Chilean fintech Xepelin raises $80 million and launches credit service for SMBs in Mexico

Xepelin raised $80 million in debt venture to expand credit offer for small and medium-sized businesses

Sebástian Kreis, co-founder and co-CEO of Xepelin. Photo: Xepelin/Courtesy

20.Jan.2022 16:18 BRT
UPDATED 20:21 BRT

Xepelin, a Chilean fintech company focused on financial services for small and medium-sized businesses, announced that it has raised $80 million in debt from Community Investment Management (CIM), a management company that invests in solutions for underserved communities.

The capital will be used to bolster the fintech‘s presence in Mexico, Xepelin’s big bet to grow in Latin America – data from the Ministry of Economy shows that there are about 4 million SMBs in the country.

To reach this potential clientele, Xepelin launched a new credit service called “Payments“. The solution offers short-term working capital loans for small and medium-sized businesses that need money to pay their bills on time, such as employees and suppliers.

“If the company doesn’t have the capital to pay its bills at that moment, but has receivables in 30, 60 or 90 days, it can take out a loan with Xepelin and pay us back later as the receivables come in,” said Sebastian Kreis, co-CEO and founder of Xepelin.

Xepelin offers a SaaS platform for small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America where they can organize their financial information in real-time. The platform organizes data on receivables, invoices and bills, and, through an algorithm, shows the financial status of each customer and/or supplier. With this, says the fintech, decision-makers have the necessary information to set the next steps more securely.

According to data from INEGI, the Mexican institute of geography and statistics, 1.6 million micro, small and medium-sized businesses have closed down in the last two years. The majority, according to the Mexican Entrepreneurs’ Association, had to close their business due to a lack of market knowledge (34%) and poor business management (32%).

“It is common for small and medium-sized businesses to face difficulty in dealing with the financial complexities and administrative processes,” Kreis explained.

Last July, Xepelin raised a $230 million Series A round led by Kaszek and DST Global. The fintech currently has operations in Chile and Mexico and serves more than 4,000 customers.