CEO Andy Taylor details the major addressable market opportunity in full-service fintech banking products for +160m US customers. Image: Getty
Tech
CEO Andy Taylor details the major addressable market opportunity in full-service fintech banking products for +160m US customers.
In just over a year since listing, ASX fintech Douugh (ASX:DOU) has established traction at the forefront of a key shift in the global fintech sector with its full-service fintech banking app.
As the industry matures, investors are shifting their capital towards companies that execute on the development of financial – creating a one-stop shop for customers to manage their savings, budget and invest.
That’s exactly there Douugh sits, offering consumers one app to budget, save and invest their money to live financially healthier lives.
And having already laid the groundwork with key banking partnerships, the company has the regulatory backing it needs to scale up in the US – its core target market where Douugh is building a first-mover advantage in one of the world’s largest consumer demographics.
Speaking with Stockhead recently, Douugh CEO Andy Taylor explained that having laid the groundwork in the US gave the company a front-row seat for where fintech can make a difference.
“The prevailing wisdom among companies was to target what you’d call an ‘affluent millennial’ market,” he says.
“But what we’ve seen is there’s a huge cohort of users who just want to get on top of their daily finances.”
Stepping back from the higher end, there are millions of Americans in lower salary brackets ($30k-$70k) that can benefit from fintech solutions which help them manage their expenses and establish a saving trajectory.
How many exactly? Around 160 million people, Taylor says.
“So that’s where we’re finding our sweet spot. It makes our business a mass-market play because there’s a huge addressable audience we can talk to,” he says.
And fundamentally, it’s about getting back to basics.
“The focus is on actually a banking app that helps customers budget and save,” Taylor said.
“Stop living paycheck to paycheck. Our immediate goal as a fintech platform is to help people get ahead on their bills.”
“Once that’s established you can build it out to include investing, but for now the priority is those key areas. And if we get it right we can scale the platform into a ‘unicorn’ business pretty quickly.”
In that context, Douugh has already built market share in one of the fastest growing fintech sectors globally.
Looking across markets in the US, UK and Europe, new ‘challenger’ banks that are finding success often share similar attributes; using technology to create a more intuitive banking experience that meets multiple needs for customers – rather than just seeing their salary go into a bank account.
Industry examples include Vivid Money in Berlin, which recently raised €100 million at a €775 million valuation.
In the US market, successful scale-ups include Chime, which generates north of US$600m in revenues and last year raised US$750m at a valuation of US$25 billion.
Another US banking app, Dave, listed publicly earlier this year (NSDQ:DAVE) after a private capital raise which valued it at $4bn.
In Taylor’s view, those valuations illustrate the size of the addressable market and monetisation opportunities for Douugh, in a country and sector where its platform has already gained an early foothold.
In a January update, the company flagged that total customer numbers across the US and Australian climbed past 80,000 in Q2, following another 60% quarterly increase.
And so far in 2022, that number has already climbed past 90,000, the company said.
As a measure of its momentum in the US market, its customer base there grew more rapidly by 104%.
And Taylor said its partly a reflection of the company’s product focus, as it builds traction within the broader US demand for better savings products.
“Our recent EarlyPay launch was in line with that strategy, because it’s a by-product of the research we’ve done to attract more US customers,” Taylor said.
Announced last week, the service will allow Douugh users to access their pay up to two days earlier, making it easier to set a budget at the beginning of their pay cycle.
In the US market, it’s still common for banks to charge their customers overdraft fees – a scenario that happens up to 10-20 times a year for lower-income savers.
“Within that addressable market, what our customers told us was the No1 feature they need is a platform that gives them early access to pay,” Taylor said.
Another point driving that demand is the fact that the US banking systems still takes up to two days to process payments.
“So that’s a really simple feature (for us). And the way we’re going to do it is to make it a free additional offering within our subscription model. It’s something where we can work directly with our customers to find them the solutions they need.”
And because of the company’s existing licences through its US banking partners, Douugh has the flexibility to roll out products such as EarlyPay through its existing partner licences.
Along with the broader market opportunity, Taylor concluded that the core of Douugh’s strategy is to ‘future-proof’ its business in line with the shifting sands in global fintech.
“As this market consolidates, we’ve seen BNPL getting hammered. Everyone’s realising that a financial ‘super-app’ is the future and you can’t just provide a single feature,” Taylor explained.
“So what we’re doing is future-proofing this business by starting with the bank account. if you can offer services around customer’s pay and salaries, you can assist with all these other features over time – from budgeting and saving to investing,” he said.
Leveraging that banking platform as a base, Douugh is also positioned to unlock new monetisation opportunities through expanded features including stock trading and cryptocurrency investment.
“What we’re building is a bridging platform between centralised banking services and the shift to decentralised finance and cryptocurrency,” Taylor explained.
That marks a fintech sweet spot where “traditional banks can’t really compete without destroying their business model.”
“In my view, the one-trick ponies will struggle. It comes back to having that initial banking relationship, Taylor said. And the core purpose of Douugh’s business is still “very unique”, Taylor said.
“That purpose is around helping customers budget, save and invest, to manage and grow their money and live financially healthier lives,” he said.
“What we’ve found is the opportunity to pivot to a lower base, but with a bigger audience. And that’s where the long-term opportunity is extremely profitable.”
This article was developed in collaboration with Douugh, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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