Mexican fintech Clara secured a $90 million debt facility to grow its footprint in South America.
“We are thrilled to announce we have secured a new debt facility backed by Skandia Colombia and Accial Capital,” the company said this week. “This financing will not only enable us to strengthen our financing solutions in Colombia but also help us consolidate the region as a technological hub, attracting and developing more talent.”
The fintech unicorn is looking to consolidate its recent expansion in the South American country and continue growing in Brazil.
Clara has over 1,300 clients in Colombia, and roughly 2,000 in Brazil, its CEO, Gerry Giacomán, told Reuters in an interview. The new money will allow Clara to expand its footprint in Latin America’s largest economy while creating a second office branch in Colombia.
Considering its domestic market, Mexico’s Clara reports 9,000 clients in the whole region. The fintech markets corporate credit cards and expense management products. In the interview, Giacomán said Brazil was growing particularly fast and that the market is bound to take the lead in Clara’s portfolio by the end of next year.
Previous funding from Goldman
The new debt facility is the second financing for the fintech in less than a year. The fintech had previously secured a $150 million debt facility from US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
Clara branched out to Colombia and Brazil a year ago with the funding.
Accial and Skandia join Clara’s long list of investors with the recent investment. These include Coatue, Kaszek, DST, Global Partners, General Catalyst, Monashees, Canary, and A*.
Clara has no current exposure to Silicon Valley Bank
In a separate release, the Mexican fintech reassured its customers and investors that it had no deposits locked up in Silicon Valley Bank. However, it acknowledged that Silicon Valley Bank was Clara’s “great banking partner” in the past.
“Currently, no Clara affiliate has deposits at the SVB,” the company said. “In all the countries where we operate, we work with the most reliable and solid financial institutions in the market, such as JP Morgan or Goldman Sachs.”
Similarly, the company acknowledged that several of its customers might be affected. “We are available to customers who need our support,” the company said.
