With Latin America’s recent startup ecosystem boom, investors and entrepreneurs are seeing increasingly gripping business opportunities in the region.
Belgian fintech Credix — a blockchain-based platform that connects investors to startups in developing markets — announced an $11.25 million US Series A round to scale its business and bring a diverse range of investments to more Latin American startups.
The round was co-led by U.S. funds Motive Partners (backed by Apollo Global) and ParaFi.
Some of the funds that also participated in the joint investment were Valor Capital, Victory Park Capital, MGG Investment Group, Circle Ventures, Abra, and Fuse Capital.
Private investors such as Marcelo Claure, former SoftBank CEO, and Ricardo Villela Marino, president of Itaú in Latin America, supported Credix’s LatAm project.
“Valor has been investing in the fintech ecosystem for over a decade and understands the inefficiencies created by systems and processes in the financial market. Blockchain and especially DeFi have the potential to create a more scalable, efficient, and cheaper financial markets infrastructure. We believe Credix is the best-positioned solution to capture this opportunity,” said Michael Nicklas, managing partner at Valor Capital Group.
Based on DeFi protocols
The company, founded in November 2021 by Thomas Bohner, Maxim Piessen, and Chaim Finizola, aims to allow funds and high net worth individuals to invest in fintechs dedicated to offering credit lines to companies or end consumers.
Chaim Finizola, the co-founder of the company, said in an interview with Fintech Nexus that Credix’s business model is based on issuing DeFi — or decentralized finances — protocols.
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“We structure debt facilities from one to three years, with investments ranging from $3 million to $15 million US, providing any repayment for regional fintechs that subsequently provide millions of customers with various financing,” Finizola said.
According to the entrepreneur, the company issues blockchain-registered tokens to fund fintech credit transactions worldwide and is in partnership with seven credit fintechs in Latin America.
Significant funds such as Apolo Capital, BlackRock, and JP Morgan have shown much interest in acquiring these tokens to expand their financing portfolio for startups on the continent.
By the end of 2021, Credix started to base its operations in Brazil after receiving an investment of $2.7 million US.
Many companies active
Companies such as fintech a55, Provi, Divibank, and Tecredi — all Credix clients — have received more than $20 million US to finance their credit operations through the Belgian platform.
Two months ago, Credix contributed $13 million US to the financial holding company GCB through the receivables anticipation fintech Adiante to finance credit operations for small and medium enterprises.
According to Finizola, the company’s goal after the new Series A round will be to implement its system in other Latin American countries. By December 2022, Credix wants to reach Mexico and Colombia and reach more than $150 million in assets under management.
“This Series A investment is truly strategic for us, attracting the best in the world of traditional and crypto finance. We are bringing in partners with deep expertise in emerging markets, private credit, and organized finance to build scalable financial technology infrastructure,” Thomas Bohner, CEO of Credix, said in a statement.
