Fintech Snapshot November: Ualá, Neon and Pitzi raise capital
3 December, 2019
Katie Llanos-Small
November was another impressive month for the fintech ecosystem in Latin America with almost 10x the investment volume of October (check out my October Snapshot).
There were 10 deals (9 equity and 1 M&A), with the sums disclosed reaching US$ 278.2 million. Neobanks were the hottest segment with two massive deals: the Argentinian Ualá raised US$ 150 million while the Brazilian Neon announced a US$ 96 million round.
The Latin American neobank market is becoming more and more competitive as Nubank, Ualá, and others raise massive rounds and start to expand regionally while foreign players such as N26 and Bnext are entering the market.
With Ualá’s deal, Argentina led the region in November by volume, accounting for 55% of all raised capital. Brazil followed with 40% and Colombia with 5%.
Another relevant deal was Pitzi, a Brazilian insurtech, which raised US$ 14.4 million and achieved a valuation of close to US$ 100 million. This deal strengthens the insurtechs in the region, which are still competing to become more relevant.
And last but not least, the Colombia proptech Habi raised an amazing pre-seed round of US$ 5.5 million led by Tiger Global to disrupt the market for buying and selling apartments. The deal follows the steps of the Brazilian company Loft and the Mexican equivalent Flat. It also shows that Colombia’s startup market is growing steadily and attracting more investment from top-tier venture capital firms, although the country hasn’t hosted a huge round like those seen in Brazil, Mexico and, now, Argentina.
Well, let’s jump into the relevant fintech deals and news of November, and stay tuned to the next Fintech Snapshot next month!
Main Investments
- Argentina – Ualá the neobank / digital wallet raised an impressive US$ 150 million round led by Tencent and Softbank;
- Argentina – The consumer lending company Moni raised a US$ 1.7 million financing round on the capital market;
- Brazil – The neobank Neon raised a US$ 96 million Series B from Banco Votorantim and General Atlantic;
- Brazil – Cobre Fácil, a collection management platform, raise a US$ 1.2 million Series A investment by Brinks and a Japanese bank BVC;
- Brazil – The P2P lending platform for business, LendU, raised US$ 425 thousand from a crowdfunding round on the EqSeed platform;
- Brazil – The insurtech Pitzi that provides mobile insurance raised a US$ 14.4 million round led by QED Investors, achieving a US$ 100 million valuation;
- Colombia – Finaktiva, a business lending fintech, raised US$ 9 million in an equity and debt round led by Triodos Investment Management and Alphamundi;
- Colombia – The proptech Habi raised a pre-seed round of US$ 5.5 million led by Tiger Global Management;
- Mexico – The mobile payment fintech, Parco, raised an undisclosed round led by Redwood Ventures;
M&A
Thiago Paiva is a partner at Liquia Digital Assets, an investment bank for the digital assets economy. He is passionate about the intersection of finance and technology.
He has 9+ years working with startups and innovation, investing in more than 60 startups through global accelerators Wayra (Telefonica’s global accelerator) and Startupbootcamp Fintech. He worked closely with more than 20 fintechs from 8 different countries for the past five years.