LATAM Fintech | 2021 #7
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!
Long before SoftBank launched its $2 billion Innovation Fund in Latin America, and before Andreessen Horowitz began actively investing in the region, São Paulo-based Kaszek has been putting money into promising startups, helping spawn nine unicorns along the way.
And now, the early-stage VC firm is announcing its largest fund closures to date: Kaszek Ventures V, a $475 million early-stage fund, believed to be the largest vehicle of its kind ever raised in the region, and Kaszek Ventures Opportunity II, a $525 million for later-stage investments.
👉 Read more here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF THE LATEST NEWS IN LATAM
INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Despite the health emergency, financial inclusion in Latin America made progress in 2020, thanks to the fact that the fintech sector is helping to transform the economic landscape in the region. Link here.
⭐️ Imran Ghulam Hussainwala is one of the leading experts in the open bank in the world. As head of the Open Bank Enforcement Agency (OBIE) in the UK, he is primarily responsible for determining the direction of this process in the country, which is a pioneer and a global reference in this regard. And he says Brazil seems to be on the right track. Link here.
⭐️ Only 25% of Small and Medium Enterprises ( SMEs ) in Mexico survive the first two years of creation, according to data from the Development Center for Business Competitiveness. In 2019, two out of ten companies exceeded five years of life. In fact, 80% fail before the age of five, and 90% do not reach a decade, mainly due to financial, administrative, and commercial issues. Link here.
⭐️ Finerio and Guiabolso have created a strategic alliance in order to expand Open Banking solutions in several countries in Latin America and prepare financial companies in the region for the next wave of opportunities based on new sources of data and analytics. Link here.
BRAZIL
SafetyPay, a digital alternative payments platform offering solutions across Latin America (LatAm) and European markets, has announced the implementation of PIX as a payment method in Brazil, in order to support instant payments with QR codes. Link here.
Financial social media platform TradersClub is seeking a 3 billion real ($565.65 million) valuation in its initial public offering, two sources with knowledge of the matter said. Link here.
Nubank filed a lawsuit (pdf) against the domain name Nubank.com, alleging that the registration of the domain violates the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). The company uses the domain name Nubank.com.br. Link here.
CloudWalk announced that it has raised US$190 million in Series B funding led by Coatue, with participation from DST Global and existing investors such as FIS, The Hive Brazil, and Valor Capital. This announcement brings the company’s total capital raised to US$206 million. Link here.
Crypto.com is excited to announce the launch of zero-fee BRL bank transfers and BRL as a payment currency in the Crypto.com App, and Brazilian Portuguese in both the App and Exchange. Link here.
ARGENTINA
BBVA will bring OpenPay to Argentina to compete in the payment processing segment (PSP) and has already begun to take the first formal steps to install it in the country. Link here.
Financial technology (fintech) startups are mushrooming in Argentina despite the South American country reeling from an economic crisis. The industry has already employed nearly 15,000 people, with analysts expecting it to create more than 5,000 new positions by the end of this year. Link here.
COLOMBIA
OmniLatam, the Colombia-based start-up acquired by Greensill last June, has managed to buy itself back following the supply chain financer’s collapse. Link here.
Colombia-based Ontop wants to be a company’s tax, onboarding, and payroll manager for its international teams. It is now buoyed by $4.5 million in seed funding. Link here.
Open Banking fintech Floid has launched in Colombia to include and bring people closer to the financial system. Colombia is working on an Open Banking regulation that would be ready in 2022 and plans to start incorporating massive savings and credit products into the architecture of APIs, according to the Normative Projection Unit and Financial Regulation Studies (URF). Link here.
CHILE
Chile-based Kredito announced a $4 million pre-seed round. The company focuses on generating loans for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs). “What we see is that in our sector people have a bank account but don’t have access to credit,” said Sebastian Robles, co-founder and CEO of Kredito. Link here.
MEXICO
Yusef Jacobs is changing microfinance and giving people access to life-changing appliances with a simple notion: Even those who don't have a lot of money will pay for what they really need. Jacobs, 28, launched Graviti, a "buy now, pay later platform" for basic home appliances for the unbanked sector of the population in Mexico. Link here.
Sokin, the new payments-focused fintech, has signed a comprehensive partnership agreement with Mastercard to provide its fixed-price payment services across Mexico and Brazil. Link here.
MOVERS AND SHAKERS:
It was a generational changing of the guard this year for Itaú Unibanco. The biggest financial services company in Brazil welcomed new CEO Milton Maluhy Filho. Just 44 years old, Maluhy took over from retiring Candido Bracher, and becomes the youngest bank boss in Brazil. 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.
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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