In
mid-July, our Stockhouse audience was introduced to a fintech company with a very unique business model that’s created a secure, easy-to-use payment solution for the student market –
Euro Asia Pay Holdings Inc. (EAP) (
CSE.EAP, Forum).
Stockhouse Media’s Dave Jackson was recently joined by company CEO & Director, Peter MacKay, to get investors and company shareholders up-to-date on all things Euro Asia Pay.
(Click image to play video)
TRANSCRIPT BELOW:
SH: To start off with, can you tell us a little bit about yourself and the history of the company?
PM: Absolutely. I am based here in Vancouver, BC with my family, although I'm originally, as you could probably tell from the accent as we go along, from the UK. I have been doing this for 25 years plus now, with a pretty good track record of building and growing technology companies. I was lucky enough to have a couple of solid, successful exits under my belt and also three public listings, that is including Euro Asia Pay, being the third. With regards to that company, EAP, Euro Asia Pay, that was initially incorporated here in BC in late 2017, with a goal of developing a payment solution platform that offers these enhanced digital financial services to the international student market. That was the start of the company and to where we have got to today.
SH: Can you update our investor audience and your Euro Asia Pay shareholders on any new company developments, especially in the wake of COVID-19?
PM: It has been an interesting time for us all. I think during the pandemic, we continued to add features that enhance the user experience. Just back in May of this year, we launched the new SideKick MasterCard with advanced features. It allows students to enjoy additional functionalities, that were not part of the previous version of SideKick. Such as the contactless payment, which was also important through the pandemic. The importance of making sure that they could tap, in addition to the secure payments with chip and pen, as well as ATM withdrawal. We also had further tech integrations around international transfers. We added 187 new countries to the SideKick platform.
That took the total to beyond 240 supported countries that we can now transfer funds from. What we also found, it was quite an interesting one, and also to make sure that we could maximize the products, especially in the wake of the pandemic, it was after the international launch of the product, we had already identified the need for our services for Canadian students. This was quickly validated. We did some market validation and market research by parents and students alike, and that they would also love to make use of the technology, as there has been a bit of a lack of solutions supporting their kids and teens, right here on our doorstep here in Canada. We had heard from them how many of the traditional banks had really, not necessarily underserved, but the teen market was not really their core focus and driver.
It seemed natural for us to enhance our products that we already had to serve this particular audience for that next generation of consumer, servicing both the international and the domestic markets. To put that into context, that took our addressable market from around 750,000 international students here in Canada, to an excess of 6 million that are now and addressable market, here in Canada. And if we transpose that to our US market, as we are preparing for, that is sort of 1.2, 1.4 (million) international students at a whopping 30 to 40 million, as the youth and domestic market is concerned. We are going to be launching, with our Canadian program, in the fall of this year, which we call ‘Hero’. Hero is EAPs newest brand to accommodate a variety of tech and financial services. Offered to our customers, which we see as a natural evolution of the SideKick product, so that additional functionality with a demonstrably wider audience. Our goal there is for Hero to give kids, teens and young adults and their families, the experience that the traditional banks haven’t necessarily focused on.
SH: Let’s talk a bit about the company’s original product, the SideKick card – a branded mobile payment solution. Sounds fascinating!
PM: It absolutely is. We have talked about Hero and of course, every hero needs a Side Kick and SideKick is the turnkey financial solution that allows parents to send, monitor and control their funds for their children while studying abroad. The product also offers added financial controls to parents so they can control where their kids spend the money, as well as monitoring transactions and balances in real time. Here is the key thing, with our unique feature of money transfers, international students don't need to have an existing bank account here in Canada and can access the funds instantly once they have been deposited onto the SideKick card. Which they can then use anywhere a prepaid MasterCard is accepted. Whether that be in store, online or on the transit - wherever it may be. Additionally, they have access to these budgeting tools and resources to help them manage their money and build on that financial literacy.
I think sort of putting this into focus for the shareholders and would be investors, it means that we have a proven, sought-after product currently in the market with a growing customer base, with a strong will on these strong partnerships in place. As we exit the pandemic, and as we prepare to exit this pandemic, we are now in the midst of an incredible time, opportunities will abound. The commenters are going to snowball and we are in a great position to optimize on these opportunities.
SH: In April, you signed a binding MOU with insurance company MSH International Ltd. Can you expand on this initiative for our investor audience?
MSH International, or the part we work with, ‘Study Insured’ specialize in travel health insurance for international students in Canada, not just in Canada, the United States, and also around the world. Through this agreement Study Insured is able to reimburse the insurance claims of its customers directly onto a SideKick card. By making SideKick card available as a payment method for its customers, Study Insured is aiming to assist the international students, without that local bank account, who generally have difficulty depositing checks or receiving electronic transfers. Customers who obtain their insurance claim onto the SideKick card, then also they have the ability to take full advantage of the platform thereafter.
SH: Peter, the Company looks set for strong growth in 2021. How are you placed to expand operations to meet demand?
