1 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:15.420 Sean Murray: The small business finance industry continues to 2 00:00:15.420 --> 00:00:19.110 draw new entrants, many are the same, but some standout like 3 00:00:19.110 --> 00:00:22.800 Keo, a funder in Midtown Miami, whose hot pink logo and global 4 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:24.660 background caught the attention of deBanked. 5 00:00:24.900 --> 00:00:27.480 Farid Shidfar: Keo World was actually a combination of an M&A 6 00:00:27.480 --> 00:00:33.030 that happened in Latin America in 2020. And today, we operate 7 00:00:33.090 --> 00:00:37.110 in six countries soon to be seven, primarily in the United 8 00:00:37.110 --> 00:00:41.940 States, and obviously, six countries in Latin America, and 9 00:00:41.970 --> 00:00:45.000 we have 55 employees in the company. Our management is 10 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:49.470 headquartered here in Miami, Florida. We have our technology 11 00:00:49.470 --> 00:00:54.300 operations in Latin America, we are primarily in the US, we 12 00:00:54.300 --> 00:00:58.230 focus on merchant cash advance, as well as equipment financing, 13 00:00:58.350 --> 00:01:01.350 and in Latin America we do everything from product 14 00:01:01.350 --> 00:01:04.860 financing to salary advances, commission advances, we do 15 00:01:04.860 --> 00:01:10.890 prepaid and credit, credit cards and our fearless leaders, Paula 16 00:01:10.890 --> 00:01:14.580 Fidanza, and his co founder, Veronica Crisafulli, who have 17 00:01:14.580 --> 00:01:18.540 really done a phenomenal job in making sure that the brand Keo 18 00:01:18.540 --> 00:01:20.970 World is recognized globally. 19 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.890 Sean Murray: So tell me about yourself. What's your 20 00:01:22.890 --> 00:01:23.430 background? 21 00:01:23.430 --> 00:01:26.660 Farid Shidfar: I run our US practice. Paul and I we're 22 00:01:26.660 --> 00:01:29.360 friends and colleagues and have ran several businesses in the 23 00:01:29.360 --> 00:01:32.690 past together, he asked me to come here to Miami to really run 24 00:01:32.690 --> 00:01:36.080 his launch and run his US operations for him when it comes 25 00:01:36.080 --> 00:01:39.560 to the business financing side of it. My background is I spent 26 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:44.240 over 15 years at Accenture, I then spent a little time in the 27 00:01:44.450 --> 00:01:47.750 few years in this world of startups built an award winning 28 00:01:47.780 --> 00:01:51.050 technology platform eventually got myself into private equity 29 00:01:51.050 --> 00:01:54.560 as a venture partner at Orange Capital. And then when it was a 30 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:57.440 perfect time in combination, in my experience, when Paulo called 31 00:01:57.440 --> 00:02:00.620 with my technology background and understanding the finance 32 00:02:00.620 --> 00:02:04.610 world, you know, launching a fintech product seemed kind of 33 00:02:04.610 --> 00:02:07.280 easy, just a no brainer, you know, had the opportunity to 34 00:02:07.280 --> 00:02:09.440 come out here and it's been a great journey. 35 00:02:09.800 --> 00:02:12.380 Sean Murray: Keo is helping to facilitate the small business 36 00:02:12.380 --> 00:02:13.970 recovery after COVID. 37 00:02:13.990 --> 00:02:16.690 Farid Shidfar: We do focus on small business and medium sized 38 00:02:16.690 --> 00:02:19.480 businesses, as of late most of the business has been on the 39 00:02:19.480 --> 00:02:23.440 medium side. Initially, pre pandemic, it was mostly on the 40 00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:26.620 small business side of it. But we're seeing definitely pent up 41 00:02:26.620 --> 00:02:29.590 demand by the customers creating a great narrative, I think for 42 00:02:29.590 --> 00:02:33.490 the small businesses in terms of justifying their business 43 00:02:33.490 --> 00:02:36.550 financing needs. You know, it's really interesting with you know 44 00:02:36.550 --> 00:02:41.110 pre pandemic, we were, you know, one of the things that we strive 45 00:02:41.110 --> 00:02:44.800 is innovation. So we do, we've done everything in terms of 46 00:02:44.830 --> 00:02:48.490 digital acceleration of our digitalization. And