Winds of Change: Fraud, Alliances, Expansion & Fintech Summit LATAM
Fintech Summit Latam is coming. Alarming increase in ecommerce fraud in Mexico. New partnerships and expansions. TRON's network launch in Argentina. Lemon's integration with the Stellar network.
Welcome to our weekly newsletter covering the latest news and trends in the Latin American Fintech startup scene.
Ecommerce Fraud Skyrockets in Mexico: 68% Increase
The recent research conducted by Signifyd, a company providing anti-fraud solutions for ecommerce, has identified an alarming increase in fraud pressure in Mexico over the last three months.
Fraud pressure and fraud attempts targeting merchants increased by 68% in June 2023 compared to April of the same year. Additionally, there was a 106% increase compared to May 2022. This growth has been especially notable in the fashion category, where fraudsters are betting on products and shopping carts with higher values, reflecting a 19% increase in fraud pressure in sales volume.
With the ecommerce boom in Mexico, the country has experienced significant growth in the online retail market. The Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO) reports that in 2022 the market value reached MXN$528,000 million, with an increase of 23%. Moreover, more than 63 million people in Mexico purchase products and services online.
Vía Contxto
Summer is falling, and Fintech Summit Latam is coming
On August 31st and September 1st, key players from the digital financial industry will gather in Mexico City to accelerate business and partnerships and provide benchmarks on the challenges and promises for the Fintech sector from and towards Latin America. Contxto is gonna be there, so we can talk about your new projects, fundings and other happy-startups ventures.
40 speakers from Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Chile, Brazil, the United States, and others will participate.
The meeting will introduce new players, initiatives, and trends that are changing the future of the regional financial sector.
The main focus will be on technologies, regulations, convergence with other industries that impact financial inclusion, such as Fintelcos (mobile operators), Openfinance, FaaS, among others.
It's a great opportunity for networking, connecting with top-tier speakers, and staying at the forefront of financial technology in Latin America.
Click the image below to get your discounted tickets! 👇
Quick News
Paymentology and DolarApp Join Forces to Offer Commission-Free Dollar Purchases to Mexicans. In a significant advancement for Mexican consumers, Paymentology, the renowned card issuer-processor, has partnered with DolarApp, a Mexican startup that provides digital dollar accounts in Latin America. The union between these two financial entities will allow millions of Mexicans access to a credit card denominated in dollars, without foreign exchange (FX) commissions, and with transparent market rates (Contxto)
Bitwage implements the TRON network on its platform in Argentina. Bitwage announced the official launch of the TRON network in the first week of August. This development enables users in Argentina and across the globe to have more networks available for receiving their digital dollar salaries, providing the necessary liquidity and compatibility for economically moving in the market when exporting digital services. With this new implementation, users and businesses can access their digital dollars like USDT without incurring GAS fees for sending, translating to a total cost of 3% for USDT, the currency that the new network will initially be available in, according to a press release. (Contxto)
Thought Machine Expands to South America Through Chilean Cordada. Thought Machine, the London-based cloud banking technology company, announced its expansion in Latin America through Cordada, a Chilean company that offers solutions for fintech and lenders serving SMEs in the region – and its most recent client. Cordada, which operates in Chile, Peru, and Mexico, plans to leverage Thought Machine’s Vault platform to enter new markets and expand its loan solutions. (Contxto)
Lemon facilitates access to USD$ in Latin America by integrating Stellar network. Lemon, a virtual wallet with a VISA card to pay in pesos or cryptocurrencies, is integrated with the Stellar network to send or receive USD$ quickly and cheaply from anywhere in the world. Since its creation in 2014, the network processed more than 3 billion transactions between almost 7,400,000 million individual accounts and now seeks to facilitate the use of the cryptocurrency in the region through a 100% interoperable blockchain. (iProUp)
Educbank raises USD$14 million in securitized bonds for school fees. Brazilian fintech Educbank, focused on prepaid receivables services for primary education schools, raised US$14 million through securitized debentures in school fees. Unlike the Series A raised last year, the company now raised funds through debentures (a long-term debt instrument used by large companies to borrow money at a fixed interest rate), fully securitized into school fees. (Tekios)
Cashbanx secures USD$4.1M round. Brazilian fintech Cashbanx secured a USD$4.1M round led by SRM Ventures. With these funds, the company plans to scale its operation. Cashbanx is an affiliate B2B platform that allows banks and fintech to offer cashback incentives to their customers. The startup has over 500 customers in Brazil and recently started to serve clients in the United States. (LatamList)
The Colombian Financial Superintendency, approved the license for the investment fintech Bunker. Automation comes to investments in Colombia; on June 29th, the Financial Superintendency of Colombia approved the license for Bunker, a startup that has developed a technological solution based on big data and artificial intelligence to allow investors access to the U.S. stock exchange, improving their clients' access to the most sophisticated and secure market in the world. (América Retail)
Brazil has the largest fintech companies in Latin America, with 771 companies. Brazil has the most significant number of fintech in Latin America. It has 771 companies, representing more than 30% of the region's total, and accounts for 58% of venture capital transactions in Latin America. In addition, the most prominent digital bank on the continent was born in that country, Nubank, which has a valuation of USD $48 billion and has already made its debut on the New York Stock Exchange. (LaRepública)
PayPal launched PYUSD, its own digital currency pegged to the dollar exchange rate. A recent report by Alianza Fintech Iberoamérica unveiled a remarkable statistic: 1 in every 4 Fintech companies worldwide originates from Latin America. The region’s financial technology sector has witnessed exponential growth, accounting for approximately 26% of all Fintech companies globally, including those in Spain. With 1,635 startups founded in Latin America, this surge in Fintech companies demonstrates the region’s prowess in transforming the financial landscape through technology. (Tekios)
Fintech Education
Blockchain and FinTech: Basics, Applications, and Limitations. The course aims at targeting a broad audience: This course will provide learners a good understanding of the technological, applicability, limitations, and "illegal" usage of blockchain technology.
Fintech: Disruption in Finance. The online short course prepares you to understand better, interpret, and respond to the disruptions and opportunities within the financial market. With a holistic approach to the financial industry, this course provides an overview of the main fields of technological disruption, such as blockchain, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data.
Fintech: AI & Machine Learning in the Financial Industry. This is the third in a series of courses on financial technology, also called Fintech. This course provides an overview of machine learning applications in finance.
Food for Thought
Web3 impacting Ecommerce for Payments
Atilio Cerban is CEO & Co-Founder of Oneinfinite, former CEO & Co-Founder of Mobbex, serial entrepreneur and has extensive experience in the Fintech industry. Cerban habla de Oneinfinite. Cerban talks about Oneinfinite, Startup that has just launched and comes to add payment options for end consumers in ecommerce checkouts, solving cross-border payments pains, among other value propositions that they have in their roadmap.(Axel Entraigas)
Jobs
Vice President of Sales @Storm2 (Remote)
Head of legal @Revolut (Remote)
Chief Financial Officer @Klimate (Location)