LATAM Fintech | 2021 #11
Hi, there! Welcome back to another LATAM Fintech Newsletter. In this newsletter, I cover all the major news related to LATAM Fintech. Thank you for subscribing!
Fintech is absolutely booming in Latin America.
The market was obviously ripe for disruption, and a number of fintech companies have emerged to become global giants.
But what is really going on in LATAM? What are the key trends?
As ever, the easiest way to understand what is happening is to ask someone who is riding the disruption wave. So Fintech Review asked a few questions to Carlos Steneri, the CSO of Bamboo Payment.
He leads the fintech’s global expansion and sales strategy, working closely with operations, finance, and IT to deliver a world-class payments platform.
👉 Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF THE LATEST NEWS IN LATAM
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
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INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ 카카오뱅크 Kakaobank and 카카오페이 (kakaopay), which are set to go public only seven days apart, each compared themselves to a Brazilian financial technology firm for their valuations, their initial public offering applications showed Tuesday. Link here.
⭐️ Nubank, Brazil's largest fintech, announced the launch of a new card in premium mode, the 'Ultraviolet'. Link here.
BRAZIL
Zoop, a payment methods, and financial services technology company, announced Wednesday that it has received R$170 million (US$34 million) from Movile Group, which it will use to expand its operations.
This is the third investment since 2018 in Zoop from Movile, a strategic investor in companies such as iFood, Sympla, and PlayKids.
👉 Read more here.
Z1, a Sao Paulo-based digital bank aimed at Latin American GenZers, has raised $2.5 million in a round led by U.S.-based Homebrew Labs.
Put simply, Z1 is a digital bank app built for teenagers and young adults. The company was founded on the notion that by using its app and linked prepaid card, Brazilian and Latin American teenagers can become more financially independent.
👉 Read more here.
Three months after raising US$525 million, Brazilian real estate unicorn Loft announced the purchase of 100% of Curitiba-based fintech CredPago, a leader in rentals without collateral in Brazil.
Loft now owns 100% of the fintech's operations. In exchange, founders and shareholders received Loft shares and cash.
👉 Read more here.
MEXICO
After the movement by Nayib Bukele to legalize bitcoin as legal tender for their El Salvador; a Mexican politician, confirmed that they will put their Bitcoin law plan in a TalentLand conference to legalize Bitcoin.
👉 Read more here.
super.mx, an insurtech startup based in Mexico City, has raised $7.2 million in a Series A round led by ALLVP.
Co-founded in 2019 by a trio of former insurance industry executives, Super.mx’s self-proclaimed mission is to design insurance for “the emerging Latin American middle class,” according to CEO Sebastian Villarreal.
👉 Read more here.
Tutuka is proud to announce the signing of a five-year strategic partnership with Mastercard in Mexico.
Tutuka enables fintechs, telcos, transfer providers, mobile wallets and digital banks to issue cards across 40 countries, and is the first issuer-processor to process payments across five continents.
👉 Read more here.
ARGENTINA
The “Pay Me In Bitcoin ” movement got popular when a member of Argentina’s National Congress, José Luis Ramón, confirmed that he submitted a bill that will allow all the workers of Argentina to accept their salary fully or partially in Bitcoin.
José Luis Ramón is leading the crypto community in Argentina by giving legal support to Bitcoin use at a wide level.
👉 Read more here.
Telecom, a leader in technological solutions for the corporate B2B market and public organizations, was selected by Quiena Inversiones -the successful and innovative platform that allows small and medium savers in Latin America to invest well in the national and international market, automatically with the best technology - for contracting the "Digital Identity" service, which allows customers to be identified and authenticated through a series of validations that grant or deny access to the investment platform.
👉 Read more 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.
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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
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