TURIN – «We have been working on Satispay for over ten years, trying to treasure resources. We have always had an ambitious vision, to become the most used payment tool in Europe. Now we realize we have what it takes to make it happen ». Alberto Dalmasso arrives at La Stampa with a backpack and the smile of someone who has just found the winning lottery ticket: thanks to a 320 million investment round, his Satispay has exceeded the record valuation of one billion dollars a few days ago. In the Wall Street lexicon, those companies are called unicorns. And in Italy they are very rare.
«It seems to have super powers», jokes Dalmasso, from Cuneo, born in 1984. Instead, those numbers, and the prospects they open up, are only one stage of a journey. He is a spirit that is often found in the territory’s DNA: “We are more used to entrepreneurship than to the idea of a permanent job and to use for life”. On the other hand, as he explains in front of the OGR audience during the Tech Week, “in Cuneo, just to go to university, you move to Turin, you have to be independent”. In short, you are forced to get by on your own.
Dalmasso, Satispay was born in 2013. When did the wind change?
«A couple of years ago, with the last operation of about ninety million, large international investors entered, including the then Square, now Block, a payment company launched by Jack Dorsey. Growth has become stronger and stronger, in 10 months we have reached 3 million customers ».
The pandemic has transformed payments – digital payments are the norm. Was there a positive legacy for you?
«It has had a lot of influence, more than 70% of the payments made with Satispay are in physical stores. We are very strong in supermarkets and pharmacies, which remained open in the days of Covid, but through some changes to the application we have also made it easier to find neighborhood businesses. The pandemic has forced us to adapt, and has done the same with companies and public bodies: some municipalities have started using us to distribute shopping vouchers ».
What’s the lesson?
«The emergency made Italians understand that things of daily life, done digitally, were no longer complicated. There was a “wow” effect, the Over 60 generation has become our best “ambassador”. Well-designed technology, with the user at the center, can be embraced by anyone, starting with the Italian population, which is not very young, but is immersing itself fully in digitization ».
What’s the next goal?
“Accelerate growth, dominate the Italian market because there is room for it to become a habit for another 40 million people”.
And abroad?
«We took the first steps in Luxembourg and Germany and now in France, creating the teams. Within a couple of years, we will see other states contributing to our development. To become the preferred payment instrument for Europeans we still have to take a few steps forward ».
I primi?
«We must extend Satispay to minors, freelancers and the world of welfare. And we want to support the countries that will increasingly distribute the various bonuses through electronic payment systems ».
What figures are you betting at?
“We were growing million by million, now we look to 10 million users as the next goal.”
There is often a criticism: it seems that Europe is struggling to create unicorns because it is the victim of an excess of bureaucracy. Is that so?
“Europe is certainly more bureaucratic and slower than the US world, but ours is a larger market than the United States. We have found company law quite complex, the rules are not designed for start-ups and for those who finance themselves with risk capital. In the world of payments, a scenario seems to be taking shape in which the great champions will be local and the investors themselves, including Americans, look beyond their borders. In this context, being European, and Italian, is an advantage. Now, in addition to attracting capital, we need to attract talent, bring home the Italians who have been to Silicon Valley, have scaled companies with hundreds of millions of users and have learned things that can really change the face of European companies. A few people per company are enough to train the next generations ».
In Italy there are about fifteen thousand start-ups, Piedmont started very strongly about ten years ago, but now it looks at Lombardy from afar, with 777 companies registered in the special section of the Business Register. Why is it so important to catch up?
«Start-ups are good for everyone because innovation is the way and innovation is done with risk capital, which forces those under 30 to give all the hunger they have for the project. In Italy, a company is made based on how much your family can get into debt. Start-ups will change the system ».
Could listing you be an option to finance further growth?
“It has always been our goal, but this is not the time for a listing by looking at the markets and we are still small, as a team, we prefer to avoid pressure”.
How do you see Satispay in 2030?
«Big, strong, and always nice and funny».