Trio payment infrastructure

Founded in 2021 as a spinoff of Ateliware Software, Curitiba-based Trio is a payment facilitator whose mission is to bring speed and security to organizations’ money movement through real-time payments. The paytech, which does not disclose its client list, processes tens of millions of Pix transactions (Pix is Brazil’s instant payment system) every month, all executed without errors, secure and reconciled end to end. It recently hit a new record: R$1 billion processed by the start of Q3 this year (2023).

The main benefit of real-time payments is instant settlement, which favors industries such as online shopping, digital wallets and sports betting: markets that depend on payments clearing in seconds. Because it specializes in this technology, the fintech can deliver Pix that is better documented, faster, more stable and lower cost than traditional banks. “Pix put Brazil in the spotlight of the global payments market, because its adoption was broader and faster than that of any other financial technology in the world,” says Peterson dos Santos, engineer and founder of Trio. By the end of 2023, the company aims to process R$3 billion. By adding a management layer within banking infrastructure, it also enables Batch Payments and Recurring Billing for clients of every size.

Global reach

In 2023, after a seed round, the fintech entered the international market, delivering high-volume Pix processing technology to a range of global providers, with a focus on Digital Content, Mass Payouts and iGaming. One of the key differentiators behind this success was the launch of cross-border operations, where foreign exchange is requested within the platform itself in minutes, mirroring the speed of Pix for clients who want to receive amounts in euros, dollars and other currencies.

From Pix to crypto

With the digital content market generating tens of billions in revenue and global companies paying more attention every day, entering crypto became the logical next step for Trio, which recently partnered with the crypto asset digital wallet Bitso. The Mexican giant was the first unicorn in Latin America’s crypto market and will act as a digital wallet for the direct transfer of BRL assets processed by Trio. Trio’s CRO, Renato Odakara, says “this partnership has the perfect timing and fit to bring the speed and security of Pix to the blockchain world of crypto asset investments and financial transactions, a practice that gains momentum every day.”

In this new landscape, Trio plans to expand into new markets and grow by up to 400% in 6 months.

Trio’s differentiator: Checkout via Open Finance

Among its solutions, Trio stands out for its Open Finance payment option, known as Checkout. The system brings payment into the merchant’s own website, connecting to the customer’s bank account and requesting authorization from the bank in the background. The clean, customizable interface gives the end consumer more confidence, since there is no need to leave the store during checkout to open the banking app.

According to internal data, in March 2023 most clients converted 7 out of every 10 codes issued using Pix Copy and Paste or a QR code. Implementing Checkout therefore brought a 25% increase in conversion, reaching an impressive 98%. “It works like a credit card payment, but with no sensitive numbers or security codes involved, no chargebacks and, even better, with immediate settlement. It’s what they call bank-to-bank payments abroad,” says Trio’s founder, Peterson Ferreira dos Santos. Today, Trio’s bank-to-bank payment infrastructure accounts for 10% of all Open Finance Payment Initiations nationwide.

Technology to adapt and evolve

Trio has been transforming payments in so-called “high-risk” content sectors by offering a product where each seller (or merchant) can set its own rules for Pix refund parameters. As soon as a transaction happens, the processor runs a thorough check against official Receita Federal (Brazil’s federal tax authority) databases to confirm that the payer is not a minor or a politically exposed person, and that a deceased person’s ID is not being used for money laundering. It also screens restrictive lists and the UN sanctions list automatically, in seconds. “Automatic refunds are one of the data management details that make all the difference, protecting betting operators with anti-fraud controls and strengthening the fight against terrorism,” explains Peterson.

Because it was born as a tech company, Trio built its entire infrastructure on continuously improving the documentation process and the specific communications within each transaction, giving each client the power to enable or restrict features based on its segment and specific pain points. Information is fully transparent, so clients can see the details of every transaction: refunds, taxes, fee charges and more.

Learn more about Trio’s technology: create an account now.