Payment management startup FitBank, which in 2020 received an investment from J.P. Morgan, has closed its first acquisition. The company bought the credit marketplace EasyCrédito, for an undisclosed amount. The goal is to strengthen its banking as a service (BaaS) business, adding loans in addition to payment operations.
"There is a lot of talk about BaaS, but what really exists is a payment as a service. FitBank is the first ecosystem to offer both together in a single platform, providing this bridge between financial institutions and people, through a 100% digital and highly scalable structure," says João Chacha, partner-investor and responsible for the development of the FitBank platform.
Born in 2015 in Goiânia, EasyCrédito uses an algorithm that analyzes the profile of each consumer and increases by up to five times the chances of having your loan request approved. It currently has 26 partners. "With FitBank, we have the opportunity to develop new products and operate in markets that we did not operate in before, such as credit for legal entities, anticipation of receivables and, of course, 'buy now, pay later' solutions, which is the famous 'crediário'," says Marcos Ramos, CEO and co-founder of EasyCrédito.
EasyCrédito receives over 10 million credit applications per month. It started out working directly with the end consumer (B2C), but later ended up strengthening the agreement with platforms (B2B2C), such as OLX and Méliuz, for example.
For Otávio Farah, CEO and founding partner of FitBank, the agreement brings huge potentials for both companies.
"Bringing this credit solution to our platform has extraordinary potential. We will be more efficient and will be able to bring new disruptive solutions to the market," he says. Fitbank has more than 200 direct customers and 60 million indirect users. The volumes processed (TPV) add up to R$3.5 billion per month.
Chacha says that the company already has another acquisition, which should be announced in about 45 days, in the area of payment means. The company still has money from the J.P. Morgan contribution, but this second transaction should also involve a portion in exchange for shares. In any case, Fitbank - which also has CSU among its shareholders - intends to make a new round of contribution in the second half of this year. "Until then I believe we will be able to demonstrate to investors the maintenance of our growth rate, these acquisitions, and our internationalization movement," he says.
Fitbank started its international expansion process in the second half of last year, in a move led by former Goldman Sachs CEO in Brazil Alex Vollbrechthausen. The first destination was Mexico, but other Latin American countries are also on the roadmap.
"It is not part of our short-term project to generate profit, we are always betting on growth," says Chacha. For Farah, even with the perspective that the Brazilian economy will have low growth this year, Fitbank will continue to expand strongly. "The process of digitalization of the economy is a path with no return and we are extremely well positioned and mature to close everything that comes ahead.
Payment management startup FitBank, which in 2020 received an investment from J.P. Morgan, has closed its first acquisition. The company bought the credit marketplace EasyCrédito, for an undisclosed amount. The goal is to strengthen its banking as a service (BaaS) business, adding loans in addition to payment operations.
"There is a lot of talk about BaaS, but what really exists is a payment as a service. FitBank is the first ecosystem to offer both together in a single platform, providing this bridge between financial institutions and people, through a 100% digital and highly scalable structure," says João Chacha, partner-investor and responsible for the development of the FitBank platform.
Born in 2015 in Goiânia, EasyCrédito uses an algorithm that analyzes the profile of each consumer and increases by up to five times the chances of having your loan request approved. It currently has 26 partners. "With FitBank, we have the opportunity to develop new products and operate in markets that we did not operate in before, such as credit for legal entities, anticipation of receivables and, of course, 'buy now, pay later' solutions, which is the famous 'crediário'," says Marcos Ramos, CEO and co-founder of EasyCrédito.
EasyCrédito receives over 10 million credit applications per month. It started out working directly with the end consumer (B2C), but later ended up strengthening the agreement with platforms (B2B2C), such as OLX and Méliuz, for example.
For Otávio Farah, CEO and founding partner of FitBank, the agreement brings huge potentials for both companies.
"Bringing this credit solution to our platform has extraordinary potential. We will be more efficient and will be able to bring new disruptive solutions to the market," he says. Fitbank has more than 200 direct customers and 60 million indirect users. The volumes processed (TPV) add up to R$3.5 billion per month.
Chacha says that the company already has another acquisition, which should be announced in about 45 days, in the area of payment means. The company still has money from the J.P. Morgan contribution, but this second transaction should also involve a portion in exchange for shares. In any case, Fitbank - which also has CSU among its shareholders - intends to make a new round of contribution in the second half of this year. "Until then I believe we will be able to demonstrate to investors the maintenance of our growth rate, these acquisitions, and our internationalization movement," he says.
Fitbank started its international expansion process in the second half of last year, in a move led by former Goldman Sachs CEO in Brazil Alex Vollbrechthausen. The first destination was Mexico, but other Latin American countries are also on the roadmap.
"It is not part of our short-term project to generate profit, we are always betting on growth," says Chacha. For Farah, even with the perspective that the Brazilian economy will have low growth this year, Fitbank will continue to expand strongly. "The process of digitalization of the economy is a path with no return and we are extremely well positioned and mature to close everything that comes ahead.