OneVision — a system that simplifies the online payment process

Igor Em, city — Almaty, CEO OneVision

How it started
My partners and I come from the FinTech industry. We decided to combine our competencies and skills to create something of our own.

Initially, there were five of us: four founders and the first partner. We knew how to work and manage a product, so we started by seeking investments. We were lucky: we managed to raise funds and assemble a team that believed in us and understood their tasks.

The idea came in January 2021, and by February we had already registered the company. After that, we focused on technical support and analyzing the process of establishing our own LLC.

In July 2021, we received a payment aggregator license from the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Then we began attracting clients, making calls, and arranging meetings.

The first banking partner was "Sberbank."

Target audience
The startup is useful for everyone. The world of online payments is evolving every day. If you have a business and accept online payments — we can help you. For individuals, we reduce the time required to process transactions.

We are also developing other products, such as an e-wallet. It allows customers to be independent of bank cards. In regions, POS terminals are not always available, so people there rely heavily on cash. To buy something online, they need to use a card.

An e-wallet is an alternative that enables online purchases. This may seem unusual to people in large cities, but such a tool is popular among residents of small towns and districts.

We have more than 200 clients in Kazakhstan. Branches are located in Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan.

Acceleration programs
We participated in the MOST accelerator. We have a specific type of business. Our target audience consists of legal entities that value service, its proper functioning, and technical support. It is difficult for us to get feedback, unlike startups focused on individual consumers. Therefore, the accelerator did not help much in identifying vulnerabilities and growth points.
However, the program proved useful in preparing for presentations, pitching, and attracting investment.

Challenges
Few are willing to work with an unknown company. Securing a contract with TechnoDom was incredibly difficult. There are more than 100 payment systems operating in Kazakhstan — our competitors. Acquiring a major client among them is a tough task. But we proved that working with us is worthwhile.

Another challenge is team building. It is hard to attract top-tier specialists to startups — often they are willing to work for money, but not for an idea. Top professionals in our field are expensive — at the beginning, we could not afford to hire them, so we asked for their help without employing them.

Another problem is the need to wait for a long time. Acquiring banks we want to cooperate with must first vet us. Clients are not willing to wait that long, so it is easier for them to choose another payment system. For this reason, we tried to quickly gain the trust of banks.

Achievements
My personal achievement as a leader is a strong team that believes in the product, maintains motivation and passion for work, regardless of whether times are difficult or good. The company employs more than 100 people across several branches worldwide. All other results came thanks to these people who build the business with us every day.

My achievement as a person is my partners. There are four of us, each with our own views on life. Despite the stress and heavy workload, we have not fallen out; we stay united and resilient, leading the company forward.

Sometimes we bring specialists from other fields into our team and turn them into FinTech professionals. They gave us the chance to prove ourselves as leaders, and we help develop their skills, turning average managers into top-tier specialists.

Plans
We have several functions: we provide banks with our solution — a "payment core" — on an outsourced basis. We created a processing center — if new banks do not have their own, they can purchase ours and integrate it into their operations.

We are also developing other products — "anti-fraud" and "financial monitoring" — which are offered to companies as SaaS solutions.

This year, we managed to cover the CIS region. Next year, we aim to scale into Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia. These markets are more challenging for scaling. First, we accomplished the simpler tasks; now we want to move on to more complex ones.