$511.4 million in fintech funding (equity and debt)

Hola amig@s fintech,

Hope you all had a great weekend, here is this week’s front page of Latam fintech news. We always appreciate your support by sharing and subscribing.  

💛 Until next weekend. Até a próxima!

• Lorena

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📊 Stat of the Week

Mexican fintech companies collectively obtained $141 million in financing during the first three quarters of 2023, marking a 73% decrease compared to the same period in 2022 (Source).

📖  Read of the Week

According to the “Digital Credit Fintechs” survey, conducted by PwC and the Brazilian Digital Credit Association (ABCD), in 2022, this segment of the fintech industry in Brazil increased its focus on payroll loans and other guaranteed lines. Meanwhile, companies sought new lines of revenue with business models such as marketplaces and SaaS solutions. .

🎙️Podcast of the Week

🦉 Tweet of the Week

💸 Venture Financing

💸 Equity

🇨🇴 GoPass, the Colombian financial solution to digitize transit and parking, raised a $15 million Series A round led by Kaszek Ventures.

🌎 TruBit and its holding company Galactic Holdings, the US-based crypto company operating in Latam, raised a $6.25 million Series A investment round, led by Galaxy Interactive y DragonFly. SHK also participated. 

💵 Debt 

🇦🇷 Mercado Pago, the fintech branch of the Argentinian Mercado Libre, obtained a financing line of $466 million, from which $237 million from CitiBank and $229 million from Citibanamex. The funding will be distributed between Brazil and Mexico to expand credit capacity. 

🇧🇷 Iugu, the Brazilian cash management and automotive payment processes platform, raised $14.5 million using a Credits Rights Investment Fund (FIDC), led by Bradesco BBI, and with the involvement of BEM DTVM, Banco Bradesco, H2 Kapital SA, and Trench Rossi. 

🇲🇽 Creze, the Mexican B2B credit platform, obtained a $5.7 million line of credit from BBVA Spark, the bank’s branch to stimulate innovation and business growth.

🇧🇷 Barte, the Brazilian B2B payments platform, raised $4 million through debt structured by Bamboo, to strengthen its credit arm.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🇨🇴 WiPay, the Trinidad y Tobago-based electronic payment provider, announced its entry into Colombia with its COLOUR app, aiming to empower over 4.5 million underserved Afro-Colombians. The app offers digital banking, virtual Visa cards, bill payments, mobile top-ups, and micro-loans.

🇨🇱 Patrimore, the Chilean financial planning startup, announced the launch of its investment platform, where users can choose from three portfolio options: suggested portfolios based on risk profile, personalized portfolios with access to all funds, and recommended portfolios crafted with a personal advisor.

🇲🇽 Tu Identidad, the Mexican ID validation platform, launched Klibu, a new tool for conducting secure business transactions for SMEs. The platform focuses on preventing fraud or identity theft, by using AI to verify individual or company data, generating a trust certificate to mitigate risks.

🇦🇷 Ripio, the US-based DeFi company, and IOL Inversiones, the Argentine digital investment platform, announced a partnership to launch a new crypto solution in Argentina to diversify users' portfolios including crypto options.

🌎 Mercado Pago, the digital bank of the Argentinian Mercado Libre, announced three new tokens to its crypto portfolio, integrating Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), and Litecoin (LTC). Users can trade these tokens, expanding their investment choices within the app, following the introduction of a feature allowing crypto transfers to other digital wallets.

🌎 Flow, the US-based platform focused on solving the complexity of fund infrastructure, launched Flow Pay, the new digital wallet that streamlines and secures online transactions by simplifying the payment process for a faster and safer experience.

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🌎 CBRE, the US-based real estate consultancy, announced the introduction of its Latam-Iberia platform to foster investment between Europe and Latam, and emerging and established markets in general. 

📜 Policy

🇧🇷 Bamboo, the Brazilian debt capital markets company, was authorized by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Brazil (CMV) to coordinate public offerings. This is the first time that a fintech startup obtains this type of authorization.

🇧🇷 Liquido, the US infrastructure for e-commerce transactions platform, obtained a license from the Brazilian Central Bank to operate as a payments institution in the country. 

📰 Other News 

Rodrigo Veloso, CFO at Cryptomarket

🇨🇱 Cryptomarket, the Chile-based crypto exchange, named Rodrigo Veloso as CFO, with the objective of providing and contributing to a new technological financial structure focused on inclusion and decentralization.

🇲🇽 Wollef Ventures, the Mexico-based venture capital firm, celebrated its tenth anniversary, operating in more than 22 countries, investing 180 million dollars in 44 companies and its unicorns have been highlighted as: Konfío, Nubank, Loft, Jeeves and Kavak.

🇨🇱 Legria, the Chilean proptech for the second home market, raised $3.4 million in debt through the fund manager Ameris Capital. The objective is to finance the acquisition of new key properties in Chile.

🇧🇷 N26, the Germany-based digital bank, announced the end of its operations in Brazil at the beginning of December. The company will focus on the European market.  

🌎 WeWork Latam announced that its operations in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, are not included in the restructuring through Chapter 11 that was presented in the US. The region’s operations are part of a joint venture in which the SoftBank Latin American Fund maintains a majority stake.

🌎 Kavak, the Mexico-based online platform for buying and selling used cars, announced the end of its operations in Peru and Colombia, to focus its efforts on Chile, and especially Mexico.

📚 Deeper Reads

Seeing like a Bank

B2B payments aren’t payments, they’re workflows

When Every Company is a Fintech Who Handles Compliance?

Modify fintech financial system (ES)

Are ChatGPT and AI destroying jobs? These experts see the opposite (ES)

Wealth management and crypto, the fintech segments that are growing the most in Argentina (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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