LATAM Fintech | 2021 #20
Brazilian digital bank Nubank, backed by billionaire investor Warren Buffett, confidentially filed its Form-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to propose an initial public offering.
After the SEC completes the review of the draft IPO, the company is expected to go public in the U.S. by the beginning of 2022.
With just $1 million in seed capital raised eight years ago from founder David Vélez’s former employer Sequoia Capital, Nubank has grown into a powerhouse.
The company’s revenue for the first half of 2021 is more than $716 million, and has a net income of $13.7 million, excluding operations in Mexico and Colombia.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF THE LATEST NEWS IN LATAM
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Venture capital manager Monashees is raising $700 million from two new funds to invest primarily in startups in Latin America, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Monashees plans to raise a fund focused only on newly launched startups, its tenth vehicle for this type of company, and another to invest in startups in more advanced stages of development, the second such fund, with $350 million each, the sources added.
This newest fundraising by the monashees comes amid a boom in tech sector deals in Latin America, including giant funds launched by investors such as SoftBank and several companies preparing to list their shares, such as fintech Nubank.
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Brazil‘s Central Bank has kicked off the third phase of open banking on Friday (29). In this phase, the open banking data sharing ecosystem is integrated with PIX (the Brazilian instant payment system). Link here.
⭐️ Justos, a startup that says it will be the first insurance company in Brazil to use data when determining rates, has raised a $35.8 million Series A round of funding led by Ribbit Capital. Link here.
⭐️ Brazilian fintech Vixtra secured an investment of BRL 35 million, led by partners of the trading company Sertrading. Link here.
⭐️ Digital real estate platform Loft Holdings Ltd., whose founders met as junior bankers at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., purchased a Mexican startup, kicking off its Latin America expansion. Link here.
⭐️ Swap, a São Paulo-based BaaS startup, announced it has raised $25 million in a Series A led by Tiger Global Management. Link here.
⭐️ Hash, a payment infrastructure fintech, announced that it has raised $40 million in a Series C funding round co-led by QED Investors and Kaszek. Link here.
⭐️ Pismo, a Brazilian core banking and payments systems provider, has raised $108 million in Series B funding from Amazon, SoftBank, and Accel. Link here.
BRAZIL
C6 Yellow, C6 Bank's new account for children and young people, has just hit the market with a campaign created by Tech and Soul.
The film “Your Child's First Account” shows parents the solution offered by C6 Bank to this audience that is beginning to build its relationship with money.
With the traditional signature “C6 Bank. It's in your life”, the commercial shows that it is possible to have freedom and independence, but with the supervision of those responsible. In addition to open and pay TV, the media plan includes OOH actions.
Banfico announced the launch of its subsidiary in Brazil, Banfico Tecnologia Ltda in São Paulo.
The creation of this new subsidiary closely follows the launch of Brazil’s Open Banking roadmap which started its implementation in February 2021.
Banfico was already operating in Brazil through a partnership with Câmara Interbancária de Pagamentos (CIP), the clearing house for the Brazilian Payments System.
With this partnership with CIP, Banfico has been successfully delivering open banking into nine banks such as Citibank, JP Morgan, and Bank of America.
MEXICO
DriveWealth, LLC, a pioneer in fractional investing and embedded finance, has formed a partnership with Grupo Bursátil Mexicano (GBM), the investment platform and brokerage company that is streamlining the investing sector with the goal of democratizing investing in Mexico.
By leveraging DriveWealth’s real-time fractional trading tech and API-based brokerage infrastructure, Mexican investors will “gain affordable and expanded access to investing in U.S. equities,” according to the announcement.
Previously, access to US investing had mainly been reserved for high net worth individuals in Mexico, with only 298,000 brokerage accounts in Mexico “at the end of 2019, according to the National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV).”
Miami — Reworth, a Mexico-based startup that offers API solutions so financial institutions can offer cash back to their clients, today announced the closing of a $2.8 million Seed round.
The company is focused on the stronger performance of cash back as a reward rather than discounts.
“Psychologically, if you receive money back, you tend to spend more money. And we also show in the bank app what merchants offer cash back at a place near you at a certain time,” said Raphael Kappeler, co-founder and CEO of Reworth.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.