$10.15 million in fintech funding (equity and debt)

Olá amig@s fintech,

I hope you are having a great Sunday. My very own recommendation for today: as you read the weekly Latam fintech news, don’t miss the chance to listen to the latest album from Bebel Gilberto, the New York-born Brazilian singer. After four years since the passing of her father, the Brazilian Bossa Nova giant João Gilberto, she has released the album “João”,  a beautifully curated collection of his father's songs. You can also read her interview with AP News. 

Plus, some event reminders: 

1) Finnosummit Mexico 2023 (use the exclusive 15% discount for TWIF subscribers, code FSTHISWEEK).

2) The TWIF Latam Finnosummit Kickoff Mixer, RSVP here. 

3) The Fintech Trek in Mexico City in October, apply here to participate. 

Now, 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

Brazil, Peru, and Venezuela occupy the first regional places in financial inclusion; Mexico, Latam's second economy, is in the last place (Source).

📖  Read of the Week

The financial industry in Latam is evolving and growing in different types of services with the goal of increasing financial inclusion. Simalco conducted several interviews regarding how companies are expanding in the region and including more people into the financial services spectrum.  

🎙️Podcast of the Week

💸 Venture Financing

💸Equity

🇲🇽 Syscap, the Mexican financial management solutions firm, secured $2.3 million in seed funding. Wollef led the funding round, with participation from Redwood Ventures, Melek Capital, 500 Global, Angel Hub Ventures, and a consortium of angel investors. 

🇦🇷 Welook, the Argentinian NFT social platform, raised a $ 850 mil pre-seed round with the crypto ecosystem investors, such as Ripio, POAPs, Ceibo Capital, Borderless Capital. 

💵 Debt 

🇨🇴 Rocketfy, the Colombian e-commerce and payments startup, secured a $7 million debt capital line from Aluna Partners, a London-based credit solutions firm. This financing will support Rocketfy's growth and development efforts which are now focused on Colombia and Mexico.

☯️ Exits

🤝 M&A - Fintech

🇲🇽 Stori, the Mexican credit card services company, received approval from the Mexican financial regulator (CNBV) to acquire MasCaja, the financial popular society (Sofipo). This will allow Stori to expand its offerings to include savings and investment products. 

🇧🇷 Montepio, the financial institution, announced the sale of the license and capital of Banco de Empresas Montepio to the fintech company Rauva. The sale value is yet to be disclosed, but it is estimated at around $32 million. 

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech 

🇲🇽 Nu announced the launch of personal loans in Mexico. The new service will be available in less than five minutes and seeks to strengthen its portfolio.

🇦🇷 Bitso, the Mexican cryptocurrency exchange, and Despegar, the online travel company,  announced a partnership so that their users can exchange points for cryptocurrencies in Argentina.

🇨🇴 Grupo Aval, the Colombian holding company, announced the launch of Dale!, a digital wallet, with the aim of increasing financial inclusion and promoting digital payment methods.

🇦🇷 Lemon, the Argentinian virtual wallet, announced the launch of a new function to use US dollars, with which users will be able to convert them, into the crypto stable $USDC with a 2% commission per deposit.

🇨🇱 Xepelin, the Chile-based factoring startup for companies, announced its expansion into the USA.

🇲🇽 Inmuebles24 and Vivanuncios, the real estate portals in Mexico, and Holacasa, the startup that helps compare and apply for mortgage loans, announced a partnership to simplify and accelerate the process of obtaining loans.

🇲🇽 Círculo de Credito, the company that provides people and companies’ credit history, and Jumio, the security solutions provider, announced a partnership to strengthen security channels and offer digital solutions to their clients.

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🇲🇽 Mastercard announced partnerships with the Mexican government, private banks, and non-profit organizations, to become the catalysts for financial inclusion in Mexico.

📜 Policy

🇨🇷 The Central Bank of Costa Rica and the financial regulator, Sugef, continue in a dispute from a data-sharing request made by the Central Bank in November 2022, where it sought information on credit operations and associated ID numbers for entities under Sugef's supervision.

🇲🇽 The Mexican Ministry of Finance authorized the incorporation of Deutsche Bank Mexico, S.A., as a financial entity within the Citibanamex Financial Group. 

📰 Other News 

🇧🇷 Nubank, the Brazilian digital bank, named Elita Ariaz as CLO. She will lead the legal, compliance, and public policy teams.

🇲🇽 briq.mx, the Mexican real estate crowdfunding platform, announced that it has completed 500 funding campaigns, equivalent to raising $1,397 million pesos, through more than 17 thousand investors in 8 years.

🇲🇽 Stripe, the global payments platform, presented a study on the role of CFOs in the digital transformation process in Mexico, signaling that 7 out of 10 CFOs are leading digitalization processes in their companies.

🇪🇨 Databits, the Ecuador-based data science online course platform, raised $600,000 in pre-seed investment, to increase its course and programs offering of to promote the use of data in large, medium, and small companies in Latam.

🌐 The Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC)  and Manutara Ventures early stage Venture Capital fund, announced the 5 Latam startups that will be part of the CIC International Soft Landing program, which will support their expansion process into the USA. Among the selected startups are the fintech companies Levannta and Finmaq.

📚 Deeper Reads

Empowering women through financial well being

Twitter (X) Acquires Required License to Add Crypto Payments

Top Latin American Countries for Investment in 2024, According to Experts

How is the synergy between AI and fintech transforming the financial market?

How Bank-Fintech Partnerships Can Fill the Funding Gaps in Underserved Communities

Blockchain technology in governments (ES)

Made in Latam with 💛 by Elena and Lorena

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