Carlos Oriana of DeNiro on Who Are These Startups
Show Notes for the Upcoming Episode of “Who Are These Startups?” featuring Carlos Oriana of DeNiro Welcome to another exciting episode of Who Are These Startups?, the podcast that features interviews with founders of innovative Canadian startups, giving you an inside look into their journeys,…
Show Notes for the Upcoming Episode of “Who Are These Startups?” featuring Carlos Oriana of DeNiro
Welcome to another exciting episode of Who Are These Startups?, the podcast that features interviews with founders of innovative Canadian startups, giving you an inside look into their journeys, challenges, and successes. Hosted by The Startup Coach, this episode takes us to Collision, one of North America’s largest tech conferences, where we sit down with Carlos Oriana, the founder of DeNiro—a digital wallet that is revolutionizing financial services for the Hispanic community in the United States.
Episode Overview
In this episode, Carlos Oriana shares the story behind DeNiro, a digital wallet specifically designed for the Hispanic market in the United States. As an immigrant himself, Carlos recognized a gap in the financial services offered to Hispanics—a community that contributed $3.2 trillion to the U.S. GDP last year alone. DeNiro is more than just another digital wallet; it’s a platform that speaks the language of its users—both literally and figuratively. With DeNiro, users can create bank accounts without a Social Security number, load cash at physical locations like Walmart and 7-Eleven, and seamlessly participate in the digital economy with features like Apple Pay and Google Pay integration.
Key Takeaways
- Catering to the Hispanic Community:
Carlos emphasizes that DeNiro is tailored specifically for Hispanics in the U.S., filling a critical gap in financial services. Traditional banks have been slow to adapt to the needs of this community, and even when they did, the digital banking revolution had already begun. DeNiro’s unique approach allows users to open accounts without traditional identifiers like a Social Security number, making banking accessible to more people. - Innovative Features:
What sets DeNiro apart from other digital wallets? It’s the first to allow users to create a bank account without a Social Security number, accepting ITINs (Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers) instead. Additionally, users can load cash into their accounts at physical locations, and start using their DeNiro debit cards within seconds. This inclusivity and ease of use are key components that make DeNiro a standout in the market. - Future Expansion Plans:
DeNiro is not just stopping at the U.S. market. With recent partnerships in Mexico, El Salvador, and Colombia, DeNiro plans to expand across Latin America. Carlos shares that within the next three to five years, they aim to have a significant presence in these countries, further extending their reach to millions of underserved Hispanics across the continent. - Networking and Partnerships at Collision:
Carlos also discusses the importance of events like Collision for networking and building strategic partnerships. The exposure to potential investors, partners in blockchain and crypto, and the media has been invaluable for DeNiro’s growth. He encourages anyone interested in tapping into the Hispanic market—be it investors, businesses, or strategic partners—to reach out and join this rapidly expanding ecosystem.
About DeNiro
DeNiro is a digital wallet focused on providing financial services to the Hispanic community in the United States. With the ability to create accounts without a Social Security number, load funds at physical locations, and seamlessly integrate with digital payment systems, DeNiro is breaking down barriers and making financial inclusion a reality for millions.
Additional Resources
- Startup Talk Podcast
- Who Are These Startups?
- Silicon Scoop Podcast
- Futuretech Podcast
- Startup Investor Drinks
- TorontoStarts Startup and Entrepreneur Community
- Work with The Startup Coach
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- Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more great content.
This episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in fintech, financial inclusion, and the growing Hispanic market. Don’t miss out on Carlos Oriana’s insights and the story behind DeNiro, a startup that is truly making a difference. Tune in now on Who Are These Startups? and stay ahead of the curve in the world of startups and innovation!
Download original transcript (.txt)
Welcome to Who Are These Startups?
podcast shorts featuring founder interviews of Canadian startups.
This is a startup coach here and I'm back at collision and with me today is Carlos.
Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your company?
Yes, absolutely.
