Payment solution facilitates access by Brazilians to SimilarWeb SaaS

The partnership between the company and Bexs Bank demonstrates the importance of adapting to the market with growing demand for software.

Brazil, a country of continental proportions, has over 210 million who are known for their thirst for innovation and technology. Brazilian companies are facing a turning point due to the intense migration online of the daily routines of people and companies. Driven by physical distancing, an unprecedented acceleration in the transition to digital tools is also taking place.   The combination of these factors has driven the world’s ninth largest economy, with GDP of US$1.9 trillion, to undergo strong growth in the software offering in its local market. Moreover, Brazil ranks ninth in the global IT investment ranking (ABES – Software). However, this demand comes up against the technical and cultural barriers associated with the peculiarities of Brazilian consumers.   This opportunity was confirmed by SimilarWeb, the giant of the web analytics segment and a partner of brands such as eBay, Google and Alibaba, which operated in Brazil focusing exclusively on large companies. After deciding to expand its footprint in the country, SimilarWeb chose Bexs Bank as its payment solution partner in Brazil.   The Israelian startup company, which conducted its transactions in U.S. dollar, opened up a new business niched and adopted local payment methods. “We were able to tap a new public of small and medium businesses (SMBs), which represent an important share of the Brazilian market,” said Urgel Augustin, sales director at SimilarWeb for Latin America. Not serving SMBs meant missing out on thousands of new opportunities. Companies of these sizes avoid as much as possible the use of corporate credit cards in their financial departments due to the large spreads of FX transactions and to the various transaction charges embedded in the payment method.   Local payment methods are very important to Brazilians, even when dealing with B2B sales. Over 90% of commercial transactions in the country are carried out using local payment methods. Debit cards and boletos, for example, are culturally well accepted. However, this is not the only peculiarity of the Brazilian market. “In other countries, there is a culture of annual payments, while in Brazil it is very common to pay in monthly installments,” noted Urgel Augustin. Another important point analyzed by SimilarWeb is a clear increase in the number of conversions with amounts processed in Brazilian real, given the security it gives people and companies.   The financial and regulatory scenarios are equally important. In the financial scenario, the highlight is the volatility in the FX rate, which increases insecurity in cross-border transactions. Augustin explains that “avoiding the volatility in the FX rate gives customers greater visibility in their spending, which helps their cash flow management.” In the regulatory scenario, compliance rules and legal fees add complexity to the system, which could delay payment flows. “Basically, we facilitate international transactions while complying with all Brazilian regulations,” said Bexs CEO Luiz Henrique Didier Jr.   Bexs combines 30 years of expertise in FX markets with the development of digital payment platforms. That was the solution adopted in the case of SimilarWeb. However, our solutions are customized to the needs of each client and industry. Didier Jr. sums up the future of cross-border payments: “The Brazilian market is gigantic, and we believe that this kind of integration with digital foreign companies is just the beginning.”   Expanding digital businesses to Brazil and scaling SaaS sales is now simpler with the Bexs Bank solution that combines local payment methods with FX support. Click here and contact our specialists.