$69.6 million in fintech funding (equity and debt)

Hola amig@s,

Attention all fintech enthusiasts in Mexico City! We are thrilled to invite you to join us for a delightful This Week in Fintech Happy Hour on July 26th. The event will be hosted at Casa Prunes -beautiful setting-, located in the vibrant Colonia Roma. Don't pass up this chance to connect with our dynamic Latam fintech community. RSVP now and secure your spot! Register here.

Please find below this week’s front page of Latam fintech news. If you’re reading this on the web, we’d appreciate your support by sharing and subscribing.  

💛 Until next weekend. Até a próxima! - Lorena

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📊 Stat of the Week

📖  Read of the Week

Since 2017, Paysafe asks consumers about  their preferences and behaviors regarding payment methods. The report "Lost in Transaction: Consumer Payment Trends 2023" highlights a shift in consumer preferences towards prioritizing experiences, seeking offers, and maximizing budgets for discretionary purchases.

💸 Venture Financing

💸 Equity

🇧🇷 Bipa, the Brazilian startup focused on simplifying Bitcoin payments, raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by New Form Capital and Hivemind Ventures. The investment will fuel Bipa's expansion and user base, promoting the use of Bitcoin for payments in the country. 

🇨🇱 Shinkansen, the Chilean startup implementing AI to transactions between entities, raised a $3 million seed round led by ALLVP, and with participation of Salkantay, Chileventures, and Pedro Pineda as a Sequoia Scout. The funding aims to support the company's expansion into Mexico, Peru, and the broader Latin American market. 

🇧🇷 Payface, the Florianópolis fintech, raised $3 million in a funding round led by BTG, HiPartners, Oikos, and Fintech Revolution. Payface specializes in facial recognition payment technology and plans to expand into new retail segments. The funds will support its growth strategy and the implementation of its cardless purchasing system.

🇧🇷 Torqi, the Brazilian agribusiness logistics fintech, raised a $12 million investment in a funding round led by Galapagos Capital, an independent investment company. The funding will support its expansion and further development of its fintech solutions for the agro.

🇦🇷 INI, an Argentine platform for digital payments and connectivity solutions, raised funding from regional investment fund Kamay Ventures. The amount has not been disclosed. INI offers offline payments services using radio frequency, for remote areas with poor connectivity. Some of its clients are Shell, Banco Comafi, Coca-Cola, and Arcor. 

💵 Debt 

🇲🇽 Dimex (dmX), the Mexican platform for older adults’ finances and economy, secured a loan of approximately $50 million from the International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group). The loan aims to expand credit access for retirees and pensioners. IFC will also advise the company and will help expand it in the women's segment through the Banking on Women (BoW) program.

💰 Venture funds 

🇨🇱 Minga Ventures, a new investment fund by and for startup founders in Latam, will launch another fund of $3 to $5 millions to create a cycle of support within the entrepreneurial ecosystem providing guidance to founders based on their own growth experiences. Minga started with a capital of $500,000 and made early-stage investments in two payment startups: Neat and Fintoc. 

🇧🇷 Iporanga Ventures, the Brazilian VC firm, is launching its third fund aiming to raise $100 million. Iporanga has already invested in notable fintech startups such as Stark Bank, Klavi, Gorila, and BX Blue. The fund's strategy is to expand in Latam and concentrate on open banking and investment consolidation.

☯️ Exits

🤝 M&A - Fintech

🇨🇴 Puntored, the Colombian financial services platform for low and middle income population,  announced the acquisition of GestoPago, the Mexican platform, to expand its digital payment services and become a player in Mexico's alternative payment methods market. No further details were disclosed.

🏦 M&A - Bank and FinServ

🌐 Inversis, the Spanish wholesale bank and investment technology platform, announced the acquisition of Openfinance from BME (Grupo SIX), expanding its  technological tools offer for comprehensive reporting, advisory, and portfolio management services. With Openfinance's presence in Spain, Andorra, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, and Chile, Inversis aims to provide additional value-added services to its institutional clients. No further details were disclosed.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🇧🇷 Mercado Bitcoin, the Brazilian cryptocurrency exchange, introduced its crowdfunding platform, MB Startups, connecting early-stage startups with investors and accelerators. The platform curates and selects startups seeking funding, leveraging strategic partnerships with ecosystem companies like Distrito, Fisher, and Gear Ventures. 

