Argentina based Fintech Ualá Secures $350M via Series D at $2.45B Valuation

Fintech firm Ualá has secured $350 million in capital at a $2.45 billion valuation. The company’s latest funding round is reportedly the largest private investment round ever for an Argentina-based business.

Ualá’s Series D investment round has been co-led by Chinese tech giant Tencent and the SoftBank Innovation Fund, along with contributions from Goldman Sachs, Soros Fund Management, Ribbit, Greyhound and Monashees.

Established in 2017, Ualá offers users a Mastercard prepaid card and mobile app that offers various services, such as money transfers, bill payment, personal loans, insurance, investment products, and Buy Now, Pay Later or BNPL installment options.

Ualá reports issuing over 3.5 million cards in Argentina and in Mexico, where it began offering services in 2020.

With the latest capital injection in place, Ualá’s management noted that they’ll be investing in their products while expanding their team from around 1000 professionals to 1500 by the end of 2021.

The virtual banking startup, founded by Harvard University graduate Pierpaolo Barbieri, may also expand its business operations into Peru, Paraguay, Colombia, Chile, Europe, and the US.

In June 2021, the firm’s management stated that they had been trying to expand operations via the acquisition of competitor Wilobank, which is the first all-digital bank approved by the reserve bank of Argentina.

Less than 6 months after its launch in Mexico’s markets, the Argentina-based Fintech firm Ualá had managed to issue over 100,000 debit cards in the country (as of April 2021).

Ualá provides a user-friendly app and various tools for effectively managing personal finances. In an interview with El Economista, earlier this year, Ricardo Olmos, Country Manager of the company in Mexico, stated that Ualá plans to promote greater financial inclusion while “reducing the use of cash.”

Due to the COVID-19 crisis, many more consumers are now conducting transactions online. In Mexico and other parts of the world, there’s been a steady rise in digital transactions, Olmos noted. However, this might not be enough to support a digital-first economy.

A report released by the Mexican Association of Online Sales (AMVO), with assistance from Netquest, reveals that just 3 out of 10 or merely 30% of Internet users in the country are accessing digital financial services. This suggests that there’s a lot more that needs to be done to onboard Mexican consumers. The launch of more Fintech companies like Ualá could help further expand Mexico’s economy, which is notably the second-largest Latin American economy (behind Brazil).



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