$34 million in fintech funding (equity and debt)

Hola amig@s fintech,

Argentina’s inflation is now officially at 102.5%. This hyperinflation has not happened since the early 1990s. Goods and services are more than twice the price/cost than they were one year ago. The government has tried to control some prices and imposed several economic and financial restrictions, which makes financial technology innovations more relevant for Argentineans and people living in the country.

On a personal note, being half Argentinean and half Mexican - or as we call it “ArgenMex” - I feel deeply for my family and friends, the country as a whole and its situation, which none of them deserves.  And yet, I know this is just one more challenge that the deeply resourceful people of Argentina will overcome, in part incorporating DeFi technology possibilities for a different future.

Please find below the last two weeks’’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

🦉 Tweet of the Week

💸 Funding

There were 5 deals in the fintech space across Latam since the last post, with a total investment of $34 million.

💸Equity

🇧🇴 Vaka, a Bolivian wealthtech company that connects livestock projects with investors, raised a $100,000 round to attract investments and to promote the ranching world, aiming to generate between 12% and 16% annual profitability.

🇨🇴 Kuadra, the MSME-focused Colombian fintech raised $120,000 from Techstars powered by JPMorgan to continue its growth.

🇲🇽 Pacto, a point of sale (POS) software and payments company for SMEs in Mexico, raised a $4 million seed round led by DILA Capital, with participation from FEMSA Ventures, 500 Global, Polymath Ventures (Colombia), Grupo Fame (Mexico), Georgetown Angel Investor Network, among others.

🇲🇽 Cometa, the Mexican ed-fintech, raised a $5 million seed round from Kaszek, Reach Capital, Homebrew, Latitud, Investo VC, 500 Startups and Salkantay Ventures.

🇧🇷 Qlub, a UAE platform that offers payment solutions for restaurants, landed in Brazil after a Series A of $ 25 million for its expansion. The round included funds such as Cherry Ventures, Point Nine, Shorooq Partners, STV, Raed Ventures, Heartcore Capital, Al Dhabi Capital, and Fintech Collective.

💰 Venture funds

🇲🇽Angel Ventures, the Mexico-based early-stage VC firm, announced the launch of its office in Austin, TX. The new fund has a size of US$120 million, will focus on investing in Latam startups and those owned by Hispanics/Latinos in the US, and is expected to begin operating during 2H23.

🇲🇽Femsa Ventures, Femsa’s CVC, was the sixth largest investor in Mexico during 2022, according to Transactional Track Record data. It invested $86.72 million in 8 Mexican companies and participated in the round of Peruvian climate tech Sugo Company. Other active CVCs in the country during 2022 include Cemex Ventures and Coppel.

🚀 Product Launches & Partnerships

💻 Fintech

🇨🇴Yuno, the Colombian paytech, and UK-based wallet AstroPay announced a partnership where merchants using Yuno can now offer payments via local currency as well as USD.

🇧🇴Koban, the Bolivian company of scalable banking solutions, and Mastercard announced the launch of a prepaid card in Bolivia for 2Q23 so that users can make payments for physical or online stores. Mastercard also partnered with 🇻🇪Newtech, the Venezuelan Miami-based paytech; and allied with 🇨🇷Girasol Payments, the Costa Rican paytech, to boost digital payments in the Caribbean.

🇲🇽Conekta, the Mexican online payment platform, launched its cash withdrawal product for convenience stores, so the customer can receive a QR code to collect the loan on the spot.

🇲🇽MoonPay, a leader in Web3 infrastructure, and Airtm, the US-based the digital dollar account, announced a partnership so that Airtm users can now add funds from banks, debit and credit cards, Google Pay, Apple Pay in 150 countries.

🇨🇴Payvalida, the Colombian payments provider, launched its BNPL model with Bancolombia, which will allow users to request capital under the BNPL model.

🇦🇷Ripio, the Argentina-based bitcoin and digital payments company, announced its expansion to Chile and Colombia, signing an agreement with MercadoPago Chile and FinZi, a digital wallet in Colombia, to allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies without leaving the platform.

🇨🇴Sempli, the Colombian B2B digital lending fintech, announced the launch of a new payment solution for suppliers in Colombia, to provide a better way for business management.

🏦 Financial Services & Banking

🇧🇷Latitud announced Meridian by Latitud, a business banking account for startups to manage cash reserves and move money internationally. Beta testing is open now to Brazilian startups. The company also announced its partnership with Google for Startups, which will connect it with more than 70 organizations across 60 countries.

📜 Policy

🇧🇷The Brazilian Central Bank approved three companies to operate as payment institutions. The first one authorized is Nvio Brasil, the Brazilian subsidiary of Bitso. The second approved one is Pomelo, the Argentinean paytech. Both will operate as electronic money issuers and credit cards. The third fintech authorized as electronic money issuer and initiator of payment transactions is WEPayments, a Brazilian instant and cross-border payments company.

🇲🇽The Mexican payment systems are dominated by two clearinghouses, and, based on the report released by the Economic Competition Commission, experts are calling for a change. The Commission pointed out that as banks are the owners of the clearinghouses, it inhibits the entry of new players.  

🇵🇦The Chamber of Digital Commerce and Blockchain of Panama held the first CryptoFinance Academic Conference. One of the main topics was the Supreme Court of Justice's pending ruling on the bill to regulate digital currencies, vetoed by the president. Other topics such as the regulatory structure of cryptocurrencies in the country were discussed.

📰 Other News
🇲🇽Pulppo, the Mexican proptech designed for estate brokers, announced the launch of Pulppo+ in collaboration with Maslow, the Mexican SaS offering SMEs HR software and financial services.

🌐Credit Suisse was acquired by UBS after facing a series of setbacks in recent years, leading to the current crisis. The setbacks include legal and regulatory challenges, losses from high-risk trading, and reputational damage from scandals involving its clients.

🇧🇷Creditas, the Brazilian consumer lending platform, reported a loss of $40 million in 4Q22, but aims at achieve profitability in 2023 by repricing its portfolio, which reached $1.1 billion. The company bought a bank in Brazil last year to cut down the funding dependency on markets, but it is still in the process of approval by the Brazilian Central Bank.

📚 Deeper Reads

Strong compliance and rigorous risk management can help, not hinder, growth
How fintech regulation has advance in Central America (ESP)

New headaches for FBO account managers post-SVB

Web3 reimagined from the ground up

Mexican Fintech Law needs adjustments (ESP)

Four Latam countries in the top 20 of world operating fintech companies (ESP)

📖  Read of the Week

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

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