The journey of Oggy Popov in the FinTech industry

From leading a successful brochure website app in Belgium to being a strategic investor and advisor to fintech companies like Swipe, Bulgarian entrepreneur Oggy Popov has never been one to shy away from a challenge. With his latest venture, ViaBank.io, Popov aims to offer a cost-effective, user-friendly and secure account-to-account payment solution to consumers and businesses in the CEE region.

Popov’s entrepreneurial spirit has already led to success with his previous project, an app for brochures and offers, which he made the leading platform in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland before selling it to a German competitor.

We sat down with him to talk about his latest venture in fintech world and how his entrepreneurial path led him back to Bulgaria.

First exit

Oggy Popov’s entrepreneurial journey began in Belgium, where he was working for an internet marketing company and met a client who created digital brochures for retailers. Popov recognized the opportunity and developed the first local platform for retail offers where even today thousands of Belgian consumers plan their weekly shopping.

He oversaw the growth of his project after moving to the Netherlands. His wife took responsibility for managing the content of the platform, while the team launched the project in as many as 17 EU countries. Popov and his wife eventually decided to move to Bulgaria to further develop the product. They chose to focus on Central and Eastern Europe, as the region had fewer Western competitors, which allowed them to strengthen their market position.

“When the consolidation of businesses in the region began, our German competitors preferred to buy us rather than compete with us in this market. As a result of the trade, I became part of the German group, which we sold to one of the largest European the brochure companies in 2021. Currently, my entire team works for the German company, and a large part of the product team, including the CTO, product managers and engineers, are Bulgarian,” he recalls.

After ensuring a smooth transition in his previous company, Oggy Popov has no longer had an operational role in the business since mid-2021. Instead, he shifted his focus to developing ideas for a new venture. One of them is the first Bulgarian platform for buying and selling used mobile phones, Swipe – a company founded by his close friend Mihail Dimitrov in December 2021.

Together with Nikola Pavlov, the former CTO of Grabo.bg, Oggy took on the role of strategic investor and advisor. While Nikola acts as the driving force behind the company, Oggy and Michael provide guidance and support. In the last year, Swipe generated €1M in revenue and they expect to see this figure reach €10M by the end of this year.

“During my time in digital brochures, I was looking for a way to connect brochures with real-time in-store checkout. My goal was to prove that our platform has a cause-and-effect relationship – i.e. you look at the brochures offline with us, but then pay online, says Oggy.

When Open-Banking began to gain popularity thanks to the PSD2 directive, this became possible. With this directive, the EU opened up banks’ financial data and processes to third parties. Too many fees from European businesses go into processing payments, and the directive made bank-to-bank payments three times cheaper.

The journey and future growth of ViaBank

“This is how the idea of ​​ViaBank was born. Together with Martin Popov, CEO of the digital agency Interactive Share, we started working on the project around the end of 2022. Our mission is to save our customers a significant part of the costs they currently pay as a commission, as our fee is only 0.5% per transaction, compared to the 2-3% required by card providers.We offer tools to allow customers to get back money saved as cashback in online and offline stores, explains Oggy Popov.

Card payments currently dominate the payments industry, but the EU’s PSD2 directive has paved the way for innovation in this area. To meet the high fees associated with card payments (typically ranging from 1-2%), regulated third party providers (TPPs) have emerged as a viable alternative. By leveraging open banking rails, TPPs can facilitate instant settlements between customers and sellers, with fewer intermediaries and less friction, resulting in significant cost savings. The potential benefits of this disruption are clear: merchants can earn more while passing on some of the savings to customers, making it a win-win situation for all parties involved.

ViaBank.io says it offers secure and efficient account-to-account payment solutions to consumers and businesses. Their platform simplifies the payment process and ensures regulatory compliance. ViaBank.io has e-commerce payments, QR code payments, payment links and in-store/in-person payments.

Their e-commerce payment solution enables instant bank transfers at checkout, while QR code payments enable cardless payments through scanning. Through the payment links, people can request payments through generated links via SMS or other messaging platforms. The in-store/in-person payment solution makes bank transfers as easy as card payments, and streamlines payment processes for businesses.

“Our focus is on the region, as shown in our brochures. We are eager to quickly establish ourselves in this area, leveraging our knowledge and connections from previous experiences. We are currently closing the first round of funding, which includes a regional fund, as well as funds from Bulgaria and England. This initial round of funding will allow us to take our first steps in Bulgaria and Romania, before moving on to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe in the next round, he says.

Groundwork for the company started just a couple of months ago, but by next month they will be ready to work with their first customers. “Our ambition is to expand quickly and establish ourselves as a reliable presence in the region. We believe that our expertise and relationships will enable us to achieve that goal, concludes Oggy.