THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
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REPORT
Latin America’s e-com market continues to build on the strong growth momentum of 22% annually between 2017 and 2021.
LATAM e-com is projected to average 19% annual growth through 2025.
👉 Download the full report by Worldpay here.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
The president of Brazil’s Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, will meet with the president of Colombia’s Central Bank, Leonardo Villar, so the Andean country can “copy” Pix, the Brazilian instant payment model. The statement was given at an event of the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).
“I think we can start internationalizing Pix in Latin America. Many Brazilian banks have branches in Latin America,” said Campos Neto, who sees room to internationalize the Brazilian payment system.
👉 Read the full Bloomberg linea article here.
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📰 ARTICLE
Binance says it is winning crypto clients thanks to inflation.
Hinz pointed to the example of Argentina, where annual inflation is at 90%. The country has grown into one of the company's top markets, he said, together with Brazil and Mexico.
👉 Link to the full article here.
🤔 INSIGHTS
To lessen the dependence of the region on the US dollar, a proposal for a new common currency is resonating with LATAM’s leaders.
The proposal for a new common currency to be established between LATAM countries has been revived once again due to the current economic situation that some of these countries are facing.
👉 Link to the full article here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Votorantim and Temasek will be partners in a new investment fund in which both parties have committed to invest up to US$700 million. Link here.
⭐️Bluebenx suspended withdrawals due to an alleged hack that made the company lose more than $31 million. Link here.
⭐️Klavi raised $15 million in a Series A investment round to develop new B2B finance products. Link here.
⭐️ LATAM’s BTG Pactual launches crypto exchange ‘Mynt’. Link here.
BRAZIL
Vinteum, a non-profit organization dedicated to Bitcoin research and development, will train and fund open-source developers for the Bitcoin ecosystem in Brazil, per a press release sent to Bitcoin Magazine. Link here.
NG.CASH raised a $10M seed round led by Andreesen Horowitz (a16z) and Monashees. Other participants in the round were 17Sigma and founders from Ualá, Rappi, Mobile, Brex, and more. Link here.
Amber Group has expanded its retail trading operation to Brazil. Called WhaleFin, the retail platform – allowing users to buy and sell crypto as well as take out loans – has been operational in Brazil since June. Link here.
Mercado Libre plans to expand its crypto trading feature across LATAM after successfully starting in Brazil. The company’s Mercado Pago digital wallet began allowing crypto buys and sells in Brazil in December and quickly nabbed 1 million users. Link here.
Paxos partners with PicPay to power access to digital assets for Brazilian consumers. PicPay users can now buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDP, (Paxos’ fully regulated US dollar-backed stablecoin). Link here.
Bluebenx suspended withdrawals due to an alleged hack that made the company lose more than $31 million. The company announced that the withdrawals would be stopped for at least six months. Link here.
Brazil’s central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto believes credit cards are on the brink of extinction due to growth in account-to-account-based open payments. Link here.
The Brazilian digital banking trends coming to the rest of Latin America. The introduction of Brazil's digital real and the challenges and opportunities of open finance were among the issues brought into focus as industry experts gathered for the Febraban Tech event in Sao Paulo. Link here.
Brazilian brokerage giant XP Inc has officially launched its crypto trading platform XTAGE in Brazil, bringing a potential 3.6 million users to the crypto markets. Link here.
Fuse Capital started raising Fuse Capital Fund II, whose central thesis will be investing in the next generation of Web 3 startups in Latin America. Link here.
ARGENTINA
Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, plans to deploy Ethereum validation nodes in 2023, Diego Fernández, the city’s secretary of innovation and digital transformation, said during the South American country's ETHLatam conference. Fernández said the effort “has exploratory and regulatory purposes” and will help the city of 3 million people “develop adaptable regulation” for crypto. Link here.
MEXICO
Creation Investments made a US$25 million equity investment in DD360, a financial and property technology platform that facilitates financing and managing residential real estate in Mexico. Link here.
Uellbee closed a $350,000 seed round with angel investors and a $2 million debt line from APx Capital to support people with credit card debt to refinance those liabilities with loans that adapt to their income and automate the management of their finances. Link here.
EL SALVADOR
Structured.fi launched its mobile service in El Salvador. Millions in El Salvador are already using the Chivo digital wallet for transactions. Link here.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Nuban named Youssef Lahrech, currently the firm’s chief operating officer, to the newly created role of president, reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer David Vélez. Co-founder Cristina Junqueira was appointed chief growth officer, spearheading expansion across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia. Link here.
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