Hola amig@s fintech,
The infrastructure gap that defined fintech in Latin America for more than a decade is starting to close.
Real-time payment systems continue expanding. Stablecoins are becoming usable payment rails. AI is accelerating how products are built and deployed. And startups now have access to infrastructure that once required enormous scale to operate.
That changes the industry’s center of gravity. If everyone can access the same technology, the real competition shifts to execution, distribution, trust, and product value.
That idea runs through this week’s edition — and through a new format we are introducing at TWIF LatAm: conversations with the people building the region’s financial infrastructure. We begin with René Salazar from Stripe, who argues that fintech’s next advantage will not come from technology alone.
~Vivi
🟨Editor’s Picks
The World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Stanford Graduate School of Business, released a new report mapping the structural shifts facing the venture capital industry. The diagnosis: slowing capital recycling, uneven global distribution of scale-ups, and AI rapidly reshaping venture economics. The report sets out five strategic priorities to keep VC relevant as the engine of global innovation financing.
Venture capital manages $3.5 trillion — and the rules of the game are changing
Payments infrastructure, regulation, and real-time money movement in Latin America
In this episode of Fintech Talks, Carlos Marín, CEO and co-founder of Akua, breaks down what is actually happening beneath the surface of digital payments in Latin America. The conversation covers ecosystem challenges, the impact of instant payment systems like Bre-B, the role of data in driving financial inclusion, and what it takes to build solutions that transform the experience for users and merchants alike.
Published in January, this WEF report is worth revisiting as AI moves from boardroom conversation to operational reality across the region. According to the World Economic Forum, Latin America has historically lagged in productivity, but widespread AI adoption could raise it by 1.9 to 2.3% annually and unlock between $1.1 and $1.7 trillion in new economic value. The report draws on a business survey across the region and translates findings into ten strategic actions for governments, companies, and institutions to accelerate adoption.
Latin America could add up to $1.7 trillion in economic value — if it gets AI right
How Peru built a real-time payments system that just hit one billion transactions
A Mastercard case study on Peru's Cámara de Compensación Electrónica (CCE) tells the story of a decade-long infrastructure overhaul that is now reshaping financial inclusion in the country. Since the instant payments system launched in 2022, transaction volumes have grown more than fivefold, driven by digital wallet adoption, fintech integration under a sponsor model, and a central bank mandate forcing wallets like Yape and Plin to operate as open-loop systems. The country is now on track for 800 million transactions in 2026.
The fintech conversation continues in our community chats.
Across WhatsApp and Telegram, thousands of founders, operators, investors, and builders connect daily to share insights, opportunities, and market intel.
🟨 This Week’s Key Moves
| Fundraising
🇧🇷 Franq, the Brazilian independent banking platform, raised a $12 million Series B round led by Valor Capital Growth Fund, Quona Capital, and Globo Ventures. The company enables independent financial professionals to distribute 150+ financial products from more than 50 banks and fintechs through a single platform.
🇲🇽 Palenca, the Mexican income verification and employment data platform for financial institutions, raised a $4 million Series A round led by Experian, with participation from Foundation Capital, Gilgamesh Ventures, and Dhow Ventures.
🇨🇴 GatekeeperX, the Colombian AI-native Fraud Prevention and AML platform, secured a strategic investment from Global Paytech Ventures, joining existing backers Monashees, Htwenty, and Norte Ventures.
🌎 ADN.vc closed its first fund at $2.5M, exceeding its original $2M target with commitments from more than 60 LPs across Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, the US, and Europe. The firm will back around two dozen pre-seed fintech and proptech startups across Mexico, Chile, Colombia, and Peru, with initial checks of $40,000 to $50,000.
| Exits
🇧🇷 Serasa, the Brazilian credit analytics and fraud prevention giant owned by Experian, announced the acquisition IDwall, the Brazilian digital identity verification and anti-fraud startup, in a transaction valued at approximately $70 million.
