Embed payments into your systems and products with Intergiro

I had a realisation in the mid-2010s when I was working in mainstream banks and exploring Web3 and other internet business models on the weekends. I noticed that, despite the rising trend of automation in various sectors, finance was lagging behind.

To automate finance, you need banking solutions that you can code against. At the time, there were none, which was incredibly frustrating for what I was working on and really at odds with the digital transformation happening around us.

That frustration and curiosity drove me to start building Intergiro in 2017. The first product was a simple business IBAN with FX and a card that you could control via API.

Tell us about the business – what it is, what it aims to achieve, who you work with, how you reach customers and so on?

Now, 7 years later, it’s a full-stack toolkit to build money flows into your products. We are the trusted settlement layer that internet platforms can build on, embedding cards, accounts, and onboarding tools.

We work with all kinds of internet platforms, but we have a strong concentration around Payment, Web3, Creator, and Asset management platforms, helping them create native closed-loop payment systems.

We reach platforms through word of mouth, face-to-face sales, and inbound channels. These platforms then do the marketing and act as introducing agents to their customers. Our flywheel spins when platforms introduce more and more of their customers to benefit from instant and 24/7 payments.

How has the business evolved since its launch?

As mentioned above, we started with a simple B2B solution that launched in late 2018. It had some success and was a good place to start, but we were bootstrapped, and B2B is a red ocean. When other well-funded players added APIs to their offering, we didn’t see many opportunities in the EU.

What was interesting on our B2B journey was that we received a lot of customer feedback, where clients were asking if they could offer our accounts and cards to their customers. This was before “embedded” was a thing and even before Angela Strange proclaimed that “every company will be a fintech company.” But it inspired our first pivot into B2B2C. We started here, and not in B2B2B, because the onboarding challenge for consumers is so much more manageable, and we thought we could handle it with our lean organisation.

B2B2C is now quite a mature product for us and growing fast. The big current project is B2B2B, where we’re attempting the Amazon-AWS inversion trick. Just as Amazon inverted the bookshop to reveal all their services as “as-a-service” to create AWS, we are now inverting all the B2B logic we’ve built and exposing it in a B2B2B context. This is our next big challenge.

Tell us about the working culture at Intergiro

You should perhaps ask someone on the team, but from my perspective as founder and CEO, our culture is characterised by resilience. We’ve faced many huge challenges and setbacks, but we just keep pushing, keep learning, keep supporting each other, and show up every day ready to go. I love it. It’s an amazing thing to be a part of.

How are you funded?

We are privately funded by me and my network: a group of entrepreneurs who have been in banking, payments, and Web3 for many years. We are now cash flow positive, so there’s no need for external funding.

What has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome this?

It’s hard to pinpoint a single challenge. Fintech is really tough for several reasons, which I explained in detail here. It’s almost insane to attempt bootstrapping it, given the huge upfront costs. 

In short, the challenge is starting subscale and needing to take on risk (all kinds of risk: supplier, compliance, credit, etc.), which thrusts you into the "wrath of the gods" (regulators, card schemes, other large suppliers), who, in some ways, decide your fate. If you come out the other side in one piece, it’s something to celebrate. 

We overcame this challenge by focusing intensely on risk management, which I think all fintechs need to do because fintechs are essentially risk-taking systems at their core.

How does Intergiro answer an unmet need?

There are no other acquirers, issuers, and account providers that you can access via a single API. This creates unique opportunities to build new things, thanks to the combination of products and instant settlement capabilities. We have several clients with business models that couldn’t exist without our setup.

What’s in store for the future?

As I mentioned, B2B2B is the big product iteration on the horizon. Other than that, it’s just more building, iterating, and improving, ad infinitum.

What one piece of advice would you give other founders or future founders?

My advice is to be very careful with advice. Work out how to think for yourself and reason from first principles. That is probably the single most important skill for a founder, and it involves a willingness to be misunderstood or disliked. Secondary to that, I’d say it’s important to think long-term and surround yourself with people who do the same.

And finally, a more personal question! What’s your daily routine and the rules you’re living by at the moment?

My life is pretty packed. I’m building Intergiro, my wife is also an entrepreneur, we have young kids, and we’re building a house. My routine is therefore very time-optimised.

I have a simple daily practice that helps to keep my head clear: workout, read, meditate, and cook for my family every day. Those with young kids will know that the only way to maintain any semblance of a daily routine is to go to bed early and wake up early with them.

Nick Root is the founder and CEO of Intergiro.