Hola amig@s fintech,

As we wrap up another month filled with inspiring news and events, we want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for our October gatherings at TWIF!

A special thanks to all the participants of our last two events co-hosted by Ensemblex, Timbi, BGBG, and Cobre. These gatherings provided a fantastic opportunity to connect, share insights, and foster collaborations in the LatAm fintech space. Your enthusiasm and engagement truly drive our community forward.

We look forward to more exciting news and events in the future. In the meantime, happy Halloween and Feliz Día de Muertos!

💛 Until next weekend. Até a próxima!

• Lorena

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📊 Stat of the Week

Latin America's fintech sector grew by 340% since 2017. The sector now has about 3,000 companies across the region, driven by digital payments demand, remittance solutions, and financial management tools. While Brazil traditionally led the fintech space, Mexico outpaced it in 2023 with increased VC investments, reflecting a shift in regional market dynamics. (Source).

📖  Read of the Week

The "Latin America Alternative Lending Business Databook 2024" report provides an explanation of how the LatAm alternative lending market is projected to grow from $28.2 billion in 2024 to $57.8 billion by 2028, with a CAGR of 19.6%. Growth is driven by fintech adoption, regulatory evolution, and demand for accessible financing solutions across B2C and B2B segments. Brazil and Mexico remain key markets, with trends highlighting peer-to-peer lending and new financing models as primary drivers.

🎙️ Podcast of the Week

📺 Sponsored Content

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💸 Venture Financing

💸 Equity

🇲🇽 CXC, the Mexican infrastructure for credit and securitization startup, raised a $32.6 million Series A round led by Kaszek, and with the participation of Quona, Mercado Libre Fund, Daedalus, Saison Capital, and Actyus.

🇬🇹 Osigu, the Miami-based healthtech company, raised an undisclosed amount of the expected $25 millions Series B round, from IDC Ventures. The company also partnered with Visa to modernize healthcare payments across Latin America, making access to health services more seamless.

🌎 Conduit, the US-based international transfers company, raised $6 millions in around led by Helios Digital Ventures, aiming at strengthening its presence in Latin America.

🇲🇽 Akua, the Mexico-based fintech providing financial tools to SMEs, secured a $4.3 million Seed investment round led by Propel and with the participation of Plug and Play, HTwenty, RallyCap, Flourish Ventures and ICventures.

💰 Venture funds 

🌎 Chemistry VC, the US-based VC firm, launched a $350 million fund to support early-stage (Seed and Series A rounds) fintech and infrastructure startups. The fund is led by alumni from Bessemer, a16z, and Index Ventures.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🌎 Movizzon, the Chilean real-time monitoring of digital customer experiences platform, announced its expansion into Spain. Starting with BBVA as a client, Movizzon aims to help banks and other companies identify and address digital service issues before they impact users. 

🌎 dLocal, the Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform, and Fourvenues, the Spanish management software for the entertainment industry, announced a partnership to enhance payment experiences across LatAm and Southeast Asia. The collaboration aims to enable Fourvenues to offer various local payment methods like PSE in Colombia and OVO in Indonesia.

🇲🇽 Shein, the Chinese fast-fashion giant, and Stori, the Mexican digital financial services platform, announced a partnership to launch a co-branded credit card. 

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🌎 Getnet, the merchant payment solutions division of Banco Santander, announced the launch of Getnet SEP, a unified e-commerce payment system across Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico. The new platform allows merchants to process payments, refunds, and subscriptions through a single technical integration.

🌎 Kushki, the Ecuadorian payments platform, and J.P. Morgan Payments announced a partnership to enhance payment processing capabilities for large corporations across the region, focusing on markets like Mexico and Colombia.

📜 Policy

🇧🇷 Brazil's Central Bank will implement stricter rules for Pix system to enhance security and combat fraud, starting November 1. Among the new rules are: transfers over 35 dollars will require registered devices, unregistered users will face a daily limit of 175 dollars, and banks and fintechs must bolster their security measures to detect unusual transactions.

🇲🇽 The Mexican Federal Economic Competition Commission (Cofece) conducted a study on the digital financial services market. The main recommendations are: the need to facilitate user transitions between institutions; payroll portability; improve information accessibility for users; create a general cancellation mechanism; promote the use of alternative payment methods; and advance Open Finance.

📰 Other News 

🌎 Aimee Fearon was named Chief Financial Officer at Bitso.

🇲🇽 Francisco Leyva was named Head of Operations and Technology at Banamex.

🇨🇱 Chile and Colombia signed an agreement to eliminate additional charges for international roaming between the two countries.

🌎 Fintech IPOs may look beyond recent valuations like Nubank’s, as investors focus on sustainable growth and profitability for the sector's future.

🇲🇽 Klar, the Mexican digital bank, achieved profitability after four years, marking a significant milestone for fintech growth in Mexico.

📚 Deeper Reads

Why Argentina can be a crypto leader

NAACP launches $200 million fund of funds

CFO tech stack (2024)

The impact of digital payments on SMEs in Latin America (ES)

The crucial tests that the left will face in Latin America in the next two years (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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