Business

Mexican investment platform Flink is likely to debut in its second market, Colombia, in June

Flink caters to first-time investors who can get started investing in U.S.-listed companies with a minimum of MXN 30 ($1.51), and it wants to bring the same free-of-commissions service to Colombia.

Flink's co-founders: Ricardo Rafael (CTO) and Sergio Jiménez (CEO). Photo: Courtesy

LABS

30.Mar.2022 19:10 BRT
UPDATED 02.Apr.2022 12:22 BRT

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Flink, a Mexican investment platform that enables subscribers to invest in fractions of shares of U.S. listed companies, is close to debuting in its second Latin American market: Colombia. Flink caters to first-time investors who can get started with a minimum of MXN 30 ($1.51), and it wants to bring the same free-of-commissions service to Colombia.

In February, the fintech signed an agreement to acquire Ualet, a stockbroker and mobile savings and investment application in Colombia. Sergio Jiménez, CEO and co-founder of Flink, told La Republica that the platform will probably debut in Colombia in June after the operation’s approval by the Colombian Financial Superintendence (SFC).

The app emerged in 2017, first as a digital banking solution, but later the founders decided to focus their energy on changing the stock market system in Mexico. In June 2020, it launched the investment service, and in just nine months, it managed to attract more than 1 million active clients – a growth similar to this one is expected to happen in Colombia too.

Flink has more than 1.6 million Flinkers (customers) in Mexico, of which 80% made their first investment through the app. The majority of Flinkers are from Generation Z and Millennials.

“We are very excited to arrive in Colombia because during 2021, we received more than 60,000 requests from Colombians to use our app, which gave us a clearer picture of the enthusiasm in Latin America for exploring innovative financial products,” said Jiménez in a press statement.

Flink’s app on the screen of a smartphone. Photo: Courtesy.

Back in its home country, Flink is working with regulators to modernize Mexico’s brokerage system. One of the things Flink is trying to change is that the country’s legal framework does not allow digital onboarding to brokerages.

Since its inception, the startup has raised $70 million. The last round, backing Flink’s expansion across Latin America, was the $57 million Series B round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, and followed Accel, ALLVP, Clocktower, and Mantis Venture Capital (founded by The Chainsmokers) in August last year.

Today, Tesla, Apple, and Amazon are the companies in which Flink’s users invested the most in the last 12 months.