🇺🇾 Vertex, the global tax compliance technology company, announced the acquisition of Brinta, the Uruguay-based AI-native tax automation and e-invoicing platform, to expand its real-time compliance and e-invoicing capabilities across LatAm.
| Products & Partnerships
🇸🇻 El Salvador authorized the issuance of MXNB, a stablecoin pegged to the Mexican peso, reinforcing the country’s positioning as a crypto-friendly hub while expanding the use of stablecoins for cross-border transactions and digital finance in LatAm.
🇲🇽 Bitso has committed a 5 million dollar investment toward its "Película de Acciones" initiative to democratize equity markets in Mexico, enabling retail investors to acquire fractional shares of over 5,000 global assets and ETFs starting at 20 pesos with zero commissions via a mobile-first, regulated infrastructure.
🇨🇴 RappiPayintroduced RappiPréstamos Aliados, a data-driven digital credit line targeting over 35,000 merchants, utilizing transactional history to provide pre-approved financing with automated repayments linked to sales volume to improve credit access for Colombian small businesses.
| Policy
🇧🇷 Brazil's Congress is advancing several bills that could reshape rules for banks and fintechs. On the table: updates to the Brazilian Payment System (SPB), a constitutional amendment granting the Central Bank full financial autonomy, new labor rules for digital bank employees, and a framework for resolving failed financial institutions.
🇨🇱 The Commission for the Financial Market (CMF) has authorizedFintoc to operate as a non-bank issuer of payment cards with fund provision (CPF), enabling the fintech to integrate account management, automated payment flows, and interoperable account-to-account operations for its base of over 1,200 corporate clients under Chile's modernized regulatory framework.
🟨 Conversaciones en Español
“La tecnología ya no es la ventaja competitiva"
A finales de los 90, René Salazar entró como pasante en Todito, una startup mexicana que experimentaba con pagos digitales. Al entrar le dieron una tarea simple y enorme al mismo tiempo: crear un sistema de pagos abierto. No sabía nada de fintech. Fue a la biblioteca de la universidad, encontró un libro técnico sobre cómo funcionaba PayPal y, junto a dos ingenieros, intentó construir el “PayPal mexicano”.
Siguió trabajando en pagos digitales, una industria que entonces todavía casi nadie llamaba fintech, y hoy lleva décadas diseñando productos y ecosistemas de pagos en la región.
En conversación con TWIF, habla sobre lo que AI, stablecoins y comercio agéntico están cambiando — y por qué la tecnología dejó de ser el campo de batalla.
***
¿Qué está haciendo América Latina mejor que otros mercados?
La adopción de pagos digitales en América Latina es impresionante. Mucha gente todavía cree que “cash is king”, pero después llegan a Brasil y ven Pix en todos lados, o van a México y encuentran pagos contactless casi en cualquier comercio.
Y lo más interesante es que gran parte de esa innovación no vino solamente de empresas privadas. Vino de infraestructura impulsada por bancos centrales y regulación pública: SPEI, Pix, Bre-B.
Todavía hay muchísimo espacio para innovar sobre esa infraestructura. Y además hoy las startups pueden construir mucho más rápido porque gran parte de la tecnología ya existe y está disponible.
Desde Stripe ves toda la región. ¿Qué deberían tener fundadores e inversionistas en el radar?
La interacción entre AI, stablecoins y comercio agéntico. Durante mucho tiempo pensamos que comercio agéntico era ChatGPT o Gemini ayudándote a buscar un producto y comprarlo. Pero lo que estamos viendo ahora es distinto: agentes interactuando directamente con otros agentes. Eso hace muchísimo más eficiente todo. También cambia cómo se construyen empresas. Antes un emprendedor tenía que investigar cómo expandirse, integrar pagos o lanzar productos financieros. Hoy muchos de esos procesos empiezan a resolverse a través de agentes.
