SCF #9
Alfred Pay
by

An easier way to send and receive money cross border

Awarded
Budget request:
$
*
WebsiteCode

Project Stage

Startup

Category

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Based in

HQ: Miami | Team: Miami, Dominican Republic, Haiti

Team size

Active since

December 2020
Products & Services

Alfred Pay App (Wallet): The Alfred pay app is a product that provides users with the ability to send and receive their remittances directly from their mobile devices. (iOS + Android)

  • Receive USDC in 4-6 seconds: Give users the ability to store funds in Dollars regardless of where they are. Option to send USDC directly to a alfred username. ie: @diegoy
  • Send directly to a local bank account: The recipient doesn't need to have a wallet to receive! Avoid high wire costs and send right to his bank account.
  • ATM withdrawal feature: Part of the largest ATM network in the DR. Alfred users simply have to locate the nearest ATM and withdraw their pesos in exchange for USDC.
  • Create a profile + Add and invite friends and family
  • Compare sending costs in real-time vs. other remittance providers.

Alfred Stellar Anchor (United States, Haiti, Dominican Republic): Building compliant crypto to FIAT off-ramp in the Dominican Republic and Haiti to allow users to access cash in exchange for USDC.

Building Instant ACH On/Off ramp in the United States with PrimeTrust to on-ramp stellar USDC instantly as well as users in a compliant environment.

USAD Stablecoin on Stellar Network: Build United States Alfred Dollar, a wrapped USDC token on the stellar blockchain. Through our stable coin offer 7% high yield account through future partnership and integration with the wyre savings wallet.

 

Bill Payment Feature (Phone and Power): In allegiance with local phone providers allow individuals to pay their families’ bills directly through the

Alfred app.

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Previous Project(s)
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Progress so far

Partnerships- PrimeTrust- Stably- Mercantil Financial Group (Dominican Republic Partner/Shareholder)- Dominican Republic Partner Bank- Dominican Republic Cash Network- Alorica (Dominican Phone carrier)- Edenorte (Dominican Electricity provider)- Haiti Partner Bank

Product:Stellar Partner Anchor- US Anchor (On/Off Ramp) In production -- Instant ACH roll out- Dominican Republic and Haiti (Off Ramp) In production

Alfred Pay Wallet (Beta)ATM Network (Part of DR’s largest ATM network)

Licenses:- FINCEN Registration- MSB License

Fundraising: - Raised 80K in Q1 2021 Investor: Mercantil Financial Group- Q2 2022 Pre-seed raise: $1M-$1.5M USD

Going to market in: US, Haiti, Dominican Republic

Users: 4,000 users under contract through Mercantil Financial Group (Micro Loan service in DR) who receive US Payments.

Goals


6 months from now alfred will be an established US, Dominican Republic, and Haiti Stellar Anchor. For the US anchor we will support Instant ACH/on ramp to USDC. This integration will also have a supported front end for the user (Alfred Pay app) to provide them with a simpler way to send and receive remittances. To achieve this we will be working with our partner bank in each jurisdiction mentioned to have the anchor integration completed along with the cash-ready reserve to support instant payouts whether it is through our application or direct to bank. We want to achieve this goal for two reasons. First to provide additional payment corridors to Haiti in a time where they need resources and secondly to provide cheaper and faster methods to remit cross border to these countries that see a large demand. 


In order to achieve the above in the next 6 months, our project manager has structured 12 sprints with specific KPI’s and a maximum duration of two weeks per sprint. After each sprint or after reaching key objectives established in the roadmap our project manager will operate a UAT session to assure we have completed that sprint or objective correctly. We will use these sprints as a form to measure our progress and guidance as we work to meet objectives.


Our team is made up of individuals who have led, developed, and delivered projects to market in the past. Our director of technology has developed projects for clients such as the united nations and compass mining. On the stellar side, he has developed two platforms, metrospaces (tokenizing real estate) and kinesis (tokenizing gold). In order to achieve this goal, we are looking for additional resources to scale our team to help meet our objectives. Our team is utilizing the same project management strategy used on previous projects that successfully launched and scaled in the market.


Over the last 12 months, our team has worked on building strategic partnerships in order to achieve and deliver the goal mentioned above. Thanks to that work our team is confident that this goal is within reach. With the resources requested below, we believe we can commit to delivering this in 6 months. 


Haiti is currently going through a crisis where resources are needed. The country is currently suffering from a high inflation crisis and social strikes which are closing down some businesses. Due to this our partner bank and Alfred has a large urgency to launch our anchor and platform in this market as soon as we can. 
The Dominican Republic is the 3rd largest remittance market in Latin America. Due to the demand and opportunity, our team is working diligently to be the crypto to fiat off-ramp on the stellar network in this market. There are also large remittance amounts that go from the Dominican Republic to Haiti.

To get there, we request a budget of  
$
*
  to:

I believe that the following 4 aspects of the business will help us accomplish this goal:  


Our Product development team is compromised of: 
- 1 Project manager
- 2 Senior Backend Developers
- 1 iOS Developer
- 1 Android Developer 
- 1 Infrastructure Analyst 
- 1 Business Analyst 
- 1 UX/UI 

We believe that our team is the backbone of alfred. We are confident that combining that with the great job the SDF has done puts us in a position to do something really cool. Our product is currently in production and we are sure that with the pieces we have in place we can accomplish this goal and take our product to market successfully.


