Brazilian fintech aims to simplify credit access in Latin America to help new-economy companies succeed
a55, a leading revenue-based financing platform in Latin America, has received a R$92.8 million (USD$16.3 million) Series B investment led by Movile, a long-term investor and accelerator for LatAm tech companies, with participation from existing investor, Mouro Capital, which specializes in fintech innovators. a55 currently operates in Brazil and Mexico through an open-finance platform that connects banking, payments and online-performance data for its growing customer base and has experienced significant growth since its founding, with more than R$300 million of loans provided to more than 500 companies.
Latest Fintech Insights: Maryland Life Insurance Services Partners With Integrity To Help Agents Reach More American Families
a55 launched its operations in 2018 led by co-founders André Wetter and Hugo Mathecowitsch. COO André Luiz Silva joined the founding team in 2019. Their vision is to help entrepreneurs in LatAm’s increasingly connected economy grow their businesses through financing based on data and the predictability of their future recurring revenues.
With the new Series B investment, a55 will dedicate more resources to advance its technology and recruit more talent, with the goal of accelerating its expansion in Brazil and Mexico. The company plans to use the fresh capital to grow its portfolio of clients, within and beyond the online subscriptions and e-commerce verticals. a55 plans to enhance its existing open-finance platform, develop new data-science and blockchain-based technologies, and continue its international expansion.
“Our mission is to build a two-sided business-growth platform where entrepreneurs can monetize their business data with upfront capital to finance predictable sales, and investors can fund the ‘New Economy’ through a new, liquid, secured, transparent, fixed-income-like asset class we created called recurring revenue,” said Mathecowitsch, co-founder and CEO of a55.
According to Mathecowitsch, a55 is still in the beginning of its journey to address the huge opportunity in Latin America. Besides allowing new economy businesses to get credit easier than in traditional institutions that request real assets, a55 offers investors that are looking to diversify their portfolio an opportunity to invest in companies that have demonstrated revenue and may experience exponential growth.
Browse The Complete News About Fintech : U.S. Venture Capital Activity Soars To New Highs In 2021 As Deal Value Exceeds $300 Billion and Fundraising Tops $100 Billion
With the investment in a55, Movile expands its portfolio in the fintech sector, which already includes Zoop and MovilePay. “Movile has been investing in fintech for several years and recognizes the huge potential for the sector’s continued rapid growth in Latin America. Innovative companies like a55 are transforming access to financial services for new-economy companies in the region; helping them gain access to credit today based on their predicted future revenue. Using data to provide access to credit for companies to scale more quickly is the type of financial innovation that will continue to fuel the startup ecosystem in Latin America,” said Movile’s Director of Strategy and Investments Fabio Massuda.
“LatAm is still an underserved region from a digital-financial-products perspective. That, combined with the shift to e-commerce, made us invest in a55 in the first place,” said Manuel Silva Martinez, General Partner of Mouro Capital. “Over the past several years, Hugo and the whole a55 team have reached a product maturity and an acceptance within their client niche that confirms our initial thesis. We are excited about what the future holds, and trust this new round of financing will take a55 to the next level and accelerate its position as a leading revenue-based financing platform in Latin America.”
The fintech sector has experienced significant momentum in Latin America, having received most of the private capital investments in the region in the last six years, according to LAVCA (Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America). In addition to Movile and Mouro Capital, a55 is backed by other institutional equity and debt investors, including Accial Capital, BTG Pactual and Empírica Investimentos.
“The support of top global investors that specialize in the internet, fintech and DeFi space validates the potential of our business. We look forward to reaching the next relevant milestones with the support of Movile and Mouro,” said Mathecowitsch.
Read More About Fintech News : Mercer Advisors Acquires Wrenn Financial Strategies, Inc.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]
