$43.8 million in fintech funding (equity)

Hola fintech friends,

Happy Chinese New Year of the Wooden Dragon! Let's always embrace cultural exchanges that enrich our societies and broaden our horizons, especially with many Latin American cities having their own Chinatowns and communities.

Exciting announcements are on the horizon:

1. We're thrilled to be a media partner for the inaugural Fintech México Forum 2024. The event is scheduled for February 29 at the Papalote Museo del Niño in Mexico City. Leaders, regulators, authorities, and key figures from the Fintech world and the financial ecosystem across the country will gather to discuss this growing industry. TWIF paid subscribers enjoy a 15% discount—just email us at latam@thisweekinfintech.com. Check out the event details here.

2. We are also proud partners of FINNOSUMMIT Connect 2024, happening from March 4 to 7 in Cancún. Join us for an opportunity to share experiences, network with industry leaders from Latin America, and shape the future of the financial industry. TWIF paid subscribers get a 20% discount—email us at latam@thisweekinfintech.com. You can validate your discount when purchasing your ticket by reaching out to tickets@finnosummit.com. Explore the event here.

Thank you for your continued support. Below is this week’s roundup of Latam fintech news. If you’re reading this online, please consider sharing and subscribing!

💛 Until next weekend. Até a próxima!

• Lorena

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📖  Read & stat of the Week

Bitso published the first edition of "Crypto landscape in Latam", a semi-annual report that shows the adoption prospects and trends shaping the crypto economy in the region. Today, bitcoin remains the most popular cryptocurrency, with a 53% presence in the average Bitso wallet compared to the global average of 50.4%.

🎙️ Podcast of the Week

💸 Venture Financing

💸 Equity

🇧🇷 Traive, the Brazilian agricultural AI company for risk analysis, raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Banco do Brasil through the BB Impacto ASG I Fund managed by Vox Capital.

🇨🇴 Bayport Colombia, the Colombian subsidiary of Bayport Management Ltd. for emerging markets, secured $20 million from Blue Earth Capital,  which will be distributed in two parts.   

🇲🇽 Techcreo, the Mexican integral digital services platform, raised $3.4 million in a funding round from G2 Momentum y Creation Investments Capital Management, LL. 

🇧🇷 Plano, the Brazilian financial education company, raised $444,000 in a first phase of their second investment round, with the participation of Anjos do Brasil, Poli Angels, FEA Angels, BossaInvest, Sai do Papel, Quintal Ventures, Levain Ventures and Westwood Capital.

💰 Venture funds 

🇧🇷 FUNSES1, the Brazilian participation investment fund of the Sovereign Fund of the Government of Espírito Santo, announced its investment of $544,000 in Multifidelidade, NaPorta, Conecta, and Frota 162. The VC is opening registrations for its batch 5 of the acceleration program. The deadline for registering is February 19.

☯️ Exits

🤝 M&A - Fintech

🇧🇷 Webull, the US-based stock trading mobile app, announced the acquisition of H.H. Picchioni, the Brazilian brokerage platform, marking its entry into the region. With plans to offer dollar-denominated stock trading on the US exchange initially, Webull targets a younger audience of investors. No further details were disclosed.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🇧🇷 Koin, the Brazilian BNPL platform, announced the launch of a new feature on its platform allowing customers to manage payments, such as Pix installment payments via credit card.

🇧🇷 Bancard, the Paraguayan payment processor platform, announced that it now accepts Pix as a payment method, allowing Brazilian tourists to make purchases directly from their bank accounts while visiting border areas.

🇧🇷 Belo, the Argentinian payment platform, announced its integration with the Pix system, allowing Argentine users to access Brazil's payment method without using currency exchanges or cash.

🇲🇽 uFlow, the US-based cloud-based decision engine, and Círculo de Crédito, the Mexican credit information society, announced a partnership to enhance uFlow’s technology-driven approach to credit assessment.

🇲🇽 NovoPayment, the US-based API-enabled BaaS platform, announced its presence in Mexico by obtaining Mastercard certification through the Network Enablement Partner program. 

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🌎 Mastercard announced the implementation of generative AI to safeguard users from fraudulent transactions. By introducing Decision Intelligence Pro, an addition to its security suite, Mastercard analyzes a trillion data points to predict transaction authenticity within milliseconds.

🌎Rivium, the US-based investment accounts platform, and Now, the neobank backed by Invex Financial Group, announced a partnership to merge investment capabilities with digital banking services. Rivium users will gain direct access to Now's digital banking suite.

📜 Policy

🇦🇷 Banca Ética Latinoameticana received approval of the Argentina’s Central Bank to operate as a fintech company. The company will facilitate and connect lenders with credit seekers, enabling peso loan transactions through a structured trust. 

🇲🇽 Banca Afirme received authorization from the Mexican financial regulator (CNBV) to use the technology of AWS in Mexico, including the infrastructure offered by its cloud.

📰 Other News 

🇧🇷 Banco do Brasil, the oldest bank in Brazil, announced that it will allow its clients to make purchases of National Treasury bonds through the bank's virtual assistant on WhatsApp, becoming the first financial institution in the world that allows requests for local government bonds through WhatsApp.

🇧🇷 Traive, the Brazilian agriculture fintech startup, raised $20M in funding from Banco do Brasil. Traive will use the funds to advance its technology, expand operations and launch a credit platform.

🇲🇽 Simplestate, the Argentinian real estate investment platform, announced its expansion into Mexico, offering citizens the opportunity to invest in real estate, bridging the gap between the real estate sector and the digital world.

🌎Latitud, the operating system from the founders of Latam, and Ballard & Associates tax firm, announced merger to create Latitud Compliance, a digital solution that offers a full suite of foreign tax and regulatory compliance services, including US tax returns, accounting extraterritorial and more.

📚 Deeper Reads

Hyper-personalization: the future of customer experience in banking

How Apple can keep growing in financial services without ever becoming a Bank

How Banks can (and should) solve the transactional data drought problem

Open Finance and the "Pix effect": why the banking revolution hasn't happened yet (PO)

Relationship between regulation and reduction of crimes with cryptoactives (ES)

Importance of financial inclusion and the role of Fintech (ES)

📣 Latam startup alum who have been impacted by layoffs and recruiters looking for top talent, check out the Startups Alumni and Layoffs Brasil databases.  

If you’re looking to hire from a group of 10,000+ smart, motivated fintech professionals, come pick up a Collective Pass and post a job here.  If you’re looking for your next adventure at one of the best fintech companies, check out the open roles here!

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

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