$67 million in fintech funding (equity and debt)

Hola amig@s fintech,

There are significant electoral events around the corner. Our region finds itself among races in Argentina, both national and provincial, and regional elections in Colombia. Additionally, Ecuador is gearing up for a second round of national elections. To our friends that can vote in these processes, we encourage you to thoroughly engage with the available data-driven information, and exercise your right to vote!

Meanwhile, in Mexico, TWIF is excitedly preparing for the Fintech Trek scheduled from October 18 to 20. For more details, you can find the information here. We are also thrilled to announce a new CdMx Fintech Happy Hour, presented by Ensemblex & AWS, taking place on October 19. Secure your spot by registering 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

Cubans pay nearly 9% in fees due to elevated exchange rates when sending money (Source).

📖  Read of the Week

According to the "2023 McKinsey Global Payments Report," global cash usage fell almost 4% in 2022, as electronic transactions are increasing. Global payments revenue grew 11% in 2022, reaching an all-time high of more than $2.2 trillion. 

🎙️Podcast of the Week

🦉 Tweet of the Week

💸 Venture Financing

💸 Equity

🇨🇴 Cobre, the Colombian platform to help CFOs centralize and automate payment processes, raised $13 million in a Series A investment round, led by Kaszek and with participation of QED, Atlantico, and Canary. This will help Cobre to expand and enter Mexico in 2024. 

🇧🇷 Gringo, the Brazilian startup for automobile credit and insurance, raised $29.2 million in a Series C funding round, led by Valor Capital. Other participants in the round were Kaszek, VEF, Piton, ONE VC, ICU Ventures and Actyus. 

🇧🇷 iCred, the banking correspondent startup from the Brazilian state of Sergipe, raised $19 million through a FIDC and it is preparing a public offering. 

🇧🇷 CondoConta, the Brazilian fintech for condos, raised a $5.8 million round led by EXT Capital. No further details were disclosed. 

💰 Venture funds 

🇨🇱 Grupo Imagine, the Chilean VC firm,  launched Imagine Waves, a new program with $50,000 thematic funds to invest in Chilean startups in Pre-Seed stages. 

🇨🇱 Activa and FEN Ventures, the Chilean VC funds,  launched a new fund to boost startups’ exits, through the increase of cash liquidity for investors, and promote investments in startups in advanced stages. No further details were disclosed.   

🌎 Latitud Ventures, the VC firm for Latam companies, closed $100 million of its Fund II for Pre-Seed funding, with participants such as a16z, Kavak, Nubank, Brex, iFood, Creditas, Rappi and Mercado Libre, Globo Ventures, Galicia Ventures, Industry Ventures, NFX and FJ Labs. They plan to invest in 40 startups for the next three years. 

☯️ Exits

🤝 M&A - Fintech

🇧🇷 BTG Pactual, the Brazilian investment bank, announced the acquisition of Orama DTVM, the Brazilian brokerage platform,  for $98.7 million. This will include all Orama’s operations except its management business fund, and it is pending regulatory approval.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🇨🇴 Lulo, the Colombian digital investment startup, launched its app and products in the country, with a collaboration of Lulo Bank and Lulo X.  

🇦🇷 Tapi, the Buenos Aires-based recurring payments company, and Lemon, the Argentinian crypto platform, announced a partnership so Lemon users will be able to pay for various services.

🇧🇷 Mitfokus, the Brazilian financial company for doctors, announced the launch of an app for invoice issuing and tax monitoring. 

🇦🇷 Let’sBit, the Argentina-based crypto company offering a digital wallet, launched its business platform in the country, focusing on a corporate financial management solution.

🇧🇷 PagBank, the Brazilian provider of financial technology solutions, announced the implementation of facial biometrics technology to authenticate identity and card’s ownership 

🌎  Blackrock, the asset management firm, and BCP Global, the Miami-based firm specialized in Latam financial entities, announced a partnership so banks and financial advisors in the region can expand the offerings to their investors through simplified digital tools. 

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🇧🇷 Niky, the Brazilian platform providing benefits for companies’ employees, announced the launch of a new Mastercard card that lets users make payments using their corporate benefits compensation. 

🇨🇴 ApproPay, the collaborative financial card of Ecollect and Approbe, partnered with Google to launch in Colombia a digital payment solution that includes a BNPL feature. 

📜 Policy

🇦🇷 Argentina’s Minister of Finance, and presidential candidate, stated that the government will start working on a CBDC (central bank digital currency).

📰 Other News 

🇨🇴 Bricksave, the UK-based real estate crowdfunding platform, announced the acquisition of Macondo, Colombia-based tokenized real estate, in order to reinforce its presence in Latam.

🇨🇴 Scotiabank and Laboratoria, the Peru-based startup that offers bootcamps for women to acquire IT skills, announced a partnership to boost women employment in Colombia and other countries in the region.

🇲🇽 CoDi, the platform developed by Banco de México to facilitate payment and collection transactions through electronic transfers, announced that after 4 years of operation, 9 million 487 thousand 666 operations have been registered in the country.

🇦🇷 Dollarize, the US company to save money in USD, began operations in Argentina. 

🌎  Trinetix, the Ukranian born / US-based high-end software company, raised $10 million in funding to expand into Latam. The investment was led by Hypra. 

🌎 Visa announced an initiative to invest in companies focused on the development of generative AI technologies and applications for the future of commerce and payments.

🌎 BID and Finnovista invite startups to contribute to a study on the fintech ecosystem in Latam, which will help understand the different segments and markets, their developments and challenges, and the competitive and regulatory environment in which they operate.

🌎 Incode, the Mexican / US startup specialized in ID verification through AI, announced it will open an office in Brazil. 

📚 Deeper Reads

The ‘Found Money’ Innovators: How Startups Are Unlocking Cash For Financial Resilience

How founders should approach TAM when venture capital is scarce

Disrupting the Colombian banking space

The global VC market continues to stumble

Promote financial inclusion from the legislature (ES)

When you make mistakes is when you learn the most (ES)

Made in Latam with 💚 by Elena and Lorena

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