so using AI 47 00:02:48.490 --> 00:02:53.650 technology, to ease the application process and our kind 48 00:02:53.650 --> 00:02:57.700 of our decision making process in terms of funding. And so, pre 49 00:02:57.700 --> 00:03:01.060 pandemic, you know, building these algorithms, and looking at 50 00:03:01.060 --> 00:03:05.020 the trends and so forth was a little bit more consistent in 51 00:03:05.020 --> 00:03:08.590 terms of what the trends we saw. Obviously, during the pandemic, 52 00:03:08.590 --> 00:03:12.670 everything went sideways. And we had to retrain these algorithms 53 00:03:12.670 --> 00:03:16.210 in order to accommodate for these volatile times. 54 00:03:16.540 --> 00:03:18.730 Sean Murray: You mentioned you get applications and where did 55 00:03:18.730 --> 00:03:22.720 these applications come from? Are they coming from referral 56 00:03:22.720 --> 00:03:26.230 partners? Are they coming from brokers? Are customers just 57 00:03:26.230 --> 00:03:28.810 finding you online and applying? Where do you get applications 58 00:03:28.810 --> 00:03:29.170 from? 59 00:03:29.170 --> 00:03:31.040 Farid Shidfar: During the pandemic, obviously, we tuned 60 00:03:31.040 --> 00:03:34.730 down our marketing efforts. Now we're obviously slowly coming 61 00:03:34.730 --> 00:03:38.450 back with respect to getting out there and marketing, the various 62 00:03:38.450 --> 00:03:42.380 offerings that we provide here in the US. The applications on 63 00:03:42.380 --> 00:03:45.650 our most in cash, it's all digital. So they're coming in 64 00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:49.520 through either, you know, through either search engine 65 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:52.640 marketing, to our search engine optimization that we've done 66 00:03:52.640 --> 00:03:56.570 with the various search engines, we do work with third parties, 67 00:03:56.600 --> 00:04:00.560 referrals that they send us. And so some of that is done online. 68 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:04.520 And then we also have our broker channel. So Keo Partners is our 69 00:04:04.520 --> 00:04:09.830 sales channel for for the ISOs. And we run a very, you know, 70 00:04:09.830 --> 00:04:12.650 it's been fantastic getting referrals through the brokers 71 00:04:12.650 --> 00:04:16.010 we, and that's a channel that we really want to build up and get 72 00:04:16.010 --> 00:04:21.350 more brokers, you know, applying to Keo partners, and providing 73 00:04:21.350 --> 00:04:24.200 us access to their pool of business. 74 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:26.970 Sean Murray: The Miami business environment has contributed to 75 00:04:26.970 --> 00:04:27.870 their success. 76 00:04:28.170 --> 00:04:30.180 Farid Shidfar: I've been here two and a half years. And I tell 77 00:04:30.180 --> 00:04:35.670 you, it's been it's been amazing watching the tech scene grow 78 00:04:35.670 --> 00:04:39.240 here in Miami and the support the government local government 79 00:04:39.240 --> 00:04:43.920 is providing in order to build that and you know, it's been 80 00:04:43.950 --> 00:04:46.770 it's just been amazing the embracement that the government 81 00:04:46.770 --> 00:04:51.000 has had with respect to creating kind of the next destination for 82 00:04:51.000 --> 00:04:55.320 tech companies to be here and to have access to the resources 83 00:04:55.350 --> 00:04:59.400 that the mayor Francis is really providing all here. And so it's 84 00:04:59.400 --> 00:05:02.550 exciting I mean right here in Midtown where we are next to 85 00:05:02.550 --> 00:05:06.180 Wynwood. This is the scene in Brickell, it's all within, you 86 00:05:06.180 --> 00:05:08.460 know, minutes away from each other. But we're definitely 87 00:05:08.460 --> 00:05:11.100 seeing a lot of collaboration happening among the companies. 88 00:05:11.430 --> 00:05:14.850 And the growth is exponential, you open up the news every day, 89 00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:17.970 and companies are hiring, you know, 100, 200 numbers are 90 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:21.480 astonishing in terms of the recruitment that's going on here 91 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:25.380 in the city. And, and I think it's becoming, you know, from a 92 00:05:25.380 --> 00:05:28.980 both from a tech and finance perspective, the attraction that 93 00:05:29.430 --> 00:05:33.120 that Miami has for these companies and their employees in 94 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:36.270 terms of lifestyle, I think it's it's a fantastic destination. 