Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector: "Our goal is to become the leader of the Spanish market of 'neobanking'"

The world of finance is undergoing a revolution. Neobanks are taking positions at a critical moment for the sector with digitalization advancing and large banks starting to charge commissions if there is no strong customer linkage. In this context, the Spanish neobank Rebellion, born in 2017 and with an electronic money license issued in Lithuania, wants to become a leader in the Spanish market.

"We are now in a capital round of 10 million, meeting daily with foreign investors and with the aim of becoming leaders in the Spanish market of neobanking", explains Sergio Cerro, CEO of Rebellion, in an interview.

The pandemic has been a catalyst in the digitalization of Spaniards, although it also meant a paralysis of business.

"Fortunately or unfortunately, the balance has been positive because the pandemic has favored the use of electronic payment. We have experienced interesting growth. If it is true that it has limited us a little in rounds of financing that we had prepared and that we have had to cover with our current investor because we have not been able to go to the market to seek financing," adds Cerro when speaking of this last stage of the neobank.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

"In the end it has been resolved well because we have a powerful group that supports us, but the idea was to have raised capital already in other countries, which is what we are doing now," he says. Rebellion has behind its capital Beka Finance, former Gala Capital.

Its objective is focused on growing, above all, within Spain but also with an eye on European markets. In four or five years they would want to be present in Portugal, France and Italy, explains Cerro when talking about the neobank's medium-term plans.

The formula used by this company differs from other competitors. They avoid the Netflix-style subscription and prefer to bet on the payment of services as the customer needs them.

"We bet on a model of what we call a la carte banking, which basically is that the user pays for what they use. What we have seen in the market is that there is a certain fatigue to the subscription of services per month", explains the manager.

"In the end, the average Spanish family is seeing that they pay around 100 euros for everything they have subscribed monthly, between Amazon, Netflix, Movistar, the mobile phone we pay every month and so on. The feeling of the consumer is that they are paying for something they do not use, which only uses 20%," he adds.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

In this sense, he compares it to securing skis. "Why am I going to secure skis all year long if I'm only going to use them for three months," Cerro asks.

Cerro explains that the idea of Rebellion came from thinking about the younger generation that relates in a digital world, buys online, moves in digital channels. Those who were not going to go to a bank branch to hire a prepaid card were at first the target audience of the Spanish neobank.

As the business has progressed, the audience has expanded. "The audience that we started to address was an audience that spent a lot of time on the internet," explains the CEO of the company, who points out that the campaigns that were launched were focused on capturing this digital audience, but now they want to expand the focus.

"Our goal is now to bring the possibilities of digital banking closer to people not so connected to the world of the internet. We are going to dedicate part of the round we are working on to this objective. Being present in traditional media, where we have not had much presence and that is why there is the feeling that we are not", he points out.

In this sense, Cerro explains that the phenomenon of neobanks is still unknown to ordinary people, but he thinks that if a few years ago Cabify or Airbnb were unknown among society in general, the same will happen with neobanks.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

"The reality is that when you go outside and ask people if they know it's Airbnb or Cabify, 90% of people know what it is, but if you ask for Revolut or N26, no. That is what in the next few years will change, that is why now the opportunity is so great," he says.

In this way, part of the funding of the next round will be destined to marketing in mass media such as canopies or traditional media.

"We want to focus on Spain because it is experiencing a very interesting moment. We are seeing the market begin to mature and try alternatives to traditional banking. In addition, traditional banking has begun to charge for the bills and people also venture to look for an alternative that does not charge them. We are seeing that there is a lot of appetite to do things in Spain," says Cerro.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

In recent years, the number of these neobanks providing financial services in our country has increased considerably. However, Cerro believes that for the moment there is room for everyone.

"This is an industry that is not a winner takes all, the winner does not take everything, if we analyze countries like the United Kingdom, which have been pioneers, we find that there are companies like Revolut, Monzo, Monese, Starling Bank that all work and do quite well and have been able to develop. I think there is room for everyone," he says.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

How is Rebellion different from its competitors? "Rebellion is different because, above all, it is offering a 100% alternative to traditional banking. Our offer already includes direct debit payrolls, receipts, cash withdrawals... and also the investment in cryptocurrencies that brings us closer to an audience very eager to try something that is very present, but about which there are many fears still. This is helping us a lot to grow and gain the trust of the public," says Cerro.

Currently, they have about 300,000 registered users and aim to reach 2 million users by the end of the year. They have about 40 employees, 5 of them in Lithuania. Still a small player if compared to the traditional big banks.

In April of this year, they included in their offer the possibility of direct debit receipts. In this way they also want to expand their services, adding, for example, financing services. The intention is to offer consumer loans, more oriented to people who have special needs such as paying a deposit for renting a house or a car, or a master's ticket. In line with the needs of its users.

Rebellion Spanish neobank wants fight giants sector

Its goal is also to become a main bank, although at the moment most of its users use it as a secondary entity. For this, they are also working to be able to receive payments from the administration, such as unemployment payments or pensions, something that is not yet possible for neobanks in Spain.

In the coming years, the increasing digitalization of consumers and new financial players will change the rules of the game of finance.