Mexico’s BNPL Aplazo secures $70m in equity funding

By Delisha Fernandes

Aplazo, an omni-channel payment platform, has announced the closing of $70 million of additional equity financing, including a $45 million Series B.

QED Investors led the equity financing, which also included participation from new investor Volpe Capital as well as existing investors Oak HC/FT, Kaszek and Picus Capital.

Angel Peña, CEO and co-founder of Aplazo, said, “Aplazo set out to become the preferred payment method in Mexico through fair, simple and transparent financial solutions, rather than traditional credit products that lure users into a debt trap. This behavior has been common practice in Mexico over the past decades, and we put the consumer at the core of our fair payment solutions offering. With this investment we look to further advance on our mission and are tremendously excited to welcome QED as one of the leading global consumer fintech investors as a partner on this journey.”

The financing round comes on the back of a threefold growth in revenue from rapidly expanding market share among online and offline merchants, as well as strong financial performance, operating near breakeven in the last couple of months. The company will deploy the additional capital to continue shaping Aplazo’s product offering for consumers and merchants alike and double down on product innovation including using AI capabilities to better understand consumer and merchant needs and to enhance risk decisions.

Aplazo stands out from any other BNPL provider as the only player to truly give infinite possibilities of where a user can “buy now and pay later.” Besides having the largest network of merchants in Mexico, both online and offline, Aplazo offers a single-use virtual card that allows users to buy in instalments anywhere they want.

Aplazo’s success has also been attributed to its focus to deliver an exceptional experience to brands. “We act as a growth lever to our partner merchants to drive new customers and incremental sales online and in-store,” said Aplazo’s chief revenue officer and co-founder Alex Wieland. “After working with Aplazo, our partners have seen on average 60 percent higher average order value and 30 percent higher conversion. Additionally, all Aplazo merchants have access to a marketing tech stack and AI tools that are designed to understand unique customer insights to better run their business.”