When entrepreneur Iuri Lenzi founded Zinz in January 2020, he certainly did not expect that, three months later, a pandemic (covid-19) would spread across the planet and trigger a business alarm. However, the company, currently a platform that makes life easier for franchisees in the execution of works and renovations, not only overcame this moment of global turbulence but arrives at four years of expanding life.
“We should close 2024 with more than R$ 6 million in works,” says the founder and CEO of Zinz. This amount represents a third (33.3%) more than the amount recorded in 2023, around R$ 4.5 million, and more than eight times the value of 2022 (R$ 700,000). “And remember that, in the first year, we practically didn’t bill anything,” he recalls. 2021 came, still with many difficulties, until in 2022 the decision to direct the platform to the franchise segment gave new impetus to Zinz.
Today, Zinz operates as a marketplace that connects franchisees to service providers for the execution of works and renovations of franchise stores. The focus is on medium-sized works. “We intermediate the entire process of the work, from budgeting to final payment. Payments are made to the service provider only after the services are approved by the client themselves,” explains Lenzi (check the step-by-step in the box at the end of this article).
In this operation intermediated by Zinz, besides the franchise store owners, who are the platform’s clients, other actors are the franchise companies and the service providers for works and renovations. The franchise companies (or “finders”) use the platform as a recommendation to franchisees so that they can budget and hire the works. The service providers quote, on Zinz, estimates to meet the franchisees’ requests.
The CEO of Zinz explains: “The franchisor does not pay anything to Zinz. Our company is remunerated by a sales commission from the service provider. The franchisee also has no usage costs. Additionally, it uses Zinz as a competitive differentiator, as well as for managing the work of its franchisees – so they know exactly the status of the work remotely. Service providers have their profile on the Zinz platform and can receive customer reviews as they carry out works”.
As an indicator of the viability and sustainability of the business, Zinz works with the calculation that the franchise market has 4,000 brands, with around 3,800 of them being physical stores. In other words, establishments that need works and renovations to comply with the architectural and visual identity standards set by the franchisors. “And the trend is for the franchise market to continue expanding,” projects the CEO.
Furthermore, it is estimated that on average, each year these franchises open five other stores, totaling a market of 19,000 new stores per year. “Some grow, others do not, but a conservative estimate points to this number,” emphasizing that these expansions, therefore, require new works.
Therefore, the company aims boldly: to reach 1 million square meters renovated by 2030 through the platform’s intermediation. Currently, this number is at 10,500 square meters.
What does Zinz do – and how? Check out the step-by-step, 100% digital:
- The customer goes to Zinz’s website and requests a quote, sending the architectural project of their store.
- Zinz provides a reference budget for the customer, informing how much, on average, it will cost to carry out this renovation.
- With the customer’s approval, Zinz requests service providers to provide a quote.
- On the Zinz platform, construction companies can submit their quotes. The customer (franchisee) will have access to a comparison of each proposal.
- The customer chooses the construction company or contractor they want to hire.
- The customer selects the payment method and deposits this amount on the platform.
- Zinz transfers the amounts to the hired service provider – only when the customer approves the services provided by the provider.
