Mexican challenger bank Klar, a Chime clone, recently raised over $57.5 million in debt and equity in one of Mexico’s largest seed rounds. The $50 million credit line came from San Francisco’s Arc Labs, while Quona Capital led the $7.5 million equity round with support from Santander InnoVentures, aCrew Capital, FJ Labs and Western Technology Investment.
Klar, a Mexico City-based startup that wants to democratize banking services in Mexico, has raised $57.5 million in debt and equity seed funding with the goal of becoming the “Chime of Mexico,” among other things.
Specifically, the digital banking startup raised $7.5 million in equity and $50 million in debt financing, the debt portion being provided by Arc Labs.
SaaS technologies and subscription-based businesses are all the rage because everyone loves recurring revenue. But these businesses require continued investment in technology or inventory and can be very difficult to fund at the seed stage.
FintekNews is pleased to offer our readers our “3 Questions With…” column, where we chat with a thought leader within a unique sector of fintech and ask them to answer just 3 questions for our audience in their vernacular. This week, we’d like to introduce you to Francis Shih of Arc Labs.
PayJoy, a company leading credit access in emerging markets via smartphone financing, signs a $20 million debt-financing deal with Arc Labs, a venture partner to innovative companies serving the underbanked. PayJoy's patented, pay-as-you-go financing system helps consumers with not only mobile device financing, but also unsecured lending, by using a customer's phone for underwriting data and as collateral. PayJoy will use the funding from Arc Labs to spread financial inclusion and alternative financing options nationwide in Mexico.
Arc Labs made a US$10m debt investment in Creze, a Mexican startup providing financial services to SMBs (PYMES). DILA Capital and Mountain Nazca invested MXN$50m in Creze in 2017.
