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iSend Inc. |
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October 22, 2012 Issue |
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The Most Powerful Name In Corporate News and Information |
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As a leading International Electronic Payment Service Provider, iSend, Inc. is focused on Bringing Solutions for Immigrants and the Unbanked to Load and Transfer Value to Family Members in Other Countries |
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www.iSendWorldwide.com |
Phone: 877-212-SEND |
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Interview conducted by: Lynn Fosse, Senior Editor, CEOCFO Magazine, Published –October 22, 2012
Mr. Reeves: It was a combination of things. I wanted to be part of building a new market. That was exciting to me. It’s a market with so many benefits to the customers. I wanted to look back years from now and say I helped build that. Secondly, I had the opportunity to be reunited with people that I had worked with previously and had grown to respect tremendously. I knew the team that was already in place and knew the additional pieces that were going to be added to that team, Again, these were people I enjoyed working with previously for whom I had much respect and confidence in their ability to build the new business. Both of those pieces were very appealing to me.
CEOCFO: What is the vision and how has it developed over time? Mr. Reeves: The original vision focused on providing immigrant communities, primarily in the United States, with better financial options than just sending money back home. These options were more secure and less expensive. Although the vision was initially focused on the United States, we have now expanded beyond those borders, evolving iSend into a global leader that provides unprecedented payment options to our target consumer markets. These are people who will benefit from having the ability to make real-time, electronic transactions to transfer value.
CEOCFO: How had people been doing this transfer and what have you figured out at iSend to make it easier? Mr. Reeves: Many immigrant workers will send money back home. We found that 70 to 80 percent of the transferred funds went to pay for bills within the first 48 hours. We also found that people sending the money wanted more control; they wanted to know that they could get the bills paid immediately. Instead of having someone go to an agent, pick up money, and then go pay the bills back in their home country, we could give them those direct connections where they could control it themselves from the United States. The biggest piece of that involves the mobile phone, which outside the United States is all prepaid. There really is a sense of urgency to get minutes loaded on your phone, keep it active, and make sure you can get confirmation right on the spot. iSend has provided that direct connection to an agent network in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, where consumers can go in person to a retail location, pay cash, and get a real-time confirmation―all because of our connection to the billers and mobile operators on the backend.
CEOCFO: What is the market opportunity? Mr. Reeves: The initial target was focused on carving out a niche from the $400-billion- a-year remittance market. There are so many more people who have moved across borders and are sending money back home. The size of this new market is growing incredibly fast. Our next target markets are much larger.
CEOCFO: What was the hardest piece of the plan to put together? Mr. Reeves: It is establishing a connection to the billers and the mobile operators directly. There are processors in the market that competitors tend to engage, but if you can get that direct connection, then your service quality is much better and the economics make more sense. Service quality is very important. If an individual goes to an agent to perform a cash transaction for a real-time confirmation and the system is down for just a few minutes, that agent is going to miss that opportunity because the customer can simply go down the street to a competitor. Direct connections give us the ability to provide that service quality with virtually 100-percent uptime. The billers and operators don’t just allow anybody to show up at their doors and get those connections. There are many pieces that go into establishing that relationship, such as reputation, size and the financial health of the company. You have to support a good amount of working capital to engage these operators. This along with your ability to bring volume to them are all key pieces. iSend has been fortunate to build its network and continue to add direct connections every month.
CEOCFO: How does the background of your team help you get in and make those connections? Mr. Reeves: We have a stellar team that has a great deal of experience, either in this market directly or in very similar industries. On the business development side, we have people who know all the players in various geographic regions that we are targeting. This is important as it helps iSend build relationships and work with various operators, retailers, agents, and processors, to build out its network.
CEOCFO: Are there any countries where you would like to be active? Mr. Reeves: We are expanding rapidly. Our initial focus was the United States-to-Latin-America corridor. It is one of the biggest remittance markets, so we targeted that initially. We have now expanded to Europe, Asia, and Africa. There is so much opportunity for us ahead particularly in Africa and Asia. We are continuing to add the mobile operators and the billers from a destination standpoint. Once you get that going, you can add an agent network in those locations as well. There is a great deal of opportunity geographically for iSend.
CEOCFO: Technology evolves rapidly; how do you keep on top so that you are ready for all the nuances that develop? Mr. Reeves: That starts at the top. Our president and CEO Steven LaBella is very technology oriented. Early in his career, he started his own company and built the platform himself. He started this company with a vision of technology excellence, including building an outstanding technology and operations team. That team has been instrumental in our success. iSend is way ahead of the competition in terms of the creative ways we ensure the absolute best quality―and we continue to look for better ways to support our service. It seems every week we are refining and making changes. We have taken advantage of some of the cloud computing and tweaked that model to make it even better. We get great reviews and continue to win based on service quality.