Pero para que ese ecosistema funcione necesitas una capa de pagos eficiente. Ahí es donde entran las stablecoins. Como tecnología, permiten mover dinero de forma muy rápida y a costos muy bajos.
Eso está creando ventajas competitivas para startups regionales que ya han mostrado que se puede capturar mercado rápidamente usando infraestructura basada en stablecoins.
Pero lo más importante es que esa tecnología ya está disponible para todos. Y eso cambia completamente la competencia. Si todos tienen acceso a la misma infraestructura, la ventaja ya no está en la tecnología. Está en encontrar una propuesta de valor propia.
¿Qué es lo que más te quita el sueño hoy?
Mantener un ecosistema seguro. En esta industria tienes una responsabilidad enorme. Así como nosotros invertimos en prevención de fraude, también hay actores invirtiendo constantemente en cómo defraudar mejor. Por eso compliance y seguridad no pueden tratarse como algo secundario. Mantener el fraude controlado y proteger la confianza en el ecosistema es fundamental.
Comparando tus primeros años como pasante con la industria actual, ¿dónde ves los cambios más importantes?
La velocidad cambió completamente. Antes las empresas trabajaban en ciclos anuales. Hoy muchas cosas que antes tomaban meses las haces en días. Y la adopción también ocurre mucho más rápido. Nuestros trabajos son casi predecir el futuro y reaccionar muy rápido a lo que está pasando.
También cambió la forma de construir equipos. Hoy necesitas gente mucho más adaptable, capaz de moverse entre producto, negocio y tecnología al mismo tiempo.
¿Qué aprendiste de esos primeros años como pasante que todavía influye en cómo trabajas hoy?
Cuando empecé tuve jefes que me dieron mucha libertad para experimentar. Yo llegaba con ideas y me decían: “Hazlo”.
Eso fue fundamental para desarrollar creatividad. Y creo que sigue siendo igual de importante hoy, especialmente con todas las herramientas de AI que ya están disponibles. Muchas veces la innovación aparece cuando le das a alguien espacio para construir sin decirle exactamente cómo hacerlo.
🟨 On our Radar
| Signals
In a LinkedIn post making the rounds, David Jiménez maps the six digital banks competing for Mexico's 130 million people — Nubank, Revolut, Ualá, Klar, Banco Plata, and Spin by OXXO — and argues the next two to three years will decide who actually wins the market. Nubank has 12 million customers and a fresh banking license. Revolut launched its first bank outside Europe here in January. Ualá acquired its way in. Klar is closing in on a license after buying Banorte's failed Bineo. And Banco Plata — founded by ex-Tinkoff executives, $3.1 billion valuation, 2.5 million credit customers — is already scaling while most people still haven't heard of it.
In an opinion piece, fintech specialist Edgar René Mendoza argues that Panama is better positioned than most countries to build a national real-time payments system — and hasn't done it yet. With 118% mobile penetration, over 100 active fintechs, and a mature regulatory framework, the infrastructure case is there. What's missing is a shared architecture decision: whether to follow Brazil's centralized Pix model, Mexico's decentralized SPEI approach, or something in between. For a country that brands itself as the region's financial hub, the gap is worth closing.
| People
Rivera joins from Shopify, where he served as Chief Design Officer and VP of Product for Merchant Services, overseeing payments, lending, and financial services. He will report directly to CEO David Vélez and work alongside the Chief Design and Chief Technology Officers to align product, tech, and design as Nubank scales toward hundreds of millions of users globally.
TWIF Latin America editorial team
Writers: Elena, Head of New Technologies at Afirme Financial Group and Carlos, ESG Analyst at CFECapital
Editor-in-Chief: Vivi, Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Advisor
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Come meet us in person at www.amara-rewards.com/events. You can also join our global community on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
👍👎 Did you like this edition of TWIF LatAm? Take a 1-minute anonymous survey here.
Come meet us in person at www.amara-rewards.com/events. You can also join our global community on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Photo by Dhaya Eddine Bentaleb on Unsplash
