In Latin American countries like Brazil and Chile, messaging platform WhatsApp has become one of the most popular apps to buy things online. It was even the ecommerce platform of choice in the region during the pandemic. But WhatsApp is designed to be a messaging platform, not an e-commerce site. A startup called Mercately is […]
Conduit’s cross-border payments expand from LatAm into Africa with $6M round
Cross-border payments for businesses in emerging markets remain significantly untapped, despite small to large businesses using banks and legacy fintechs to transact trillions of dollars in transaction volume annually. A report by Airwallex forecasts that the value of cross-border payments will grow by 60%, reaching $ 250 trillion by 2027. Between 2018 and 2022, the […]
Sequoia bets big on Stripe, LatAm fintechs clean up and one African startup’s outsized Series A
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Sequoia Capital’s effort to give its LPs liquidity on the firm’s investments in Stripe, how LatAm fintechs are still catching investors’ attention, a sizable Series A from an African startup, and more. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important fintech stories delivered to […]
LatAm startups: Apply to Startup Battlefield 200
Here’s a shoutout to LatAm early-stage startup founders! We want YOU to apply for the Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. But you’d better hurry — time is running out. The application window closes on June 10 at 11:59 p.m. PDT. LatAm — Join the Startup Battlefield 200 Startup Battlefield 200 (SB 200) is […]
Pula raises $20M Series B to provide agricultural insurance to farmers in Africa, Asia and LatAm
Pula, an insurtech based in Kenya, has since 2015 been keen on enhancing the access to agricultural insurance by small-holder farmers across emerging markets, shielding them against losses from pests, diseases and/or extreme weather events like floods and droughts. So far, the insurtech has supported 15.4 million farmers in Africa, Asia and Latin America to […]