FinanZero raises $4m in financing round; to continue its Brazil expansion

By Edlyn Cardoza

FinanZero, Brazil’s online credit market, recently announced that it has closed a $4 million financing round, its fourth since its launch. The round was led by Swedish investors VEF, Dunross & Co, Atlant Fonder and Webrock Ventures, who have already invested in the company. The proceeds will help in the expansion plan of FinanZero in the Brazilian market.

FinanZero allows consumers to choose the loan that best suits their financial needs by comparing multiple offerings from a network of 60 lenders in a single search. With more than 1.5 million loan applications per month, a growing database of 31 million people and a generated loan volume of 900 million Brazilian reals, the company is fully poised for further growth. In the first half of 2022, loan applications increased by 82% compared to the first half of 2021.

FinanZero was founded by Swedish-Brazilian investment firm Webrock Ventures and Swedish entrepreneurs Olle Widén and Kristian Jakobsson. FinanZero has raised $27 million, and the largest shareholders today are Webrock Ventures and VEF.

FinanZero has become an important customer acquisition channel for Brazilian lenders. These new funds will allow FinanZero to focus on product development and deepen technical integration with its banking partners.

Olle Widén, co-founder and CEO of FinanZero, said, “This round of financing is a testament to the strength of our business model and the strong support of our owners, who share our long-term vision of becoming the leading lending platform in Brazil. This funding allows us to be profitable in 2023.”

“Our mission is to empower Brazilian consumers by providing them with more transparency through a one-stop shop for loans, and we will continue to democratize access to the credit market by offering more accessible loans to consumers who previously struggled to obtain them,” continued Widén.

David Nangle, CEO of VEF, said, “We continue to support the FinanZero team in their journey to build Brazil’s first credit market. Brazil remains the most attractive fintech opportunity globally and, in this context, loans are the biggest opportunity with the most advantageous unitary economies. With a strong earnings balance sheet under their belt, this capital should pave the way for robust and continued growth and a controlled path to profitability for Olle and his team.”