Miranda’s Weekly Mex FinTech Monitor

Miranda’s Weekly Mex FinTech Monitor

 December 18, 2023

 

Mexico FinTech News

Mexican FinTech Kapital raises $40 million in equity and $125 million in debt to boost its AI-powered financial platform for SMEs

Mexican FinTech Kapital has closed a $40 million oversubscribed Series B equity funding round and secured $125 million in new debt financing. Tribe Capital led the Series B, and the funds will be used to invest in research and development, strengthen the platform, and expand product offerings. Kapital, a Mexico-based global banking and technology platform, has grown rapidly since its Series A funding announcement in May 2023, with a focus on providing sophisticated business technology to SMEs, while leveraging data and artificial intelligence. The company plans to expand its cross-border capabilities and extend its presence across Latin America.

 

Visa has agreed to acquire a majority interest in card clearing house Prosa from smaller Mexican banks

The banks that currently own Prosa are Banorte, HSBC, Invex Controladora, Banjercito, and Bank of Nova Scotia and will now own 49% stake and Visa will hold 51% of the shares after the acquisition is approved, if it is approved. The transaction responds to competition pressure for the banks (which issue cards) to offload their stakes and may pressure BBVA and Citibanamex to do the same with E-Global, the other clearing house. (FinTechs have claimed the banks used control of the intermediaries to limit competition in cards.) The sale also aims to enhance Prosa’s technological and business capabilities, as part of its transformation process to maintain its competitive position and relevance in the market. Visa will provide the know-how and expertise from its global payments network, expanding Prosa’s product offerings and innovative payment solutions. Prosa provides the infrastructure that facilitates more than half the payments in Mexico. It is also one of the largest payment processors in Latin America, completing around 4.7 billion transactions in 20203. Prosa has more than 200 clients, across a wide range of sectors such as banks, fintechs, aggregators, department & retail stores, as well as savings institutions.

 

Banorte gets green light to launch Banco Bineo, its digital bank in Mexico

The National Banking and Securities Commission (CNBV) of Mexico and Banco de México, the nation’s central bank, have given Mexican bank Banorte permission to launch Banco Bineo, a new digital bank. This digital bank is expected to open for business in January 2024. Banorte has stressed that the launch of this marks a “milestone” for Mexico’s financial system. The CNBV’s delayed permission caused the launch of this bank, originally scheduled for the second half of this year, to be postponed to 2024.

América Economía, 12/14/2023, Staff: Banorte obtiene luz verde para el lanzamiento de Banco Bineo, su banco digital en México

 

Zubale to grow in Mexico and Brazil thanks to a US $25 million capital injection

Zubale, an e-commerce business, plans to branch out into Mexico and Brazil. In order to do this, a fresh US $25 million financial injection is anticipated. The business first provided a service to match employees with warehouses or retail locations so they could finish deliveries or packaging. According to CEO Sebastián Monroy, the company now provides logistics and customer support software to its business clients, as per a Reuters news agency interview. The business already has partnerships with major Brazilian retailers including Carrefour, GPA, and Cencosud. It is currently seeking to increase its presence in pet stores, electronics stores, apparel stores, and pharmacies in addition to pharmacies and grocery stores.

 

Other news

El Economista, 12/10/2023, Edgar Juárez: Neobanco Now busca duplicar su número de clientes en el 2024

 

LatAm FinTech News

FinTech Supra receives investment led by Citi for its expansion in Colombia

Citi has led a strategic investment round in Colombian FinTech Supra, known for facilitating cross-border payments and treasury solutions for SMEs engaged in import and export activities. The investment, joined by Far Out Ventures and H20 Capital, aims to support Supra’s growth in Colombia as a payment aggregator, collaborating with Foreign Exchange Market Intermediaries and authorized payment service providers. The funding will enable Supra to expand its operations and leverage Citi’s expertise in cross-border payments and currency exchange. The Colombian market for business-to-business cross-border payments was approximately US $134 billion in 2022. The investment was led by Citi’s strategic investments branch, aiming to create competitive advantages in Colombia’s significant cross-border payments market.

 

FinTechs Nubank and Circle Partner to Increase Access to Digital Dollar in Brazil

Circle and Nubank have partnered to bring USDC (USD Coin) access to Nubank’s Brazilian customers initially through Nubank Cripto, enabling them to buy and hold digital dollars. This collaboration may extend to integrate USDC into Nubank’s broader digital banking services, offering users blockchain-driven financial options. USDC, Circle’s regulated stablecoin, provides a secure and regulated value reserve for digital financial transactions and will contribute to educational campaigns promoting its benefits in the Brazilian market.

 

Other news 

 

Global FinTech News 

SumUp bags €285m in funding to fuel expansion plans

UK-based FinTech SumUp has secured €285 million (about $307 million) in funding, led by Sixth Street Growth, to support its international expansion and enhance its suite of payment services for SMEs. This comes after the company secured a $100 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital in August. SumUp, providing financial and payment products in Europe, the Americas, and Australia, has raised a total of €1.5 billion since its 2012 inception and was last valued at around €8 billion ($8.6 billion) in June 2022.

 

TMX Group acquires 78% of VettaFi for $848m

TMX Group is set to acquire the remaining 78% stake in VettaFi for $848 million, following an initial purchase of 22% for $175 million. The funding for this acquisition will come from bank debt, and the deal is expected to conclude next month. VettaFi will be integrated into TMX Group’s global solutions, insights, and analytics unit, and TMX Group will also take on $100 million of VettaFi’s debt. The move should enhance TMX Group’s data-driven insights and supporting its global expansion strategy, especially in the area of ETF insights, indexing, and analytics services.

 

Banco Santander migrates corporate and investment banking business to the cloud

Santander’s Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) unit has migrated to Google Cloud using the Gravity platform, managing around one million accounting and half a million treasury operations daily. The bank has already successfully migrated commercial customers in the UK and the consumer business in Chile, anticipating the full migration to be completed by the end of next year. Santander expects the transformation to result in greater data efficiency and product agility, leveraging real-time analytics for decision-making. Gravity’s unique parallel processing capability enables simultaneous workloads on mainframe and cloud, reducing service disruption during migration.

 

Other news