On the grounds, our team has over 20+ years of experience in the market. Through this, we’ve been able to leverage past relationships and create new ones as we work to bring this solution to the Caribbean. Additionally, we have played a large educational role in teaching regulators how our solution can be compliance-friendly yet leverage blockchain technology and digital assets. 


Our Co-founder Marino Marrero is a lawyer with 20 years in the legal field. Through his leadership, we have been able to cover the legal requirements to take a product and platform like this to market. *Alfred is a Licensed MSB and registered in FINCEN. 


In Q1 of 2021, Alfred raised a small capital call of $80K. These funds helped us push the vision of the project forward and accomplish the “progress” mentioned in question 8. Now alfred is looking for additional resources through the stellar community to help the company be where we want to be before raising a pre-seed round of $1M-$1.5M in Q2 of 2022.

Additional information

Use of Funds

Problem & Solution





Revenue Model

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ERiTrFHCrkXHyVGoVA7m1SPQqjAKWGKwo5a2_AcOLBs/edit?usp=sharing


Industry and Market Research


Competition


Threats and Opportunities

Strengths:

  • The team has strong experience on the grounds in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
  • Alfred's team members are based in these countries for day-to-day operations.
  • Strong experience in Software development and launching successful products. (Director of technology is part of Forbes Technology Council)
  • The team has high local relationships with Central bank officials and regulators.
  • Alfred Co-founder is president of a regulated Financial institution in the Dominican Republic.


Weaknesses:

  • The bureaucratic process in LATAM can be slower than desired at times.  
  • Mobile banking adoption is just beginning in the Caribbean
  • In the 12 months of BD, finding a US Anchor with optimal On-ramp settlement times has been difficult.


Opportunities:

  • Be the first compliant crypto to fiat network in these countries.
  • Establish ourselves as US on-ramp with Instant ACH


Threats:

  1. Sanctions against stablecoins, USDC and digital assets
  2. Local regulators and institutions threatened by users holding alternative currencies that are not the DOP (Dominican Peso)
  3. Local monopolies (remmittors)  

Resources and Relationships

Our team has a direct association with Shokworks inc. and they are shareholders in Alfred. The shokworks team has over 400 developers which allows Alfred to scale their backend team instantly. This team has developed applications for many top brands and teams around the world including but not limited to: FC Barcelona, La Liga, Real Madrid, PSG, Kinesis Money, Start-Up Chile, Dupont Chemicals, The Las Vegas Raiders, The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, The Pittsburgh Steelers, Fox Sports, HBO, The United Nations and the Governments of the UK. Mexico and Panama.


As mentioned our team has many years of experience and long relationships with the banking sector in the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Our team has key lobbyists within the Dominican Republic government and Central bank in order to help grow this product and build key partnerships to support the growth of Alfred pay.

Pitch deck
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Deliverables
First Deliverable

Budget Requested: $215,000


- Development and Integration (Backend Team) $70,000
- Business Development $6,000
- Custodial Account (API Costs) $44,500
- Instant ACH (US On ramp Reserve) $35,000
- Salaries and Expenses (2 employees / 6 months pay) $64,500

Links:

Team

Diego Yanez @diegoydiceCo FounderDiego is the Co-Founder and CEO of Alfred Pay. Prior to building Alfred Pay he worked as Chief of Staff for Medsis International, a fintech based in Argentina, Brazil and Benin. Additionally through KPMG Diego has consulted for local government organizations.https://www.linkedin.com/in/diego-yanez-878861127/

Marino Marrero @marinomarreroCo FounderMarino has served as the President and Founder of Mercantil Financial Group, a microloan and finance institution in the Dominican Republic from 2000 to - Present. Marino provides a deep understanding and expertise of the banking sector within the Caribbean and has served clients like Amazon and Samsung.https://www.linkedin.com/in/marino-a-marrero-b-0165a12b/

Alejandro Laplana Director of Technology, PartnerAlejandro is the founder and CEO of a technology and investments company, Shokworks, Inc., where he has developed digital platforms and apps for some of the world’s most exciting brands and tech companies. Alejandro serves on the Forbes technology council and has also delivered two successful projects (MetroSpaces and Kinesis Money) on the stellar blockchain.https://www.linkedin.com/in/alejandro-laplana-zabarain-b8697b12/

Rafael Lugo PenaComplianceRafael Lugo Pena has over 35 years of experience working in the banking sector in the Dominican Republic including 12 years as a Director in the Central Bank. Rafael has played a key roll in lobbying for Alfred Pay and the implementation of solutions like blockchain technology and stablecoins to help improve the countries current remittance system. Rafael currently serves as the VP of compliance for Caribe Express, the countries largest remittance network that sees over $5 Billion USD in yearly remittance volume.https://www.linkedin.com/in/rafael-lugo-pe%C3%B1a-1a619730/

Miguel Toirac @mtoiracDirector of Business DevelopmentMiguel has a vast experience in digital payments within the Caribbean islands. He has served as the Director of Business Development for GCS international (Dominican Republic's Mobile payment network) which has processed more than $1.8 Billion USD worth of P2P transactions. He also led the charge in the expansion of GCS's P2P platform "tpago" to Haiti.https://www.linkedin.com/in/mtoirac/