Latam Isn't Behind. It's Just Different | TWIF Latin America

🇦🇷 Banco Patagonia, 80%-owned by Banco do Brasil, agreed to acquire the retail and pension banking business of Banco Industrial (Bind), 28 branches, roughly 200,000 clients, and a pension book covering nearly 400,000 retirees, in a deal reportedly valued near $60 million.

🇨🇴 MoneyGram launched a virtual Visa card, built with Rain, Crossmint and the Stellar network, that lets remittance recipients hold and spend a stablecoin-backed dollar balance inside the app instead of converting to pesos.

🇦🇷 Inter, the Brazilian digital bank, launched operations in Argentina through an alliance with Grupo BIND, offering a local account with access to US stocks, ETFs and Treasury bonds from the same app, alongside a dollar-denominated Global Account for international payments and transfers.

🇧🇴 Koywe, a Chilean stablecoin payments fintech, expanded its cross-border B2B payment network into Bolivia as its eighth market, enabling enterprises to collect, settle, and move liquidity in real time.

🇦🇷 Prex, an Argentine digital wallet, introduced free virtual Euro accounts with dedicated IBANs for Argentine freelancers, letting independent contractors receive payments directly from European clients, hold funds in Euros, or convert their balance into pesos or dollars.

🇲🇽 Kapital, a Mexican B2B fintech, raised $125 million in new financing, an extension of its 2025 Series C, with Tru Arrow Partners leading the equity portion and Fasanara Capital leading the debt facility, and participation from Cervin Ventures, Niya Partners and Overlook Capital.

🇲🇽 Nelo, a Mexican BNPL and e-commerce fintech, renewed a $100 million debt facility with Victory Park Capital, the same lender and amount it secured from VPC in 2022, as it shifts from a standalone credit app into an AI-powered commerce platform.

🇧🇷 A5X, a Brazilian derivatives exchange, raised $70 million in a late-stage fourth funding round, with Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Kaszek joining as new shareholders and XP exercising a purchase option to take a stake.

🇲🇽 Mundi, a Mexican trade-finance fintech, secured a financing line of up to $150 million from Column, bringing its total receivables financing capacity to $325 million.

🇨🇱 Loads, a Chilean food-trade fintech, secured a $15 million revolving debt facility from Addem Capital to finance the embedded credit it extends to food importers and exporters.

🌎 El Dorado, a LatAm cross-border payments app, closed a $9 million Series A led by Paradigm, with Coinbase Ventures and Verda Ventures participating.

🇨🇴 Revolut secured a banking license from the Financial Superintendence of Colombia, the final regulatory prerequisite to begin operating as a fully regulated digital bank in 2027.

🇧🇷 Banco Central do Brasil authorized Pagaleve to operate as a Payment Institution (IP), letting the fintech function as a post-paid payment instrument issuer and payment transaction initiator (ITP).

🇨🇱 Global66, a Chilean cross-border payments fintech, obtained FINRA and SEC registration as a broker-dealer through its new US subsidiary, clearing the way to offer Latin American clients direct access to US stocks and ETFs, including fractional shares, from within its own platform.

🌎 Visa and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of the World Bank Group, launched a $200 million risk-sharing facility across 14 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the IFC absorbing credit settlement risk for about 50 below-investment-grade financial institutions.

🌎 Western Union, MoneyGram, Zepz and Tala pushed stablecoin-based remittances beyond simple money transfers into wallets, cards and credit, launching products that use stablecoins for payments and financial services.

🌎 Cometa IV, a venture capital fund backing early-stage startups, launched with a $150 million target, focused on SaaS, fintech and marketplaces.