REPORT
When it comes to money in the metaverse, there were three overarching observations that apply across all 10 surveyed markets in PayPal's latest report:
⓵ There is a significant amount of money that is currently spent and held in the metaverse;
⓶ There is a need for interoperability for money in the metaverse;
⓷ There is a need for greater security around money in the metaverse.
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Nubank and Uber have joined forces to integrate NuPay, Nubank's exclusive payment service, into Uber's platform. This feature introduces a one-click payment method on the ride-hailing app.
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
Brazil’s PIX is used in 30% of digital transactions, overtaking credit cards as most popular digital payment method, and more latest PIX stats:
Transfers on bank rails are understandably vanishing, since PIX is basically the new bank transfer.
📰 ARTICLE
Banks and fintechs are hesitant to cater to this segment due to misconceptions about migrants being high-risk and lacking financial history.
"What you have to do is analyze the person taking the loan well, just like when granting any credit. In general, financial institutions have not focused on migrants, so they do not know how to distinguish who's the good payor and who's the bad payor." said Diego Fleischmann, CEO of Galgo.
Read the complete source article here.
💡INSIGHTS
Have you noticed the recurring mention of MercadoLibre (MELI) among the top hedge fund investments in Q1 2023? It's time we zoom in on this intriguing company.
MercadoLibre stands at the intersection of e-commerce and fintech in Latin America. Think of it as the Amazon.com and PayPal of LATAM, seamlessly combining retail and payment solutions.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Stori, valued at $1.2 billion in 2022, recently secured a $50 million credit line from Community Investment Management to continue issuing credit cards.
⭐️ Lanistar recently unveiled its latest feature for the Brazilian market with its new app update, which enables users to engage in cryptocurrency trading.
⭐️Nubank will invest up to a further 700 billion pesos ($159 million) in its Colombia operations by 2025, its financial director for Colombia.
BRAZIL
PicPay launched vehicle-secured loans or 'car equity', in partnership with Creditas, a fintech specializing in secured credit.
Nubank to boost lending in Brazil to drive revenue growth.
Mercado Bitcoin receives license as a payment institution. The company plans to offer financial services that combine the potential of crypto with traditional financial services.
Paxos extended its network of partners in Brazil and broader Latin America as part of its strategy to bring its regulated blockchain infrastructure and tokenization platform to enterprises across the globe.
Méliuz confirmed the sale of all its shares in Acesso Soluções de Pagamento S.A., known as Bankly, and potentially all the shares in Acessopar Investimentos e Participações S.A, a subsidiary holding 52.19% of Bankly's capital, to Banco BV. The deal, with an enterprise value of R$210 million.
C6 Bank is now pivoting to serve high-income customers more closely. C6 plans to open its first "Carbon Offices", not traditional bank branches but spaces designed for comfort and security.
ARGENTINA
Num Finance announced it had raised USD 1.5 million following the closure of its pre-seed funding round led by Reserve. Investors in the round also included H20 Scouter Fund, VC3, Ripio Ventures, and Matias Woloski, the CTO of Auth0.
COLOMBIA
Quipu partnered with Claro Pay, the digital wallet of Claro, to provide productive loans from $500,000 in Colombia.
Druo and Clara have joined forces to simplify business finances in Colombia.
MEXICO
Tuhabi is set to receive a $50 million credit line from the Inter-American Development Bank's financing arm, which it will use to ramp up operations in Mexico.
EL SALVADOR
Cubo raised $3.5M in a seed round. Banco Interamericano de Desarrollo’s BID Lab led the round with additional participation from Amador Holdings, Soma Capital, Latin Leap, and Seedstars.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.