That is always the golden question and one we made sure we addressed from the start. We have been growing our team for the past few months and we expect to continue growing, not only to meet demand, but also to expand our products into different territories and continue to add new features to our existing product set. Since the incorporation, and COVID aside, we knew we would have a strong and rapid growth. We decided and designed the company structure and our products to be scalable and easy in a well-organized way. What this means is that we have the right people and the right technology to meet the demand and deliver flawless experience to all of the consumers as we go.
SH: For company shareholders and potential investors, what kind of future development and progress can we expect with E-A-P’s products?
EAP has been this regulatory approved and commercialized financial solution for students, both international, and as I alluded to, domestic. The post pandemic pent up learning activities in Canada represents a clear and present revenue growth opportunity for EAP. The student sector is underserved, but with substantial potential for broad products and services that can be developed, for example, Hero. EAP is in the early revenue stage, where we are an early-stage company, but with the traction and the growth that we are experiencing, we are confident that we are going to be seeing significant revenue growth. We have already seen an increase in the number of international students coming to Canada and subscribing to our products. I believe that with the easing of some of the COVID restrictions, this number will only increase even more in the months to come.
There are thousands, literally tens of thousands of students that are studying remotely from their home countries at the moment, that they are just waiting for the borders to open, or for the vaccines, or the vaccine passports to come through, so they can actually come to Canada and start this real-life experience as an international student. I expect that it is going to be something similar going to be happening with the domestic economy in this post pandemic phase. My kids have just gone back to school in person. There is a lot of the universities opening, then we are still reporting one or two of their subjects are going to be remote, but predominantly most of them are in face-to-face and physical classes, which are happening. We need to make sure that the parents have the tools that they need and the services that they need, to give them the peace of mind and security that their kids have everything that they require to succeed while they are away from them. I guess for the younger children, for the younger kids that we have got here, specifically in the domestic market, we are talking about having a way to pay for that daily lunch or their after-school activities. For the university students, it is about making sure that they can pay for their rent or pay for their school supplies or any other big expenses for that matter.
SH: What separates Euro Asia Pay from the competition and makes your business model so unique?
To start with, I think that EAP and with our SideKick product is the first company approved in Canada that targets international education sector to facilitate the transferring of funds from overseas onto a prepaid card for living expenses. Period. Nobody else is doing that. We also are unique in the tools and features that we make available for our customers, such as the budgeting tools and to divide these funds into these categories like food, accommodation, transport, and fun. Funds within these categories can only be spent at relevant merchants. Parents can monitor and have the peace of mind and the control where, and how that money is being spent. Furthermore, I think that it is worth mentioning that EAP stands out among the competitors, as it continues to diversify products and services to address specific unmet needs, tailored to our target demographic, both the international students and also kids and youth that are here in North America.
SH: What’s the long-term strategy for the company moving into 2021 and beyond, and what should retail, institutional, and private equity investors be looking out for?
I think for the long-term that infinite game is around Canadians placing great value on financial literacy. Not only financial literacy, but the economic independence and saving for their future, and the company plans to fully support these core values through its feature-rich technology. Backing this is the commitment to the financial education and empowering Canadian youth to learn critical fundamentals, so they can ensure that their financial future is promising. It is not just about putting a credit card in the hands of the youth. It is that commitment in around that financial literacy and supporting that in a responsible way moving forward. I think, also, other things for the future is that as a public company, as we know, it has its pluses, it has pros and cons and the pluses and minuses when it comes to it. I truly believe that as a public company, having a product approved and running here in Canada, is a huge advantage for our global expansion, as the company already has its compliance and its diligence and processes in place as that money service business. We are already seeing that is resulting in faster integrations with processes and banks and card issuers from anywhere in the world. Right now we are working on Hero for our domestic students, and future US expansion and with all these lucrative territories, soon to follow.
SH: Can you tell our audience a little bit about your corporate management and board teams, along with the experience and innovative ideas they bring to the fintech/payments space?
We have an amazing team. We are proud to have built a team of world-class professionals based here in Vancouver. It is a multicultural team; it is well-connected and experienced in the in the industry. We have got industry professionals who have developed EAP into this powerful feature-rich service platform and will continue to do so moving forward. With regard our board, we have a very strong and solid board, and our board of directors has decades of experience and expertise that range from technology and payments to international education and SaaS model companies. There is no shortage of ideas when it comes to such a heterogeneous group of professionals and individuals that is for sure.
SH: And finally, Peter, if there’s anything I’ve overlooked please feel free to elaborate.
As we finish off here, I strongly and passionately believe that not only do we have an amazing opportunity and a tremendously underserved and lucrative sector, I guess that our niche is delivering these innovative financial solutions for the next generation of consumers, whose parents and guardians, are demanding that safety or security and that peace of mind, while at the forefront promoting this financial literacy for the future. To me, this is not only a huge opportunity, but it is a huge responsibility and it is one that we're definitely ready to deliver on.
To learn more about the company, visit
www.euroasiapay.com.
FULL DISCLOSURE: This is a paid article produced by Stockhouse Publishing.