THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
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👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Mexican fintech startup Stori reaches unicorn status with $50M equity.
It also has secured $100 million in debt financing. BAI Capital, GIC and GGV Capital co-led the equity portion of the deal, which also included participation from other existing and new investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Vision Plus Capital, Goodwater Capital and Tresalia Capital.
👉 Link to the full article here.
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📊 INFOGRAPHIC
Last year, Latin America was the fastest-growing region in the world for venture capital investment. This year, it may be on track to be the fastest-shrinking one.
Venture investment in Latin American startups totaled just $2.3 billion in the second quarter of 2022, per Crunchbase data.
👉Link to the full article here.
👨💻 BLOG
Nubank Crypto: You can now buy and sell cryptocurrencies in the Nubank app.
Research-based on data from B3 and CVM shows that the number of people investing in cryptocurrencies in Brazil grew by 938% in 2021. In the world, this increase was of 881%.
👉 Link to the full article here.
💬 INTERVIEW
Ezequiel Bucai:
"We have the vision of providing financial access to all of Latin America."
👉Link to the full interview article with the Wibond founder here.
💡INSIGHTS
Latin America’s Trillion-Dollar Opportunity.
Analyzing the macro data from several Latin American countries, you will find that the three largest categories of a population’s expenses are food, entertainment, and housing.
👉Link to the full article by Cristian Huertas, Founder & CEO Morgana here.
📰 ARTICLE
The macroeconomic scenario has become more challenging for Brazilian banks in this second half of the year in the face of increasingly consensual forecasts of a US recession, and the impact of the global cycle of high-interest rates to contain spiraling inflation on capital flows to emerging countries, according to analysts and industry insiders consulted by Bloomberg Línea.
Quarterly balances released in recent days by US giants JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley have been disappointing and set off alarm bells in the market due to the reduction in profits and revenues reported in the second quarter.
👉Link to the full Bloomberg Linea article here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Neobank for Latinos in the USA Pana joins Y Combinator's S22 batch. Link here.
⭐️Bitbase, a Spanish cryptocurrency exchange, and crypto ATM operator has announced its expansion to Latam with the establishment of a store in Paraguay. Link here.
⭐️Plaid announced that it’s adding support for leading crypto exchanges to its data network. Link here.
⭐️LAVCA, the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, has found that startups in Latin America have raised $2.8billion across 190 transactions during Q1 of 2022 as the region’s funding boom continues. Link here.
BRAZIL
Swap has rolled out a new Banking-as-a-Service solution, called Corpway, aimed at managing and controlling corporate expenses. With Corpway, the goal is to address the growing market for expense management solutions, which, according to a survey carried out by Swap, moves around BRL 650 billion in Brazil alone. Link here.
Itaú Unibanco has announced plans to roll out a new asset tokenization platform, which will turn regular finance products into tokens. Called Itaú Digital Assets, it will also offer crypto custody services for customers, Link here.
WealthTech XP said it raised R$ 43 billion in 'net new money’ in the second quarter, a 44% growth compared to the previous quarter and a sign that the brokerage is going through the stock market implosion better than market sectors expected. Link here.
PERU
Buenbit, a crypto exchange with operations in Mexico and Peru, launched a local currency loan product that uses crypto as collateral. Users of the platform will be able to withdraw up to $3,333 in nuARS, a stablecoin tied to the Argentinian peso, using MakerDAO’s DAI as collateral. In Peru, Buenbit plans to launch loans in partnership with Num Finance “shortly”. Link here.
MEXICO
Nubank is growing faster than expected in Mexico, Chief Executive David Velez said in an interview. In a year and a half, Nu Mexico reached 2.1 million customers, equivalent to 2.2% of the country's total adult population. In Brazil, Nubank reached 53.9 million clients, equivalent to 30% of the adult population, after nine years. Link here.
Global money transfer platform Western Union has announced a new agreement with South American e-commerce giant MercadoLibre to allow digital remittances to Mexico. Link here.
Silicon Valley has grown to be a highly concentrated, costly, and competitive market. These conditions began to push entrepreneurs to look for opportunities in other regions, one of them being Latin America, specifically Mexico. Link here.
CHILE
Betterfly has announced its landing in Spain and in the European market after acquiring the Spanish fintech Flexoh. The startup’s plans also include reaching Portugal and the United States. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Pismo appoints former Just Eat director in Bristol. Ross Larter will be responsible for supporting processes related to the Brazilian-headquartered firm's globalisation strategy. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.