NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, December 4, 2019

By Omar Faridi

Argentina-based mobile payments firm Ualá has been valued at almost $1 billion in its most recent investment round, which was led by Chinese tech giant Tencent, according to sources familiar with the details of the transaction.

Tencent led Ualá’s $150 million Series C investment round. The Chinese internet firm was joined by the SoftBank Group Corp and various other investors. The Buenos Aires-headquartered company had previously been valued at around $850 million to $950 million, according to Bloomberg, which cited sources familiar with the deal.

Ualá intends to use the capital raised to hire new talent. The company aims to employ more than 500 professionals by the end of 2020. Ualá is also planning to expand its line of loans products, while also developing additional business units. This, according to company founder and CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri.

Photo courtesy of Juanedc.