- The Chilean fintech firm manages $500 million from 55 thousand clients in Chile and reports a 550% growth since May last year;
- The new resources will be used to accelerate growth in Mexico, expand into other countries, and enhance the tech team;
- Other investors include YC, ALLVP and angel investors such as Plaid’s CTO Jean-Denis Greze and Cornershop’s founder Oskar Hjertonsson.
Santiago-based Fintual, an asset management platform that operates in Chile and Mexico, announced it has raised $15 million from Kaszek, the largest venture capital firm in the region.
“More than half of our users are investing for the first time in their lives. Our tech DNA is allowing us to scale quickly and reach all kinds of people in Latin America with a simple investment solution that allows them to have a better financial future. We offer not only more convenient fees but also a transparent financial service that people can finally understand, with no jargon or small print”, said in a press release Pedro Pineda, CEO and co-founder at Fintual.
Kaszek joins Y Combinator, ALLVP, and Oskar Hjertonsson from Cornershop by Uber, who were seed capital investors in the startup.
“We have been close to the Fintual team since they launched, and from day 1 it was evident that the company had found a particularly interesting sector and that they were putting together an amazing team. The user experience is extraordinary as evidenced by the company’s organic exponential growth. Fintual is executing to perfection on its vision of making investing friendlier and more accessible in Latin America,” said Nicolas Szekasy, co-founder and managing partner at Kaszek.
The retail investment industry is having particular momentum growth in Latin America as consumers look for investment products that suit their profile. Aware of this interest, players are driving the development of new solutions to serve this new client base.
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Earlier this week, New York-based Atom Finance – a consumer software platform that provides access to investment resources and has a partnership with the Brazilian neobank Inter – announced a $28 million Series B funding round led by the SoftBank Latin America Fund.
In May, the Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual announced the acquisition of the Grupo Universa, a companies conglomerate that includes Empiricus, Vitreo, Money Times, Seu Dinheiro and Real Valor, for BRL 690 million.
Targeting this untapped market, Fintual was founded in 2018 by Pineda along with Omar Larré, Andrés Marinkovic and Agustín Feuerhake with a focus on financial education; and it claims it has won over its early adopters as the word of mouth gained ground among clients. “We wanted to change the industry by adding the culture of savings and financial education,” said Pineda.
READ ALSO: Mexican fintech Konfío raises a $125 million round led by Lightrock
The company, whose team has doubled in the last year (it has now over 80 people), was the first Chilean startup that was admitted into Y-Combinator program, right after it got the license to operate its own funds in Chile, composed mainly of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).
Their clients can invest by different risk profiles and investment paths through different fund alternatives in Chile and Mexico: Risky Norris, Moderate Pitt, Conservative Clooney, Very Conservative Streep, Risky Hayek and Moderate Portman.
Currently, Fintual has $500 million of assets under management, from over 55,000 clients, up from $75 million just over a year ago (May 2020).
The company has recently started its operations in Mexico, and became the first investment advisors to get the local authorities’ green light to do digital onboarding of their clients in the country. It is available in a desktop version and smartphone application – the latter, currently only in Chile.
Fintual is regulated by the Financial Market Commission as a Funds General Administrator in Chile, and an Independent Investment Advisor in Mexico supervised by the National Banking and Securities Commission.