My name is Carlos Oriana and I am with DeNiro.
DeNiro is a digital wallet and it's comprised of Hispanics and it's focused to the Hispanic market in the United States and in the United States.
And what inspired you to start this?
What inspired is the fact that we're all Latinos, we're all Hispanics, and as an immigrant in the United States, we realize that there's been a lot of talk about financial inclusion.
And it took a while to finally get there, so I do congratulate the brick and mortar banks that took years to start offering banking services.
However, when they finally did offer brick and mortar services, something dramatically changed, right?
The digital banking evolution happened, so now it's like, oh boy, how do they now become part of this whole digital banking?
And that's what we decided to do, make it very easy, very seamless.
Digital wallets start to become a thing and you see these applications such as cash out, Venmo, Zales, PayPal, and they all have one thing in common, that speaks Spanish.
They're all focused in English.
So, dinero is different because it speaks our people's language, right?
It speaks money and it's in Spanish.
And that's what we decided to do, to go out and target the fastest growing market in the world.
Last year alone, you contributed $3.2 trillion in GDP just in the United States.
That's powerful, that's consumption power, right?
And being able to purchase from just about anything.
What makes your technology unique?
Well, what makes it very unique is we are the first wallet that allows our users to be able to create a bank account without a social care number.
You can have a night tent number, right?
And also, you're able to go ahead and load cash in physical locations.
So we partner up with like 711, Walmart, Walgreens, and be able to walk in and load cash, therefore not requiring a bank account and a physical bank.
And you're able to load funds and now you're part into the banking system and you have your DeNiro, Devin Mastercard, your virtual account, literally in seconds.
You can load it into your Apple Pay, your Google Pay, wait for your physical card within 7 days.
But now you're able to go and load money and be able to shop and participate in the ecosystem.
And what we call the digital ecosystem now because in order to watch TV, you need a Netflix membership or Amazon before they couldn't do that.
In order to get a ride, you need a new application and what do you really ask for?
A credit card or a debit card?
In order to food and doordash, you need that as well.
And that's what makes us unique in allowing them to be part of this entire...
Where have you seen DeNiro in 3 to 5 years?
Oh, you know what?
So, Damiado just came with us 3 months ago.
He's a new Chief Business Development Officer and through a partnership that we were able to make in Mexico, it automatically puts us in 13 countries.
And what we did is strategically in the next 90 days, we decided to clone the application and create different versions for Mexico, El Salvador and Colombia.
So the next 3 months we're launching in these countries.
In 3 to 5 years, we plan to be in Mexico and the rest of the Latin America.
That's fantastic.
So what brings you to collision?
It's all about networking and making contacts.
We were invited here in 2020, unfortunately we weren't able to make it, but we're invited here again.
Shane was kind enough to reach out to us again and make us a very amazing offer so that we can go ahead and come and be part of this.
What brings us here is all about making connections and contacts as you never know, right?
You never know if you're going to make a new strategic partnership, an investor or amazing people like you.
So have you had any interesting experience or met any memorable people so far?
Oh, absolutely.
Yes, we have.
We had 3 investment meetings this morning.
It was great.
It's a strategic partnership with the blockchain and the crypto space.
And definitely a lot of interviews with the media companies.
That's been great.
And if people aren't watching this, who should reach out to you?
Everyone.
Because we invite everyone to be part of this growing market.
Whether you're a business, you're a brand, you're a small, mid-sized merchant, or you're a strategic partnership, or you're an investor, it's looking to tap into the Hispanic market.
And there's no competition for us.
Combined with 180 million Hispanic and Latinos, we can't pretend to cover and service everyone.
Where are people going to find out more?
Go to deneroapp.com.
That's D-N-E-R-O-A-P-P.com.
And reach out to us.
Thank you for taking the time out of collision to talk to us today, Carlos.
Thank you, Craig.
This has been Who Are These Startups?
Find out more at WhoAreTheStartups.com and check out our live events at TorontoStartups.com/events.
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