LATAM Fintech | 2021 #22
PODCAST
On Latin America Summit Podcast - Powered by EBANX’s third episode, they talk about how digital payment methods, like Buy Now, Pay Later solutions and E-wallets are changing the consumer behavior in Latam and how they can affect the usage of traditional card transactions in the future.
👉 Listen here.
ARTICLE
Of all the startup markets in the world, fintech in Latin America is one of the hottest.
Capital is flowing into the region’s financial technology companies at a slicing pace, leading to a wave of startups that are building private-market value at a simply astounding rate.
👉 Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF THE LATEST NEWS IN LATAM
NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Brazil's government plans to publish new regulations for fintechs on Friday, following public consultations by the central bank, three sources told Reuters on Thursday.
They said the regulations for financial technology companies were discussed at an extraordinary meeting of the National Monetary Council, which oversees the Brazilian financial and monetary system. The meeting will continue on Friday.
👉 Read more here.
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Nubank announced the purchase of Olivia, an artificial intelligence startup that seeks to help its users’ plan expenses and save more. Link here.
⭐️ Recently, Brazilian congressman Luizão Goulart proposed allowing crypto-payments for employees in the country. Link here.
⭐️ Nubank will sponsor the World Cup 2022 regionally in South America. Link here.
⭐️ Mastercard announced it has exceeded the 100 million digital cards milestone from its partnerships with 100 fintech companies across Latin America and the Caribbean. Link here.
⭐️ Belvo and Visa have partnered to support the acceleration of Open Finance products and solutions in LatAm, according to the official press release. Link here.
⭐️ QI Tech announced that GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, has invested $50M in one of the largest Series A in Latin America. Link here.
⭐️ LatAm’s fintech boom is showing no signs of slowing down as unicorns continue to grow and investors keep on pouring capital into the space. Link here.
BRAZIL
Childhood friends David Grandes and Andres Andrade, both originally from Ecuador, started Mimic in 2018 in Brazil as a dark kitchen-as-a-service, specializing in producing food at scale with online channel sales.
Grandes and Andrade decided to pivot their company to Zak, an all-in-one management tool that offers digital and financial capabilities to the food service market at zero fixed-cost.
The company now works with more than 300 restaurants across São Paulo and received a cash infusion of $15 million in Series A funding, led by Tiger Global Management, to take its technology mainstream across Brazil into Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, Campinas, Brasília and Salvador.
👉 Read more here.
The digital bank Nubank announced last Tuesday (16), that it will provide loans against the car guarantee directly through its application, in partnership with Creditas.
The rates that fintech promises are more beneficial have longer payment terms, and higher values available to hire, compared to the market average for this type of service.
This partnership took place between Nubank and Creditas in September of this year.
👉 Read more here.
Also, Nubank has been releasing for some users the new function of creating more than 1 virtual card for various purposes, thus valuing the possibility of the customer to organize better and define each card for a purpose.
👉 Read more here.
Nubank’s IPO is coming into closer focus after the Brazilian neobank filed privately to list its shares in both the United States and its home market, later releasing a public IPO filing.
👉 Read more here.
Furthermore, Nubank customers who wish to become fintech partners can register for the NuSócios program starting on Tuesday.
While planning the Public Offering of Shares (IPO) on the Brazilian stock exchange (B3) and Nasdaq, the company plans to distribute 0.08% of its capital to 65% of its customer base.
👉 Read more here.
This morning Plug Pagamentos (Plug) announced a $2.7 million seed round, led by Costanoa Ventures‘ latest partner, Amy Cheetham. Other investors in the round included Verve Capital and Norte Ventures, among others.
👉 Read more here.
Six months after reaching 50 million registered users on its platform, PicPay has now hit a new mark: 60 million customers.
The growth of more than 50% in the base in just one year is a picture of the turning point that the company promoted over the last few months.
👉 Read more here.
The Brazilian insurance innovation ecosystem started to grow in 2016. Large companies in the sector started initiatives to modernize and further develop their corporations, while seeking to change their culture and follow the transformations created and promoted by insurtechs.
👉 Read more here.
Canary, the Brazilian venture capital firm backing some of Latin America’s successful startups like Buser, Sallve, Hashdex, Facily and Trybe, closed on its third fund that was oversubscribed with $100 million in commitments.
👉 Read more here.
Brazilian Fintech RecargaPay receives approval from the Central Bank to operate an SCD.
For Gustavo Victorica, co-founder and COO of RecargaPay, the license reinforces the maturity of the business and the commitment to developing a “strong and reliable product, in addition to demonstrating the solidity of RecargaPay's operations over the past few years.”
👉 Read more here.
MEXICO
Four months after securing a $5.25 million seed round, Mexican buy now, pay later startup Aplazo is back with an even bigger round to expand adoption of the payment plan approach across that country.
👉 Read more here.
Credit card-led fintech Stori announced that it has closed one of the largest Series C equity financing rounds in Latin America to date, accompanied by a debt raise that will be used to fund Stori's rapidly growing credit card portfolio.
👉 Read more here.
A new fintech has emerged in Mexico with a plan to change the way users interact with their money.
Mexico City-based Uellbee aims to offer access to credit, financial coaching, and a savings functionality to help users meet life goals.
👉 Read more here.
Whale Cloud, a leading technology company providing software solutions and services for telecommunications and multiple other industries, reached a partnership with Taka Fintech, a Mexican-leading financial group, to help it develop its own digital payment app with Alipay+ Digital Wallet Solution, providing Mexicans with better access to inclusive financial services.
👉 Read more here.
COLOMBIA
The FinTech trade is flourishing in Colombia, with an expansion of 120% each year and investments of more than $1 billion in the past three years, according to a report from the FinTech Times.
👉 Read more here.
Delivery mobile application Rappi wants to get regulatory approval to operate as a digital bank in Colombia in the first quarter of next year, executives said Monday.
If approved, the company plans to expand its services as a financial institution through Rappi Pay, a joint venture with the bank Davidienda, which already offers credit cards and electronic accounts
👉 Read more here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.