LATAM Fintech | 2021 #1
Let’s kick-off our first newsletter with a podcast recommendation:
Miguel Armaza, Wharton Fintech Co-President & Podcast Host, interviewed Marcelo Claure, COO of SoftBank.
In this very insightful interview, they discuss the future for Latin America and Marcelo provides great advice for LATAM founders on dreaming big.
“And I said, Masa, we should start a one billion dollar fund. And then Masa looked at me and said, Why do you think so small? I said, What do you mean? He says, Latin America is 7% of the world's GDP, you should be asking for at least seven, not one. I said, that's good. So why don't we settle on five? He says, great. So we started a five billion Latin American fund.” - Marcelo Claure, COO of SoftBank.
👉 Listen here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S LATAM FINTECH SPACE
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Santander is offering Banco Santander Mexico minority shareholders 24 Mexican pesos per share, representing a 24% premium on the March 25 closing price and a total of about 550 million euros ($648.01 million).
Santander’s offer is comfortably above the unit’s share price over the past year, though still below pre-pandemic levels and 22% lower than where it was when the Spanish lender first sought full ownership of its Mexican business in 2019.
👉 Read more here.
Baubap, a mobile lending platform based in Mexico, closed on a $3 million growth round from Mexican financial services firm Grupo Grameen - ALFIN to continue developing its proprietary technology aimed at boosting financial inclusion and education. Link here.
Surecomp, the leading provider of global trade finance and treasury solutions for banks and corporates, today announced that Banco Internacional has chosen to enhance its end-to-end trade finance process by deploying Surecomp’s (TFaaS). Link here.
Baron Capital Group, Inc. , an investment management firm, published its fourth-quarter 2020 “Baron FinTech Fund” investor letter. A return of 13.61% was recorded by its Retail Shares, and 13.67% by its Institutional Shares in the fourth quarter of 2020, both below its FactSet Global FinTech Benchmark that delivered a 21.35% return but above its S&P 500 index that was up by 12.15% in the same period. Link here.
Timothy Li, the founder, and CEO of Alchemy – as well as several other startups, provides a portfolio of Fintech verticals for any firm that wants to incorporate a digital service. Link here.
Brazilian FinTech startup EBANX has expansion plans for its payments operation across Central America and is kicking off operations in Costa Rica, with plans to launch in El Salvador, Panama, Guatemala, and the Dominican Republic in the first half of 2021. Link here.
Wise Ltd., the London-headquartered company that made its name offering international money transfers and is reportedly planning an IPO, has accused its former banking partner in Brazil of a “smear campaign” after allegations of fraud — claims that Wise says are “false and unfounded.” Link here.
The year 2020 will go down in history as the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the way it affected the Argentine economy. But it is also true that Argentina has been dragging along economic problems for decades, with high fiscal pressure, devaluation of the national currency (the Argentine peso), restrictions on the purchase of foreign currency, etc. Link here.
Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc., a fintech enabler of AI-enhanced payment card-linked incentives, announces that on March 18, 2021, it signed a binding term sheet with Keira Capital Partners Inc. to jointly implement a commercialization strategy for the Chilean market. Link here.
Vórtx, a Sao Paulo, Brazil-based tech-enabled corporate and trust service provider for fund managers and corporate issuers, raised $35m in Series B funding. The round was led by FTV Capital. Link here.
Oyster Financial, Inc., an aspiring neobank based out of Mexico City, has launched its credit offering for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The fintech start-up’s business account now gives customers the option to apply for instant credit, ranging from $500 to $1,500. Link here.
This ends my weekly LATAM fintech newsletter. Thank you for reading to the end! If you liked it, I invite you to like, share and/or leave a comment below.
Don’t forget to follow my LATAM Fintech LinkedIn page, dedicated exclusively to LATAM fintech news, below:
Let me know if there are any questions or news/insights worth mentioning in next week's newsletter. Until the next!
Regards,
Marcel van Oost