4 dynamic FinTech companies in Brazil

By Edlyn Cardoza

In Latin America, Brazil is the largest country and the biggest FinTech market in the region. Just in the first quarter of 2021, Brazilian start-ups received over $400 million. The Brazilian FinTech market in 2020 had gathered $1.3 billion, which was 73% more investments than 2019, according to noomis ciab FEBRABAN. This suggests to investors and every finance market that Brazil’s FinTech market was booming in time.

Across the world, there are more than 700 unicorns, and 12 of them are located in Brazil. According to VCBay, the fifth leading FinTech market globally is Brazil. The rise of FinTech in Brazil indicates the challenges and opportunities of the Brazilian market.

The ongoing pandemic gave rise to the digital era in Brazil, which was quickly adopted by its citizens and companies alike, giving a push to technology. Offering more mobile banking options leads to more people using mobile banking services. It’s a cycle that constantly pushes Brazilian FinTech ahead.

Below is a list of the top 4 dynamic Brazilian FinTechs revolutionizing the financial sector:

Creditas: Creditas was founded in 2012 by Sergio Furio. It is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil and has raised $564 million. Creditas’ mission is well-defined: to enable what fulfils people by unleashing the potential of their assets. At the moment, Creditas works with home equity, auto equity, private payroll-deducted personal loans, and vehicle financing. And they are constantly researching innovative ways to help people reach new heights. They believe it is their culture to go further, think differently, educate people, and grow exponentially. They are a technology company focused on people.

EBANX: EBANX was founded in 2012 by Alphonse Voigt, João Del Valle, and Wagner Ruiz. It is headquartered in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil and has received $30 million in funding. Since their founding, they have aimed to make the world an explorable place for Latin Americans and Latin America a possible region for international companies to enter.

By offering local payment methods across Latin America, they are conquering these desires day after day. They have already helped over 1000 merchants expand their business into the region, and over 50 million Latin Americans access global services and products. Companies like Airbnb, Wish, Spotify, Deezer, Aliexpress, Shopee, Ctrip and many others are among their portfolio.

Neon: Neon is a Brazilian FinTech founded in 2016 by Pedro Conrade. It is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It has received BRL 1.6 billion of Series C investments in 2020 in a round led by the General Atlantic fund and four new investors: Blackrock, Vulcan Capital, Endeavor Catalyst and PayPal Ventures in PayPal’s first investment in a Brazilian FinTech. In Series A and Series B, Neon received, respectively, R$72 million and R$400 million.

Neon’s mission is to unite technology and design to redesign and simplify people’s financial experience. As the digital account is the main product, FinTech has a partnership with Banco Votorantim for the custody and settlement of its accounts.

RecargaPay: RecargaPay was founded in 2010 by Rodrigo Teijeiro (CEO), Alvaro Teijeiro (CTO) and Gustavo Victorica (COO). It is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It has raised, in its two rounds of investment, US$ 60 million in venture capital from a group of investors led by DN Capital, FJ Labs and over 100 investors such as AngelList, FundersClub, IFC, IDC, ATW and Venture City. RecargaPay is the leading mobile payments FinTech in Brazil that has reached more than 3.5 million active users per month. The company offers several mobile services completely free of charge. With the mission of democratizing mobile payments in the country, it offers payment of bills and “boletos” (payment method) in general, mobile phone top-ups for all operators, transport card recharges in several cities, gift cards for online stores, fast money transfer between users (via QR Code, phone, or email), purchase of Zona Azul Digital cards, prepaid card and others. All this with an exclusive strategy of offering cashback and not charging the standard extra fees, besides not requiring a bank account.

To take advantage of all services, the user can choose the payment method (credit card, debit card, bank transfer, “boleto,” or deposit), allowing both the banked and the unbanked to enjoy the benefits of mobile payments.

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