Lina Open X, an infrastructure solutions company for the Open world, has just received authorisation from the Central Bank (BC) to act as a payment institution (PI), in the form of a payment transaction initiator (PTI). This is the first step towards the launch of the service by infratech, which should take place in the coming months.
"We already have all the security and software certification. Now we have to go through the onboarding process and the approval process with four institutions," Alan Mareines, CEO of Lina, told Finsiders. He took over the position about five months ago from co-founder Márcio Castro, who now chairs the company's board of directors.
According to him, PTI's goal is to foster business cases in the ecosystem, for example charging in digital wallets, using data for anti-fraud policies and identifying consumer patterns for product personalisation. In practice, payment initiation shortens the steps and eliminates "copy and paste Pix".
Transaction flow will be further improved with features such as a redirection-free path and the possibility of recurring payments. In fact, these developments prompted Lina to apply for its own licence from the regulator. "We decided we had to get into this game when we saw some business cases within Open Finance, such as recurring Pix [Automatic Pix, to be launched next year by the Central Bank] and redirection-free travel," says Alan.
Operational since October 2020, Lina really started to "show its face" in 2021. In May that year, co-founders Márcio Castro and Murilo Rabusky told Finsiders about the first steps of the business, which at the time had just four clients. Today, infratech has more than 40 companies in its portfolio. The CEO expects to more than double this number by next year.
According to the CEO, the portfolio is split almost 50-50 between companies in the financial sector (regulated institutions, especially in the S3, S4 and S5 segments) and the insurance market (large insurers and insurtechs). The current portfolio includes, for example, Banco BRP, SulAmérica, HDI, Afinz and iugu, among others.
In August 2022, Lina received a R$7.5 million contribution from RTM, a financial markets integrator hub whose shareholders are Anbima and B3. The company is currently finalising the second round of investment, which is expected to be announced later this year, says Alan, without giving further details. "The aim of this round is precisely to drive our growth curve."
According to the CEO, one of Lina's key differentiators from other companies with Open Finance solutions is that the fintech addresses the entire Open ecosystem. This includes not only the environment built by the Central Bank, but also Open Insurance (an initiative led by Susep), the future Open Capital Market (a CVM project), as well as other moves in this direction that go beyond the 'small fence' of the financial world. 'Open Energy' and 'Open Health' are examples.
"We offer the technology toolbox that every institution needs to enter the Open world," says Alan. "In insurance, for example, we have a technology integration partnership with B3 to offer solutions to insurers," says the CEO.
Open Insurance is one of Lina's big bets for the coming year. One of the reasons is the advancement of the system's implementation schedule, which next year will include, among other new features, the launch of the so-called SPOC (Sales Order Processing Company), planned for phase 3 and which has replaced the Insurance Services Initiating Company (Siss), a kind of "ITP" in the context of the insurance sector.
"The payment process in general is already smooth. In the insurance world this is not the case. SPOC will allow, for example, digital insurance quoting and claims reporting. So we realise that we have a huge sea to sail when SPOC is launched," Alan explains.
The young CEO also reveals what he envisions for the future. "My dream is to be able to buy a mobile phone, pay for it through Open Finance and already take out insurance through Open Insurance." It remains to be seen when this will become a reality.
Lina Open X, an infrastructure solutions company for the Open world, has just received authorisation from the Central Bank (BC) to act as a payment institution (PI), in the form of a payment transaction initiator (PTI). This is the first step towards the launch of the service by infratech, which should take place in the coming months.
"We already have all the security and software certification. Now we have to go through the onboarding process and the approval process with four institutions," Alan Mareines, CEO of Lina, told Finsiders. He took over the position about five months ago from co-founder Márcio Castro, who now chairs the company's board of directors.
According to him, PTI's goal is to foster business cases in the ecosystem, for example charging in digital wallets, using data for anti-fraud policies and identifying consumer patterns for product personalisation. In practice, payment initiation shortens the steps and eliminates "copy and paste Pix".
Transaction flow will be further improved with features such as a redirection-free path and the possibility of recurring payments. In fact, these developments prompted Lina to apply for its own licence from the regulator. "We decided we had to get into this game when we saw some business cases within Open Finance, such as recurring Pix [Automatic Pix, to be launched next year by the Central Bank] and redirection-free travel," says Alan.
Operational since October 2020, Lina really started to "show its face" in 2021. In May that year, co-founders Márcio Castro and Murilo Rabusky told Finsiders about the first steps of the business, which at the time had just four clients. Today, infratech has more than 40 companies in its portfolio. The CEO expects to more than double this number by next year.
According to the CEO, the portfolio is split almost 50-50 between companies in the financial sector (regulated institutions, especially in the S3, S4 and S5 segments) and the insurance market (large insurers and insurtechs). The current portfolio includes, for example, Banco BRP, SulAmérica, HDI, Afinz and iugu, among others.
In August 2022, Lina received a R$7.5 million contribution from RTM, a financial markets integrator hub whose shareholders are Anbima and B3. The company is currently finalising the second round of investment, which is expected to be announced later this year, says Alan, without giving further details. "The aim of this round is precisely to drive our growth curve."
According to the CEO, one of Lina's key differentiators from other companies with Open Finance solutions is that the fintech addresses the entire Open ecosystem. This includes not only the environment built by the Central Bank, but also Open Insurance (an initiative led by Susep), the future Open Capital Market (a CVM project), as well as other moves in this direction that go beyond the 'small fence' of the financial world. 'Open Energy' and 'Open Health' are examples.
"We offer the technology toolbox that every institution needs to enter the Open world," says Alan. "In insurance, for example, we have a technology integration partnership with B3 to offer solutions to insurers," says the CEO.
Open Insurance is one of Lina's big bets for the coming year. One of the reasons is the advancement of the system's implementation schedule, which next year will include, among other new features, the launch of the so-called SPOC (Sales Order Processing Company), planned for phase 3 and which has replaced the Insurance Services Initiating Company (Siss), a kind of "ITP" in the context of the insurance sector.
"The payment process in general is already smooth. In the insurance world this is not the case. SPOC will allow, for example, digital insurance quoting and claims reporting. So we realise that we have a huge sea to sail when SPOC is launched," Alan explains.
The young CEO also reveals what he envisions for the future. "My dream is to be able to buy a mobile phone, pay for it through Open Finance and already take out insurance through Open Insurance." It remains to be seen when this will become a reality.