THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
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💡 Read all about it in my weekly overview article and get the latest funding news from the global FinTech space in your inbox every week.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Belvo is the first Open Finance player in the Brazilian market to give access to historical receivables data from point-of-sale (POS).
This solution will help B2B lenders and ERPs develop new financial solutions for retail businesses.
👉Read the full Belvo article here.
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📰 ARTICLE
For many Latin Americans, digital wallets have made it easy to pay for goods and services without using cash.
And for the digital banks and fintechs behind the wallets, these apps are increasingly powerful channels to acquire new customers and generate data for more complete credit profiles.
The most used digital wallets in Latin America are: Picpay, Nubank, Mercado Pago, Pagbank Pagseguro, Inter, Itau's Iti, Daviplata, Yape.
👉Find the full decription of each of them here.
📰 ARTICLE
In Brazil last year, more bank accounts were opened through digital channels than at physical branches for the first time.
That's according to an annual study on banking technology released on July 21 by the Brazilian Banking Federation and carried out by Deloitte.
👉Read the full ZDnet article here.
👨💻 BLOG
Nubank, a “neobank” offering a fully-digital banking experience for users across Brazil, Colombia and Mexico is often seen as the poster boy for Latin America’s recent “FinTech boom”.
💡INSIGHTS
Colombia 🇨🇴 is the newest country to join the list of Latin American financial systems seeking greater competition and financial inclusion through Open Finance regulated.
👉Read the full W Fintechs article by Walter Pereira below.👇
🧐 ANALYSIS
Colombia became the third country in LATAM to implement regulations for the widespread adoption of Open Finance.
Mexico and Brazil were the first countries to implement Open Finance in Latin America.
👉Check out the full LATAM FinTech Hub Guide by Nicolas Rueda Rincon here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️The Spanish Bnext pauses its adventure to "revolutionize banking" in Mexico. Link here.
⭐️Ethereum’s merge approaches as crypto adoption surges in Brazil. Link here.
⭐️BBVA is the best digital bank in Europe and Latin America, according to The Banker. Link here.
⭐️ Nubank (NU) said it had reached the 1 million crypto users mark in less than a month since buying and selling that asset class was extended to all customers at the end of June. Link here.
BRAZIL
Spanish banking multinational Santander plans to offer crypto trading to its clients in Brazil in the coming months, Santander Brazil CEO Mario Leao. The bank plans to launch crypto-related services and could provide further news about the initiative in the company's next earnings release in mid-October, Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported. Link here.
FinanZero has closed its fourth round of funding on $4m. With the funds, the company hopes to expand its position in Brazil. It also hopes to bolster its product development efforts and deepen its integration with bank partners. Link here.
Conta Simples has completed the acquisition of Hackr Ads, a platform for intelligence and management of online ads on the Internet, this is the first purchase after receiving a contribution of R$ 121 million, Series A. Link here.
ARGENTINA
Argentina’s economic restrictions have reached the sports industry, with the first signing of a local football player with cryptocurrencies hitting national headlines. The transfer of midfielder Giuliano Galoppo from Banfield’s Athletic Club to Sao Paulo Futebol Clube was made in USD Coin (USDC), exceeding $6 million and up to $8 million depending on the volatile exchange rate of the Argentine peso, according to local sources. Link here.
COLOMBIA
Minka is hoping to replicate the success of its Latin America-based real-time payments system in Africa following its recent $24million funding booty. Minka has unveiled plans to partner with clearing houses and central banks across Africa. Link here.
Colombia's financial industry regulator URF (Unidad de Proyección Normativa y Estudios de Regulación) has approved a decree to enable Open Banking. The decree specifies rules for transferring consumer data between financial entities, and promotes access to that data to facilitate the development of financial services. Link here.
MEXICO
Volante Technologies is partnering with Banca Afirme, S.A., a subsidiary of Afirme Grupo Financiero, S.A. de C.V., to modernize its payments infrastructure. As part of an ambitious digital transformation initiative designed to enrich its customers' banking experience, the bank has begun its modernization journey by automating SWIFT cross-border transaction processing. Link here.
Bitso and the Mexican Football Federation launched the first collectible NFT of the Mexico National Team’s jerseys acquired in cryptocurrencies. Link here.
EL SALVADOR
El Salvador's finance minister says bitcoin adoption is 'Gaining Ground'. Alejandro Zelaya said that widespread bitcoin adoption in El Salvador has benefited its unbanked population. Link here.
ECUADOR
Kushki received approval from national authorities to become the country’s first payment aggregator. This means that Kushki has achieved a new status in facilitating electronic payments. Link here.
PUERTO RICO
Raincoat, a Puerto Rico-based startup that provides insurance solutions for weather-related disasters, raised US$4.5 million in a seed round led by Anthemis. The company will have around US$4,650 in funding with the new round. Link here.
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