Eyeing a new round of investments in 2021 and preparing itself for an IPO later on, EBANX, the global payments fintech that also owns LABS, announced changes at the top of its leadership this Friday. The hiring of a new C-level and a change of roles between the co-founders are part of an ambitious growth plan focused on expanding technology and operations. Founded in 2012, EBANX now looks at its next ten years.
The first major change is the new CEO. Alphonse Voigt, co-founder who has held this position for the past nine years, will now be EBANX‘s executive chairman and head of its board of directors and its big plans to go public listing. At the same time, another co-founder and ex-COO, João Del Valle, takes over as CEO.
LEIA TAMBÉM: VC investors were decidedly bullish on Latin America despite pandemic’s challenges
A third co-founder, Wagner Ruiz, who was CFO, leaves the role to embrace once and for all what was already one of his major responsibilities, becoming CRO (chief risk officer) of EBANX, with an eye on regulation and compliance. And to help put the company on the definitive trail for an IPO, a new C-level comes on the scene: Alexandre Dinkelmann, ex-BTG Pactual, and ex-TOTVS will be EBANX‘s new CFO.
Voigt has been EBANX‘s CEO since the company’s creation. On his watch, EBANX exceeded the market value of $1 billion, becoming the first unicorn of Southern Brazil. Now, as executive chairman, he will lead the company’s strategic expansion.
The big dream got even bigger and from now on I take on this new position, helping to envision the next decade of EBANX.
Alphonse Voigt, EBANX’s executive chairman
Our success depends on the success of customers in the region, and this is our focus. We remain even stronger and more structured to establish the leadership of Latin America in the global market and the leadership of EBANX in the world of payments and technology.
João Del Valle, EBANX’s CEO.
The renewed EBANX leadership has the mission of consolidating the company as the payments leader in Latin America. EBANX processes payments for global brands such as Uber, Spotify, AliExpress, and SHEIN, among many others. Currently, EBANX offers over 100 Latin American local payment options to global merchants and has already helped over 70 million people access global services and products.
Between the lines, that means that the company’s plans go beyond international payments. Del Valle told LABS that the company will announce new partnerships, products, among other things, “in the coming months.”
In March, the fintech announced its expansion to Central America and Paraguay. By the first half of 2021, EBANX will be operating in 15 different countries in Latin America.
In 2020, buyers embraced e-commerce like never before, boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this scenario, Latin America is having its e-commerce moment. The region led the world in retail e-commerce sales growth in 2020 (36.7%), and was second in digital buyer growth (7.3%), according to the Global Ecommerce Update 2021 by eMarketer, an Insider Intelligence company.
READ ALSO: Latin American firms in FT’s Americas’ fastest-growing companies 2021 ranking
Furthermore, EBANX’s annual Beyond Borders study, released October last year, shows that the region is set to be the world’s fastest-growing market for digital commerce as a whole in 2021 (which includes not only retail sales, but also digital goods and other segments), possibly matching Southeast Asia’s pace, whereas in the past it was trailing just behind.
Del Valle did not reveal revenue metrics, but said that transactions in Latin America, not counting those in Brazil, tripled in 2020 and that the total number of purchases processed by EBANX in 2020 jumped 38%, to 145 million.