CEOCFO: How do you reach potential customers? Mr. Reeves: We partner with the large agencies primarily in the United States, Canada, and United Kingdom. Last count, we offered service in more than 150,000 retail locations where someone could walk in and pay cash in person. We continue to add to this network in new countries. We also have our online offering www.Aryty.com. This website gives consumers easy access to mobile operators worldwide where they can load minutes on cell phones.
CEOCFO: Do many of your people use the online component or is it more the physical plunking down of cash? Mr. Reeves: Right now, we see more people using the physical retail locations, but we see the online piece growing. More and more people are finding it as we’ve increased our advertising, and ultimately, are getting more comfortable using it. We also continue to add more content with additional countries and additional billers. We expect the online channel will to continue to grow at a very fast rate.
CEOCFO: How is business? Mr. Reeves: Business is fantastic! We find ourselves in a market where we have distinct advantages. We get great feedback from our agent network as far as our technology, our reporting and our capabilities. The market is growing at a very fast rate, and we continue to increase market share. We have done a great job establishing the business model. iSend was recently named the Fastest Technology Growth Company in the state of Connecticut by the Connecticut Technology Council. We command great respect in the market. We continue to hire top talent. We are pushing into new geographic markets. The product pipeline is very strong. Beyond just the organic growth, we are active on the M&A front. We seem to always have two to four potential acquisitions being worked. We have a supportive board and investors that want to put more money in the company. It is great environment on all counts.
CEOCFO: What are the barriers to entry? Mr. Reeves: Besides the technology and direct relationships, one of the biggest challenges is the required amount of working capital. You’re talking about a large volume of gross dollars moving through the system, and you need the working capital to support that. When you have high growth coupled with a large requirement for working capital, that can put some pressure on a company. You need to be positioned well financially, and be smart. With the direct connections, it’s a network that builds on itself. You have to have the respect in the market and the volume to go get additional billers. You need additional billers to add agent networks. Finally, you need to be more than just a processor loading mobile phones. iSend is very unique in offering a full suite of products. It helps grow the network faster and attract more consumers.
CEOCFO: When you acquire a company are you looking for services that you are not providing? Mr. Reeves: We look at many things including additional volume. We have done a great job of scaling this business; the more volume we can bring on to our operating base, the better the profits and cash flow. We always look at adding additional volume and continuing to expand our geographic reach by adding new relationships. We also look at any kind of technology or product that would complement what we already have in place. We are very selective. We’ve closed on one and have gotten far along with others. However, if we cannot get the right value for what we are looking for then we will just pass.
CEOCFO: How will iSend be different a year or two from now? Mr. Reeves: iSend is going to continue to build on what it started, which is offering unique payment options for people who are sending money back home. We have some other products that we are bringing to the market right now that will provide even more benefits for the immigrant and unbanked markets. The potential right now is the mobile phone, which continues to rise in its importance as both a communications and financial tool. We want to continue to provide better ways for consumers to load and transfer value. That means adding products to our portfolio as well as expanding geographically to become a true global leader.
CEOCFO: Why should investors and people in the business community pay attention to iSend?
Mr. Reeves:
iSend has a great business model, one that provides a great service. It
improves the lives of people who have been overlooked by traditional payment
products and technologies. We certainly align with one of our venture
capital investors’ mission statements: to focus on investing in economically
and socially beneficial companies. We have been incredibly successful at
driving growth with distinct advantages and, as such, we have become a
disrupter in a major market. We are going to leverage that position to
disrupt a couple of additional large target markets. iSend is in a great
position to do that. We have an aggressive organic growth plan in place, and
we are going to complement that with some additional acquisitions. We are
always looking at the possibility of additional capital to reach those lofty
goals. I would say as a business, an investment, or for a M&A opportunity,
we are a tremendous company to be watching. |
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iSend is going to continue to build on what it started, which is offering unique payment options for people who are sending money back home. We have some other products that we are bringing to the market right now that will provide even more benefits for the immigrant and unbanked markets. The potential right now is the mobile phone, which continues to rise in its importance as both a communications and financial tool. We want to continue to provide better ways for consumers to load and transfer value. That means adding products to our portfolio as well as expanding geographically to become a true global leader. - Bob Reeves |
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