Why Fintech Startups Are Rapidly Becoming Unicorns in Latin America

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

By Ariel Patschiki

Fintech was the #1 sector of venture capital investments in Latin America last year, and experts are estimating that the LatAm fintech market will exceed $150 billion by 2021. Why is this market suddenly growing so rapidly? The answer lies within the unique fintech startups that have sprouted throughout the region in recent years.

In the past few years, over 300 fintech startups have been born in Mexico alone, coming in just second to Brazil, which boasts nearly 400 startups in its own fintech sector. Not only have these startups found huge success in the region, but many of them have become unicorns — meaning that they have reached $1 billion in valuation. And from new unicorn fintechs in Mexico to Brazilian fintechs going public on the New York Stock Exchange, the growth in this industry won’t be slowing down anytime soon.

Why is so much happening in the fintech landscape in LatAm over the past few years? What are the driving forces for this? Here are three reasons many fintech startups have become unicorns in LatAm in the past two years, and are helping shape a new way of doing things in the region.

Photo courtesy of Juanedc.

Source: PaymentsJournal (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Finance, Technology
Tags
digital payments, fintech, startups, venture capital