95 00:05:36.420 --> 00:05:39.210 I'm happier than ever, in terms of you know, I come from 96 00:05:39.210 --> 00:05:42.390 Southern California, and I can tell you, I have no plans to go 97 00:05:42.390 --> 00:05:43.320 back anytime soon. 98 00:05:43.960 --> 00:05:47.350 Sean Murray: Keo has its eye on the increasing digitalization of 99 00:05:47.350 --> 00:05:50.590 alternative finance. What are some of your short term goals? 100 00:05:50.740 --> 00:05:54.160 And long term goals? This is kind of a general like a broad 101 00:05:54.190 --> 00:05:58.870 question. But having coming, having come out of COVID, I feel 102 00:05:58.870 --> 00:06:01.810 like it's something that everyone is really looking at 103 00:06:01.810 --> 00:06:03.700 seriously, like, where do we want it? What do we want to do 104 00:06:03.700 --> 00:06:07.270 right now? You know what I mean to make sure we're, we're all 105 00:06:07.270 --> 00:06:10.720 situated. And then what are our long term goals? Have you 106 00:06:10.720 --> 00:06:12.700 thought about that? What are your short term and long term 107 00:06:12.700 --> 00:06:13.180 goals? 108 00:06:13.290 --> 00:06:16.524 Farid Shidfar: I mean, in the long term, we definitely want to 109 00:06:16.592 --> 00:06:20.790 be on the forefront of the kind of the, this whole, what I'll 110 00:06:20.858 --> 00:06:24.436 call acceleration in the digitization of alternative 111 00:06:24.505 --> 00:06:28.703 lending. So we will always we were the first lending company, 112 00:06:28.771 --> 00:06:32.969 to be on Platts platform, and, and back in 2019, prior to the 113 00:06:33.038 --> 00:06:37.510 M&A taking place. And we do want to continue looking at what sort 114 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:41.639 of solution offerings were out there and embracing them and 115 00:06:41.707 --> 00:06:46.042 testing and taking the risk in terms of being the innovators in 116 00:06:46.111 --> 00:06:50.102 the space, from a long term strategy, you know, technology 117 00:06:50.171 --> 00:06:54.231 will play a significant role in terms of our future. But in 118 00:06:54.299 --> 00:06:58.497 terms of short, you know, our short term, you know, we really 119 00:06:58.566 --> 00:07:02.763 wanna expand our footprint in the broker at the access to the 120 00:07:02.832 --> 00:07:07.029 to the brokers, and their book of business, and incentivizing 121 00:07:07.098 --> 00:07:11.020 all parties involved. And extending the, the terms that I 122 00:07:11.089 --> 00:07:15.286 think, play in favor of of the merchants in terms of in terms 123 00:07:15.355 --> 00:07:19.415 of what we can provide them in terms of financing that will 124 00:07:19.483 --> 00:07:23.337 really help them grow. And so short term or our focus is 125 00:07:23.405 --> 00:07:27.121 expand our ISO channel, and provide, you know, provide 126 00:07:27.190 --> 00:07:31.043 favorable financing to small businesses and medium sized 127 00:07:31.112 --> 00:07:35.309 businesses. That's our short term focus right now. Because as 128 00:07:35.378 --> 00:07:39.507 I mentioned earlier, there's, you know, that customer demand 129 00:07:39.575 --> 00:07:43.979 is there the pent up demand for these small businesses, products 130 00:07:44.048 --> 00:07:47.970 and services is there and that is a justification for the 131 00:07:48.039 --> 00:07:52.167 applications that are coming through. And so we want to make 132 00:07:52.236 --> 00:07:56.227 sure that, you know, we're helping and playing our role in 133 00:07:56.296 --> 00:07:58.980 the business financing world right now. 134 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:02.100 Sean Murray: As the nation turns a corner, the small business 135 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.580 recovery starts right here in offices like this one, with 136 00:08:05.640 --> 00:08:09.420 executives like Farid, in a hot pink logo, from Keo, in Midtown 137 00:08:09.480 --> 00:08:12.180 Miami. Sean Murray reporting for deBanked TV.