Latin America's largest digital wallet, Picpay surpasses 50 million users

Eyeing its main goal of becoming a super app, PicPay is betting on the growth of its marketplace

PicPay's headquarters, in Sao Paulo. Photo: PicPay/Courtesy

14.Apr.2021 15:58 BRT

In the last 12 months, 31.3 million transactions were carried out in the PicPay Store, which, according to the company, mainly sells digital goods and services, such as credits for food, transportation, and gaming apps;
The next step is to sell electronics and appliances via the app;
Besides offering new financial services through its platform.

In the first quarter of 2021, PicPay, the largest digital wallet in Brazil and Latin America, surpassed the mark of 50 million users, an increase of almost 30% compared to the end of 2020, when it had 38.8 million customers.

With an eye on its more prominent goal of becoming a super app – the company talked to LABS about it in February –, PicPay is betting on its marketplace growth. The company hired an executive in January especially for this: Fábio Plein, former general director of Uber Eats in Brazil.

In the last 12 months, 31.3 million transactions were carried out in the PicPay Store, which, according to the company, mainly sells digital goods and services, such as credits for food, transportation, and gaming apps. The next step is to sell electronics and appliances via the app.

In addition to the number of customers, PicPay also increased the number of issued cards: 5 million (in January there were 2 million). The product makes up a portfolio that, according to the company, makes PicPay a “financial marketplace.” The platform also offers personal credit and peer-to-peer lending.

To complete the look of a super app, PicPay launched a messaging service in early April. “What gives support to all these new business fronts is the network effect characteristic of the PicPay model, which allows adding more value to users as more people use the app,” said José Antonio Batista, CEO of company, in a press release.

The cards bear the PicPay brand, but are, in fact, from Banco Original, a neobank that became a partner in the company in 2015 and has 22.70% of its shares. The other controllers of the fintech are J&F Participação (of the J&F group that also owns Banco Original), with 9.66% of the company, and José Batista Sobrinho, founder of the giant agro JBS that gave rise to the J&F group, with 67, 64%.