Jérôme Traisnel of SlimPay
Today’s profile comes from Jérôme Traisnel of SlimPay. They are a innovative solution for managing recurring and repeat payments, throughout Europe, via SEPA Direct Debit. Our questions are in bold.
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Who are you and what’s your background?
I’m a new technology addict, and have been an entrepreneur within the sector for over 15 years. After obtaining my graduate degree in Engineering and then postgraduate degree in Marketing Management, I kick-started my career internationally as a sales engineer at Texas Instruments in the United States. Following this I held marketing director and general management positions at Gemalto, before returning to France to start my own company, Freever, an integrated mobile solution.
In 2009, my business partner, Jean-Louis Hoenen, and I created SlimPay, an innovate online solution for managing recurring and repeat payments, throughout Europe, via SEPA Direct Debit.
I like to be as involved as possible in the start-up tech scene, and I mentor young start-ups from the Telecom & Management SudParis incubator. I am also the president of the Association Française des Établissements de Paiement et de Monnaie Électronique, an association for companies within the payments sector.
What is your job title and what are your general responsibilities?
As CEO and co-founder I have several tasks, including:
- Setting the strategy and vision for the company
- Building the culture of SlimPay, a company is nothing without its employees and in order for employees to work at their best; they need to be in the best work culture possible
- Ensuring we have all the necessary resources for success and growth
As we are a start-up I am also involved in many day-to-day operation tasks, so my role is quite polyvalent.
Can you give us an overview of your business?
SlimPay is Europe’s leading service provider for recurring payments via SEPA Direct Debit. The 100% online solution enables payment via bank account, as opposed to bankcard. A consumer simply enters their IBAN number and electronically signs a mandate, by entering a code sent via SMS, in order to set up a direct debit anywhere within the SEPA zone.
SlimPay manages the entire payment process:
- Mandate acquisition and management
- Orders preparation and remittance
- Transaction execution
- R-Transaction management
- Pre debt recovery
Tell us how you are funded.
Over the summer we raised €15 million from Prime Ventures. With the help of Prime Ventures and this new funding, we are going to continue to make SEPA Direct Payments easier to integrate, more secure and more transparent in the customer journey. We are also going to concentrate on international expansion; we are headquartered in Paris, with offices in London, Berlin and Amsterdam, with an office in Madrid to be opened soon.
Why did you start the company? To solve what problems?
Ecommerce has revolutionised the way we buy and consequently added a potential 5th P into the marketing mix: Payment. This latest possible addition now plays a major role in developing marketing strategies for brands. The payment stage finalises the purchase or lease of a product/ service, and is an essential step of the customer journey, even more so in the digital age. Merchants need to offer a variety of payment options to their customers, which are adapted to the products/ services they are purchasing.
For several years now, the advent of subscription and sharing economy has completely transformed the way we consume. For many goods, used both episodically and daily, we now prefer to rent rather than buy.
This trend requires retailers to re-think their payment procedures and propose new payment means adapted to recurring purchases and the rental of products/ services, and this is where SlimPay can help! How to collect regular and frequent payments from a user without depending on credit card validity dates, payment limits and problems caused by theft or loss of a bankcard… Our simple and secure solution overcomes these issues. Furthermore, direct debit strongly protects consumers; banks guarantee an immediate money back guarantee in the event of a Direct Debit payment error. Furthermore, the consumer is always given advanced notice if the date or amount of the Direct Debit changes, and it is possible to cancel it at anytime.
Who are your target customers? What’s your revenue model?
SlimPay’s direct debit solution is suited to companies, of any size, dealing with repeat and recurring purchases. The solution also allows merchants to include other payment methods, i.e: credit card. We currently have over 2000 clients, from a wide variety of sectors, including EDF, Renault, UNICEF, Nespresso, Deezer and Club Med Gym.
Our pricing model consists of a flat rate per mandate signature and a flat fee per transaction.
If you had a magic wand, what one thing would you change in the banking and/or FinTech sector?
I would push EU to be more independent on technology.
What is your message for the larger players in the Finance industry?
Banking 2.0 is here and digitalisation is unavoidable. Banks need to be flexible and innovative to keep up with today’s Internet driven society, and adapt to changes in consumption habits. SlimPay recently created a partnership with the French bank Crédit du Nord, enabling the bank to offer its clients the advantages associated with the SlimPay solution.
What phone are you carrying and why?
iPhone 6
Where do you get your industry news from?
TechCrunch, Financial Times and Twitter
Can you list 3 people you rate from the FinTech sector that we should be following on Twitter?
@anildaggarwal – Founder of Money2020
@ndebock – VC at Balderton
What’s the best FinTech product or service you’ve seen recently?
Jumio —Jumio enables small businesses to scan cards in real-time and check for fraud and increase conversion.
Finally, let’s talk predictions. What trends do you think are going to define the next few years in the FinTech sector?
Customer experience: The payment step of the customer journey will become even more essential, as customers seek a seamless, safe and secure checkout experience.
Endless payment model: Through offering subscriptions companies’ potentially offer their services to a larger audience, since a large cash payment is not required. This also gives companies a long term, predictable revenue stream.
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Thanks to Jerome for his answers today. You can find out more about SlimPay on their website and twitter.
If you’ve any suggestions for other hot FinTech companies (startup, or established ventures) that we should be profiling, I’m all ears. Don’t hesitate to drop me a note at ewan@fintechprofile.com. There’s more information on this page.
