Finovate Blog

Active in 15 countries in Latin America, payments infrastructure provider Geopagos has secured an investment of $35 million. The equity funding round was led by Riverwood Capital and featured participation from Endeavor Catalyst. The sum represents the company’s first institutional financing and will be used to fuel the development of new embedded payments solutions and help the firm expand throughout Latin America.

Geopagos provides financial institutions, fintechs, retailers, software companies and other organizations with end-to-end digital solutions to help them launch or grow their payment acceptance businesses in the area. These solutions include terminals that enable mobile phones to operate as point of sale devices as well as technology that turns websites into e-commerce platforms.

With clients including Santander, BBVA, Banco Estado de Chile, and Finovate alum Fiserv, Geopagos processes more than 150 million transactions and more than $5 billion in volume a year. The Buenos Aires-based company was founded in 2013 by Sebastián Núñez Castro, Julián Lisenberg, Fernando Tauscher, Raúl Oyarzun and Damián Harburguer.

“Latin America is a market with very low card penetration and Geopagos is well positioned as a software enabler and infrastructure provider to boost card acceptance and digital payments across the region,” Riverwood Capital co-founder and managing partner Francisco Álvarez-Demalde said.

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Speaking of payments in Latin America, blockchain-enabled accounts receivable and B2B payments company PayStand has acquired Yaydoo, an accounts payable, cash flow management, and liquidity solution provider based in Mexico. Yaydoo is one of the fastest-growing startups in Mexico, with more than 150 employees working in more than six different countries. Founded in 2017 and operating throughout Latin America Yaydoo raised $20.4 million in Series A funding last year and this year was named a “Súper Empresa 2022” and a “Súper Empresas para Mujeres 2022” by Expansión Top Companies México.

“Together, PayStand and Yaydoo will redefine the boundaries of B2B fintech across the continent,” PayStand CEO Jeremy Almond said. “The combined company will be one of the first global B2B blockchain platforms at a significant scale. The resulting company will have processed over $5 billion in payments, added 300 additional employees, and built a network of over 500,000 connected businesses, the largest of any commercial B2B blockchain in the world.”

Founded in 2013, PayStand made its Finovate debut at our developers conference, FinDEVr Silicon Valley, one year later in 2014. The company leverages blockchain and cloud technology to digitize receivables, automate processing, lower time-to-cash, remove transaction fees, and drive new revenue. A member of the 2021 CB Insights Fintech 250 and named to the Inc. 5000 for a second year in a row in 2021, PayStand has secured $86 million in funding, most recently raising $50 million in a Series C investment led by NewView Capital and featuring participation from SoftBank’s SB Opportunity Fund and King River Capital.

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Here is our look at fintech innovation around the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

• South Africa’s TymeBank announced plans to acquire local SME-based fintech Retail Capital.
• Financial fraud management specialist Clari5 partnered with CWG Ghana Limited.
• TechCrunch looked at legislative efforts in Kenya to better protect personal data.

Central and Eastern Europe

• German digital identity company IDnow received $61 million (EUR 60 million) in a debt financing from BlackRock.
• Lithuanian identity verification provider iDenfy unveils new solution that can be integrated into WordPress websites.
• Germany neobank Kontist agreed to be acquired by Danish fintech Ageras.

Middle East and Northern Africa

• Israel-based B2B e-commerce payments company Balance announced $56 million in new funding.
• The Central Bank of the UAE issued new AML guidelines for licensed financial institutions.
• Tabby, a Buy Now, Pay Later firm based in Saudi Arabia, raised $150 million in debt financing.

Central and Southern Asia

• Zawya profiled India’s first fintech-focused growth capital fund, Beams Fintech Fund.
• Pakistan-based fintech OneLoad secured $11 million in funding.
• Tartan, an Indian fintech that enables FIs to access consumer payroll data for income and employment verification, raised $6 million in funding.

Latin America and the Caribbean

• The Colombia government announced a partnership with Ripple Labs to add land titles to the blockchain to an effort to make land distribution more transparent and fair.
• While neighbor El Salvador struggles with its embrace of cryptocurrencies, Honduras launched a new crypto hub called “Bitcoin Valley” to encourage adoption of digital assets.
• Brazilian loan marketplace FinanZero secured $4 million in funding.

Asia-Pacific

• ACI Worldwide announced a partnership with Japanese credit card settlement agency CARDNET.
• Vietnam-based earned wage access provider Nano raised $6.4 million in pre-Series A funding.
• Bank of Japan has ended its central bank digital currency (CBDC) project citing a lack of public interest.

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Photo by Nikita Ananjevs