Alphaa.io CEO and founder Manuela Seve talks women in Fintech

Brazilian Manuela Seve, who was recently named one of the most influential Latinos in the world by Bloomberg, is the co-founder and CEO of US-based startup Alphaa.io.

Hailing from Rio de Janeiro, Seve is an economics graduate from IBMEC who spent five years with the former president of Brazil’s central bank, Armínio Fraga, at Gávea Investimentos.

In 2015, she began researching the use of Blockchain for the authentication of art collectibles, and in 2017 she developed the Alphaa.io API – a blockchain platform that addresses three issues in the space, namely authenticity, resale and community building in various sectors.

Today, Alphaa.io has contracts to develop custom solutions for NBA teams. This includes a loyalty web3 platform that provides interactions at the stadium. It also contracts with luxury brands, creating royalties for resale, NFTs and experiences.

We caught up with her to find out more.

What exactly is Alphaa.io? Can you describe it in a nutshell?

Alphaa.io is an enterprise SaaS solution that enables businesses and creators to use web3 tools to solve for authenticity, resale and community engagement across industries.

We are essentially a sales force for web3. We offer a complete technology stack with uncanny ease of use as we also build custom white label interfaces. All of our white labels include custody wallets that are created with one click and linked via a magic link to your email or phone number.

How does Alphaa.io differentiate itself in the market?

Ease of use is at the core of alphaa.io, which seems a bit counterintuitive when it comes to web3. That’s why we’ve removed the crypto wallet from our process and all of our white labels can be accessed through a quick, magical link created and associated with the user’s phone number or email address.

We built the platform on top of microservices so we can be fully cross-chain. Our decentralized SaaS approach empowers businesses and creators to organize their inventory of physical assets, customize their own smart contracts, and add ancillary features necessary for their projects. We’re doing for smart contracts what Shopify did for e-commerce: creating an easily customizable utility solution that will revolutionize asset ownership.

How did you become interested in fintech – is there a story to tell?

My background is in finance and I have always been interested in how technology can solve real-world problems and ultimately bring more efficiency to markets and users, which in my opinion is the whole reason fintech exists. It was only a matter of time before my interests, the creative economy and technology, came together as Alphaa.io.

In 2015, I started thinking about blockchain as a tool to change assets. I started developing the first protocol for what is now Alphaa.io in 2017 with an incredible team of developers. Through our art and real estate licensing business, we learned about ownership and transfer of assets and built a certification protocol to suit our own needs, which we have extended across industries. The rest, as they say, is history.

What were your personal challenges in breaking into fintech and launching a startup?

Needless to say, starting a business is an uphill battle – especially as a woman-run company in a male-dominated field. Since we started, we’ve never stopped raising money, building the product and developing our technology. Generating the necessary sales growth momentum and expanding the team is a huge challenge in itself. There are also a number of invisible challenges that appeared when we least expected them. The key to success is being adaptable and solving these problems as they arise.

What would be your advice to young women today who are keen to pursue a career in fintech?

Accept that you are in a male-dominated industry and use it to your advantage. Women have very different skill sets: friendliness and multitasking here are important differentiating factors. There will be many rejections, so be strong and understand that it’s not about winning, it’s about not giving up.

If you could replay your journey, is there anything you would change at this point? And if so, why?

I wouldn’t change a thing, the path I walked wasn’t the easiest, but it made me the person I needed to be to persevere through thick and thin.

What can we expect from Alphaa.io going forward?

Alphaa.io will reach millions of users this year through several white labels with companies and sports teams, this obviously has massive network effects. We are going to do for mass blockchain adoption what Netscap did for the internet, integrating under one system off-chain millions of users who will be quietly brought into web3 without even knowing it.

What inspires you in fintech today?

Bringing efficiency to complex markets like the creativity economy and creating more opportunities for fundraising with a direct focus on minorities.