Bank4.me — a startup that simplifies the lending process

Andrey Antropov, city — Astana, IT entrepreneur, CEO

How it all began

Bank4.me is a financial and analytical service whose idea and concept “migrated” to Kazakhstan from Belarus. The main goal of our project, as well as its core idea, is to simplify the lending process. Our startup is the next version of a Belarusian startup, which is already considered a full-fledged business in Belarus.

The transfer of the business model to Kazakhstan was not accidental. This is the fastest-developing country in the post-Soviet space, as evidenced by population and economic growth. Therefore, Kazakhstan is considered an excellent launchpad for rapid business development.

The idea of creating the service is not new. Credit brokers exist in all countries of the world, in one form or another. Initially, we entered the Kazakh market with the idea of creating a broker for retail, but later decided to focus on auto lending. Market analysis showed that this niche was untaken, unlike the retail lending segment, where competition is high.

Team

We began implementing the service in Belarus, where the core of the team was assembled. When we moved to Kazakhstan, the team was supplemented with new members who strengthened it.

The development of the startup in Belarus was successful due to our significant competitive advantage in the market. We were the first to enter the market with our idea at the right time, which played no small role in the project’s success.

Successful development was also facilitated by a well-chosen team composition. Competent organization of the work process, thoughtful distribution of responsibilities among all team members, and effective interaction of all links in the work chain bore fruit in the form of a well-coordinated team at all levels of the hierarchical structure. This positively affects work results.

Target Audience

Bank4.me is a credit service that belongs to the business-to-business-to-customer segment. Our target audience is all businesses interested in optimizing and simplifying the lending process for their clients.

Our project pursues several goals simultaneously: the first is to provide benefits to our partners by expanding their partner base, product line, expertise, and reducing partners’ operational costs. This increases their profitability. Another goal is to make the loan application process as simple and transparent as possible for people, helping them find the best terms and increase their chances of approval. Currently, our service operates in more than 100 car dealerships, but our goal for 2024 is 300 dealerships!

Incubation Programs

We participated in the Kazakhstan Digital Accelerator acceleration program, as well as the StarVenture EBRD program. They helped us in scaling the business.

Challenges

Like everyone who started implementing their idea from scratch, we faced obstacles in the form of lack of experience. Despite this, we achieved excellent results, and all overcome difficulties we use as invaluable experience, which allows us to avoid the “costs of Belarusian success” in Kazakhstan.

A common problem that we, among others, faced was banks’ trust in a new market participant. But the main thing is not to be afraid and continue doing your business!

If you are thinking about starting a startup, stop thinking and start doing. I also advise beginners to take advantage of the opportunities offered to startups — they are abundant and available in many places.

Achievements

From 2022 to 2023, the valuation of our project increased fivefold. We attracted investments from venture funds in Kazakhstan, the USA, and the UAE: MyVentures, Big Sky Capital, and PI Capital Limited. Our valuation reached $5 million. We consider this an excellent indicator of the prospects of our activity. The best is yet to come!

Plans

We are grateful to all our investors for their trust and support of the project. We plan to direct investments into scaling in Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan. At the same time, we will continue working in Kazakhstan to offer our partners even more effective and profitable products.