Destaxa raises $3.1m seed round

By Edlyn Cardoza

Destaxa, a payments platform that operates as a two-sided marketplace for payment acquirers and offline merchants in Brazil, recently announced that it has raised a $3.1 million seed round. The equity investment was led by Quona Capital and included participation from Caravela and Norte Ventures, along with angels Tiago Dalvi (Olist co-founder) and Alessio Alionço (Pipefy co-founder). The round comes as Destaxa expands its push across physical retail merchants in Brazil, which account for more than 90% of all merchant payments.

While non-cash payments have been growing rapidly across Brazil, so too have the pain points associated with point of sale (POS) payment processing. Because no single merchant acquirer has the best rate for all payment networks, merchants often have multiple POS terminals to get the best prices from different acquirers. This usually leaves merchants with cumbersome reconciliation that relies on manual spreadsheets, undermining their desire for seamless financial management.

Destaxa relieves the pain points associated with POS payment processing by offering access to all major payment schemes and acquirers through a single ETF integration—one that optimises payment rails so that merchants benefit from best-cost routing. At the same time, Destaxa acts as an Independent Sales Organisation (ISO) for merchant acquirers, creating a marketplace that effectively reduces acquirers’ cost of sales and distribution.

Destaxa was founded in 2021 by Felipe Ayres, a serial entrepreneur with deep payments experience who previously led Nexu Transaction Technologies.

“Merchants across Brazil have struggled with non-cash payments for years,” said Felipe Ayres, founder and CEO of Destaxa. “Businesses with thin margins, like SME retailers, cannot afford to leave any money on the table with high payment processing fees, so they’ve tried to overcome them with a mess of terminals at the register that results in a mess of accounting. With Destaxa, a single terminal solution intelligently moves payments through the most cost-effective rails, resulting in significant potential savings for merchants and a seamless reconciliation experience, while at the same time helping acquirers reduce their last-mile cost.”

“Offline payments account for 90% of non-cash payments volume in Brazil, yet solutions focused on easing the pains of complex and expensive payments acceptance for offline small and mid-sized merchants remain limited,” said Jonathan Whittle, co-founder and managing partner at Quona. “We are happy to support the growth of a solution that we believe creates a win-win for merchants and acquirers alike, while bringing much-needed pricing transparency to the payments market.”

Destaxa’s solution is Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) compliant, integrates with over 50 acquirers, and is certified across all major networks, including Mastercard, Visa, Elo, and others.