THIS WEEK’S FUNDING NEWS OVERVIEW
For the past week’s funding news overview, we highly recommend reading our weekly #DoneDeal newsletter 👇
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👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
International Holding Company, a publicly traded company comprising more than 372 entities with international operating segments, announced an investment of 734 million dirhams ($200 million) in Lulo Colombia, an entity in which they already owned 25%.
👉 Read the full Latamlist article here.
😎 SPONSORED CONTENT
PayRetailers is a leading global provider of online payment services with Latin DNA. We offer e-commerce payment solutions for end-to-end cross-border transaction flow without the need for a local entity. Through one direct API, one technology platform, and one contract, we offer merchants worldwide multiple local payment options in Latin America.
📰 ARTICLE
The candidate that obtained most of the votes in the first voting round in Brazil’s presidential elections, Luis Inacio “Lula” Da Silva, has revealed his stance when it comes to crypto regulation in the country.
Lula signaled his support to the Central Bank of Brazil, that according to him, would have to be responsible for building cryptocurrency regulations due to its autonomous character.
👉 Read the full News.bitcoin article here.
👨💻 BLOG
Latin America is a very multicultural region. Each country is a world, with very different customs among them.
👉 Read this full Kushki article by Magdalena Ovalle Vicuña where she will tell you all about payments in one of the largest markets in LATAM: Mexico🇲🇽. Link here.
💡INSIGHTS
This month, remittances major Western Union acquired Brazilian e-wallet Te Enviei, a move that will enable it to launch new products in Latin America in the first half of 2023.
👉 Read the full Fx intel article by Joe baker here.
🧐 ANALYSIS
Deal activity in Latin America has dropped for the third quarter in a row, with Q3 2022 having a total of 53 deals, a 29% reduction from the previous quarter.
👉 Learn more from FinTech Global here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Ualá will invest $150 million over the next 18 months to boost its digital banking business, mainly in Mexico and Colombia. Link here.
⭐️ Via announced that it has chosen Bitso to revolutionize international payments for workers in Latin America. Link here.
⭐️Apple Pay will operate in Chile at the end of this month. Link here.
⭐️ Grupo Financiero Banorte is one step closer to launching a new digital bank, after receiving authorization to open a new multiple-banking institutions. Link here.
BRAZIL
Flamengo, one of Brazil's biggest sports franchises, announced that it would launch a number of web3 products via a multi-year partnership with MoonPay. Link here.
Ali, which works to reduce the debt of the country’s workers and boost their financial well-being, has raised $25 million in a Series A round led by BTG Pactual. Link here.
ARGENTINA
The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic turned into full-scale energy and financial crisis, seeing Argentina’s inflation skyrocket to 78.5%. Argentina made a major move into crypto mining, with YPD, Argentina’s state-owned energy provider planning to open an 8-megawatt mining plant. Link here.
Ualá will invest $150 million over the next 18 months to boost its digital banking business, mainly in Mexico and Colombia, its Chief Executive Pierpaolo Barbieri said. Link here.
Interoperable QR payments, a system that allows all digital wallets in Argentina to make payments in several stores, reached a record number in September. According to official numbers, 3.15 million payments were completed using this system, including cryptocurrency-based payments that exchanges like Bitso are already offering in the country. Link here.
COLOMBIA
Monet, which offers income advances through an app, is planning a deal with Bancolombia to launch Monet Pay, a digital wallet, in the coming months. Link here.
MEXICO
Grupo Financiero Banorte is one step closer to launching a new digital bank, after receiving authorization to open a new multiple-banking institution. It is part of a strategy outlined 18 months ago when the CEO announced that the bank wanted to be "at all the parties." Link here.
HelloSafe raises $3.3M in a seed round led by OneRagtime and Kima Ventures to deploy its financial comparison solutions in Mexico. Link here.
Solvento announced a US$5 million capital raise. The round was led by Ironspring Ventures, a VC from Austin, Texas, making its first investment in a company outside the US. Link here.
CHILE
Apple Pay will operate in Chile at the end of this month. The launch involves the main banks in the country. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, and maybe I can answer a few.