🇵🇦 TAFI, the Panama-based platform for sales agents management, announced its entry to Panama, offering financing and Mastercard credit cards. Users can request financing and make purchases in installments, as well as instantly receive a digital TAFI Mastercard.

🌐 Dock, the Brazilian platform integrating card issuing and core banking services, launched a new credit tool in some Latam countries, to facilitate access to financing for small businesses and informal workers. The tool focuses on retail and e-commerce as well as financial entities that lend to end users.

🌐Clip, the Mexican commerce and digital payment platform, and Tiendanube, the Argentinean e-commerce platform for SMEs, announced a partnership to better  integrate digital payments, enabling entrepreneurs to accept credit cards, debit cards, vouchers and streamline online sales. 

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🇦🇷 Banco Galicia, the Argentinean financial institution, and Alprestamo, the Argentinean financial products marketplace, announced a partnership to expand credit. The collaboration will deliver personalized digital solutions to a wider range of users.

🇧🇷 Banco Bradesco, the Brazilian financial institution, and Asaas, the Brazilian platform to automate financial processes, announced a partnership to launch a payment management tool for SMEs and to manage receivables through a financial dashboard, regardless of the payment method.

🇩🇴 Visa and Finerio Connect announced a partnership to establish an open banking ecosystem in the Dominican Republic, promoting financial innovation and integration.

📜 Policy

🇧🇷 Z1, the São Paulo fintech for teenagers, received approval from Brazil’s Central Bank to operate as a payment institution in the category of electronic money issuer. This authorization allows Z1 to manage prepaid payment accounts. 

🇲🇽 The Mexican financial regulatory agency (CNBV) sanctioned CIBanco for non-complying with the open finance regulations in the country. The bank was fined $76,800 for failing to implement APIs for their ATMs, as required by the Fintech Law. 

🇻🇪 Rpay, the stablecoin wallet from Singapore, obtained a license from the US Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) to continue operations in Venezuela. The license mitigates the compliance risk of operating in the country and Rpay will be required to reject employees of the Venezuelan government.

📰 Other News 

🇨🇴 Jeeves announced that Haizea Caravaca joined as Country Manager in Colombia, with the aim of reinforcing the presence of the company in the country's market.

🇨🇴 Celes, the Colombia-based platform to optimize inventories with AI and analytics, raised $1 million in a seed investment round, with Primeline, MatterScale, Rockstart and angel investors participating.

🇲🇽 The first Association of Chilean Entrepreneurs in Mexico (Acemx) was created, in order to bring together more than 500 Chilean companies. The association will have strategic partners as well as mentors for its members.

🇲🇽 Vector, the Mexican brokerage and securities firm, announced the creation of SofIA, a virtual assistant developed 100% with Artificial Generative Intelligence, which functions as the digital master of ceremonies in the second edition of the Fintech Objective award.

🌐 Binance announced that Min Lin joined as Regional Head of Latam, with the aim of improving products and services with a focus on the user experience.

🌐 Rpay, the stablecoin wallet, announced the suspension of operations in local currency in Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama as of August 3, in order to consolidate its strategy worldwide.

🌐 LATAM Unreasonable 2023 Program announced the 10 startups from Central and South America that are part of the softlanding program in Mexico, in order to solve social problems. Some of those are Diimo (El Salvador) and LOKL (Colombia), which are financial services startups.

🌐 Crossmint, the web platform to create NFTs use cases, announced its Crossmint Payments tool to create personalized websites and be able to offer NFTs without having to use markets.

📚 Deeper Reads

Health, education and financial services; priority issues for young people in LATAM (ES)

Colombia and Chile, the most attractive fintech markets for QED Investors' investments (ES)

Fintech and correspondent banking: the necessary impulse for rural development (ES)

The impacts of the new exchange rate framework for Brazilian fintechs (PO)

Investments in cryptocurrency startups fall 43% in June (PO)

The Checking Account War Is Over (And the fintechs have won)

Open banking, neobanks and Apple: the path forward

Made in Latam with 💛 by Elena, Daniela, and Lorena

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