000 products or cashback.
But it brings other specific advantages to the target audience, such as being able to participate in exclusive weekly tournaments of League of Legends (LoL), Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) and poker with cash prizes or GamersPoints, and even partnerships with players in the industry of poker, games and technology for players to evolve in their games.
Right now, GamersCard's ambition is to be the payment and financial services platform of choice for the gaming community and online poker players, as well as contributing to their financial journey. “We have parents who look for our product to have greater control over the transactions made by their children,” says Paulo.
Small market, 'but not'...
The entrepreneur considers that it is a market that is still expanding, so there is little competition. However, if t is considered the size of those who have already ventured into this field, competition becomes fierce. Large banks have stood out in this segment.
Banco do Brasil (BB), for example, was recognized as the most famous institution in this segment, according to PGB 2021. It has a platform, #TamoJuntoNesseGame in partnership with Visa, which includes innovations in the area, which are the events, in this case, eSports and about financial products.
Another example is Santander, which has the Gamer Consortium, which offers a letter of credit for the person to assemble the PC gamer and buy all the equipment to play.
Inter - with its subscription game program, Inter Arcade -; and Next – in partnership with Fluxo, the Free Fire team created by Nobru and Cerol -; they also offer financial solutions aimed at this audience.
Source: Danylo Martins - Finsiders
