• Fintech
• Startup
• Financial services
• Greenfields

The challenge

Own.Solutions was looking for a software product engineering partner to help them launch their new fintech startup and build out their new payments platform. Dubbed “Aplauz”, this new platform would be one of the main verticals in the Own.Solutions ecosystem and enable conversion of disposable cash into digital currency. The digital currency would then be used for digital products or converted back into disposable cash.

Although the Own.Solutions product team and management team are based in Europe, all software development prior to initial release was conducted here in Sydney, Australia

The solution

Aplauz is a prepaid payment method with a 16-digit number that represents a specific currency denomination as its centrepiece available at the local newsagency or convenience store. It can then be spent at a participating online merchant.

Exogee was engaged to design and build the solution from the ground up that supports a multitude of currencies and jurisdictions with a financial and operational management web application, a hosted payments page for consumers and REST API integrations for consumers, distributors and merchants.

The solution leverages infrastructure as code in a CICD pipeline to automate testing and deployments with minimal overhead. This has been key to reducing human error in deployment as well as onboarding up-skilling time for new team members.

All this built on top of an open-source stack making heavy use of modern infrastructure components from AWS. This architecture provides a sophisticated approach to scaling both horizontally and vertically providing the platform with the ability to process thousands of transactions per second.

The value

With a presence in Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia, Own.Solutions has the ability to engage with 30 million consumers on a weekly basis. Aplauz has enabled Own.Solutions to bridge the gap between these consumers in the physical world and major players in a digital economy by connecting 20,000+ convenience-store locations throughout Europe with a multitude of eService providers. The business value is not placed on the product or the service, but on the interaction between the parties.