LATAM FinTech | 2022 #24
Weekly news up to Wednesday, May 15th, 2022
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
In the modern world of tech and startups, profitability is becoming a rarity. Often, companies are more focused on growing and taking up market share at the expense of solid financial health.
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📊 INFOGRAPHIC
If you're an entrepreneur and want to start a business in Latin America, Chile is the country for you.
With over 158K new companies started in just 2020, the "country of poets" has one of the highest entrepreneurship rates in the world.
👉Read the full article here.
📰 ARTICLE
The global funding boom in 2021 was unlike anything most of us have ever seen before. While countries all over the world saw surges in venture capital investments, Latin America, in particular, saw a massive bump in dollars invested.
The trend continued in the first quarter of 2022, according to LAVCA, the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, which found that startups in the region overall raised $2.8 billion across 190 transactions during that 3-month period ending March 31.
👉 Read the full article here.
👨💻 BLOG
How Facio decreased credit risk by 50% with Belvo.
By connecting to customers’ data through Belvo, Facio is able to offer payroll loans for Brazilian workers and lower credit risk.
👉 Read the full blog here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Nu Mexico has over 2.1 million cardholders and is growing at a much faster pace than Nubank did in Brazil almost a decade ago.
“We did learn from Nubank’s experience in Brazil, so we didn’t have to start from scratch. In addition, let’s be honest, we have much more funding and more resources [and regulatory room] to start testing things earlier and investing in model development and marketing,” said Emilio González, Nu Mexico´s general manager.
👉 Read the full article here.
💡INSIGHTS
Brazil’s fintech ecosystem is broad and diverse. Growth in key operating metrics such as users, revenue and operating profit has surpassed that seen in other emerging markets.
Perhaps, for these reasons, funding flows to Brazilian fintechs have been strong, culminating in Nubank’s US$50bn IPO in December 2021.
👉 Read the full Tellimer article here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️ Mastercard has partnered with Mercado Libre to strengthen the security and transparency of its recently launched crypto program in Brazil. Link here.
⭐️ Klar has raised $70 million in equity funding at a valuation of $500 million. Link here.
⭐️ Argentina’s central bank approved digital banking startup Ualá’s acquisition of rival Wilobank, the final hurdle to a deal that grants the Argentine “unicorn” greater scope in its quest to expand its financial services in Latin America. Link here.
⭐️ The PayRetailers- Pago Digital- Paygol announces the launch of its first Social
Responsibility campaign to support charitable causes in Latin America. Link here.
⭐️ Alphabet’s Google (GOOG) has committed to invest $1.2 billion in Latin America over the next five years to support economic development and digital transformation in the region. Link here.
BRAZIL
Bringing trust and security to the Mercado Libre digital wallet in one of the fastest-growing crypto markets in Latin America Mastercard has partnered with Mercado Libre to strengthen the security and transparency of its recently launched crypto program in Brazil. Link here.
As the cryptocurrency and NFTs’ economy is becoming more popular, Brazilian game company Prota Games has secured a Seed round to debut as a game developer and launch an NFT and cryptocurrency-based computer game called Heroes of Metaverse and scheduled to be officially launched in October. Link here.
ARGENTINA
Argentina’s central bank approved digital banking startup Ualá’s acquisition of rival Wilobank, the final hurdle to a deal that grants the Argentine “unicorn” greater scope in its quest to expand its financial services in Latin America.
The deal, which was struck last year, will give Wilobank owner Eduardo Eurnekian a stake in Uala, an application that offers an accessible payment system for people without a fixed income or who are outside the formal banking system.
👉 Read more here.
COLOMBIA
Startups Addi, hunty confirm layoffs as Merqueo exits Mexico. Other startups in Latin America that have been forced to make layoffs include Brazilian firms Vtex,2TM, QuintoAndar, Loft, Facity and Creditas, Mexico’s Bitso.
👉 Read more here.
MEXICO
Klar has raised $70 million in equity funding at a valuation of $500 million. Also over the past 12 months, Klar added 1.4 million customers and originated over $100 million worth of loans.
The raise follows a period of hypergrowth for the company. Klar experienced a “7x” year-over-year increase in revenue and a 4x bump in transaction volume over the same time period, according to Klar co-founder and CEO Stefan Möller. Also over the past 12 months, Klar added 1.4 million customers and originated over $100 million worth of loans.
👉 Read more here.
PERU
Financial inclusion goes at full throttle in Peru with BN’s first digital bank account. The BN is planning to open accounts for another 10 million more people this year - out of an adult population of 24 million-as it strives to change the way many Peruvians think about money.
👉 Read more here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.