Clara, the “end-to-end” spend management solution for companies in Latin America, today announced that it has closed $60M USD in an equity financing round “led by GGV Capital.”
In addition, GGV Managing Partner Hans Tung will “join the company’s Board of Directors.”
The additional capital will be “used to boost the technological development of its spend management and payment platform and consolidate its market leadership throughout Latin America.”
Clara is also “deepening its leadership bench with new executive hires across its engineering, product, and risk functions.”
The company also “announced new executive hires, Raquel Hernández, former Engineering Manager at Meta, who has been named VP of Engineering. Eduardo Moore, formerly at Bitso and Nubank, has joined as Director of Product for Clara Brazil. Alberto Ramos and Nicolas Caccaviello have been named Director of Operations & Revenue and Director Fraud & Acceptance, respectively.”
Tina Reich, formerly Chief Credit Officer at American Express, “joins as Board Observer and Risk Advisor.”
Gerry Giacomán Colyer, Clara CEO and co-founder, said:
“GGV Capital is one of the world’s great venture investors, with a truly global mindset since inception. Hans, in particular, has been an ally to some of the greatest success stories of our generation. We jumped at the opportunity to welcome him to our Board.”
Today, about 10,000 companies in Latin America “are using Clara’s product suite to automate and simplify their daily operations, while taking advantage of its innovative spend management software that provides real-time reports for better financial decision-making.”
Clara exists “to empower customers by simplifying an otherwise complex topic – spend management – such that it becomes one less thing to think about. So that companies can focus all their energy on unlocking their true value and unleashing their competitiveness.”
Clara has “become the most flexible technological ally of companies in the region by delivering an agile solution that can be integrated into ERP platforms, saving up to one year in financial processes while allowing companies to cut expenses considerably.”
Clara brings autonomy “to every company’s teams while providing the possibility to control resources and maintain healthy finances.”
With over two years of operations in the most important Latin American markets, including Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, Clara has “secured $160M in equity financing and reports over five million credit card transactions, equivalent to $1 billion at an annualized rate.”
Hans Tung, Managing Partner at GGV Capital, said:
“The Clara team is amongst the strongest that we have seen in Latin America. Expense management is a huge category globally, and Clara is the first to use software to build solutions in LatAm. The team had encountered spend management challenges as operating executives themselves and understood the problem well. We are excited to support Gerry, Diego, and the Clara team on their mission to become one of the most impactful startups in the region.”
New investors Acrew Capital, Citius, Citi Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Ethos, Commerce Ventures, Goanna Capital, Bayhouse Capital, Fluent Ventures, and LAGO Innovation Fund have “joined the round.”
Existing early investors monashees, Coatue, Picus Capital, DST Global Partners, Alter Global, General Catalyst, and over a dozen angel investors, also “participated in this round.”