Mexican fintech Clara, which has a card and corporate expense management platform, landed in Brazil in December 2021. Since then, it has been making moves to grow in Latin America, mainly on Brazilian soil - the other operations are in Mexico and Colombia. A fortnight ago, for example, it announced the hiring of Francisco Simon (ex-Meta, Uber and Microsoft) as the new country manager of the operation in the country.
Now, the company is advancing its strategy to make Brazil its largest market by next year. The fintech has just received authorisation from the Central Bank (BC) to operate as a payment institution (PI), in the modalities of electronic money issuer (allows to manage prepaid payment accounts) and postpaid instrument (credit card, for example).
According to the publication in the Federal Official Gazette of this Wednesday (9), Clara's IP is born with a share capital of BRL 112.9 million.
With the licence, the fintech will be able to expand the offer of financial products and services to the more than 2,000 companies it currently serves in Brazil. At first, the expectation is to launch a digital account that will allow payments with Pix, boleto and TED - today, the fintech platform allows the management of corporate expenses through credit cards.
"With IP, we will be able to further grow our solution, with payment by TED, boleto, Pix, as well as continue the postpaid card operation. All this connected to the intelligence platform for companies", says Gerry Giacomán Colyer, CEO and co-founder of Clara, in an interview with Finsiders. The next step is to integrate the Pix arrangement, a natural move in the journey of evolution as an IP. "We want to be indirect participants."
At the same time as receiving the go-ahead to operate as a regulated institution in the Brazilian market, Clara is announcing the relocation of its headquarters, until then in Mexico City, to São Paulo. In Brazil, the fintech already has 100 employees, about 30% of the entire team.
"Most of the global teams were based in Mexico City, and now they will be in São Paulo," Francisco Simon, who recently took over the local operation from Layon Costa, now promoted to global director, told Finsiders.
In the Executive's view, the opportunity for growth in Brazil is great, given the combination of the size of the market with the still poor experience that companies tend to have in managing their employees' expenses. "To have a corporate card today, you have to call the bank, issue cards one by one, not to mention the difficulty in obtaining limits," he says.
The change in the business's headquarter (HQ) coincides, and not for nothing, with the increasing penetration of Clara's solution in medium and large companies. "We have seen a lot of interest from larger companies and 'enterprises'. We have started to give a greater strategic focus to this customer profile," says Francisco.
With more than 10,000 customers in total, more than 2,000 in Brazil, Clara has names like Amaro, Mapfre, BR Malls, SmartFit, as well as startups like Méliuz, Kavak, Bitso, among others. "The active customer base has been getting bigger and growing month by month," says the executive.
Today, Brazil represents about 30% of Clara's total payment volume and the expectation is to exceed 50% by next year, becoming the largest fintech operation, both in TPV and revenue.
In 2022, BRL 600 million were transacted in the country, an amount that should jump to BRL 2 billion in 2024, according to the fintech's accounts. The growth does not take into account the potential movement that will come from other payment methods, such as Pix, boleto and TED. That is, the expansion may be even greater.
In order to pursue its growth plans, Clara is capitalised. In April, it closed a Series B extension, worth US$ 60 million. Since starting the business in 2020, the fintech has raised more than $400 million between equity rounds and debt structures, according to data on Crunchbase.
Corporate spend management has attracted several fintechs. Among them is Portão 3, which raised BRL 19m in January in a seed round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), a US fund specialising in early-stage fintechs. Also in a seed round, four months ago Banco do Brasil (BB) injected BRL 4 million into Payfy, through BB Ventures.
There are even other foreign competitors willing to break into the Brazilian market. This is the case of the American Jeeves, which landed here in March last year. The segment also brings together names such as Conta Simples, Onfly, VExpenses, as well as flexible benefits startups, for example Flash and Caju, which have expanded their operations to also manage corporate expenses.
Mexican fintech Clara, which has a card and corporate expense management platform, landed in Brazil in December 2021. Since then, it has been making moves to grow in Latin America, mainly on Brazilian soil - the other operations are in Mexico and Colombia. A fortnight ago, for example, it announced the hiring of Francisco Simon (ex-Meta, Uber and Microsoft) as the new country manager of the operation in the country.
Now, the company is advancing its strategy to make Brazil its largest market by next year. The fintech has just received authorisation from the Central Bank (BC) to operate as a payment institution (PI), in the modalities of electronic money issuer (allows to manage prepaid payment accounts) and postpaid instrument (credit card, for example).
According to the publication in the Federal Official Gazette of this Wednesday (9), Clara's IP is born with a share capital of BRL 112.9 million.
With the licence, the fintech will be able to expand the offer of financial products and services to the more than 2,000 companies it currently serves in Brazil. At first, the expectation is to launch a digital account that will allow payments with Pix, boleto and TED - today, the fintech platform allows the management of corporate expenses through credit cards.
"With IP, we will be able to further grow our solution, with payment by TED, boleto, Pix, as well as continue the postpaid card operation. All this connected to the intelligence platform for companies", says Gerry Giacomán Colyer, CEO and co-founder of Clara, in an interview with Finsiders. The next step is to integrate the Pix arrangement, a natural move in the journey of evolution as an IP. "We want to be indirect participants."
At the same time as receiving the go-ahead to operate as a regulated institution in the Brazilian market, Clara is announcing the relocation of its headquarters, until then in Mexico City, to São Paulo. In Brazil, the fintech already has 100 employees, about 30% of the entire team.
"Most of the global teams were based in Mexico City, and now they will be in São Paulo," Francisco Simon, who recently took over the local operation from Layon Costa, now promoted to global director, told Finsiders.
In the Executive's view, the opportunity for growth in Brazil is great, given the combination of the size of the market with the still poor experience that companies tend to have in managing their employees' expenses. "To have a corporate card today, you have to call the bank, issue cards one by one, not to mention the difficulty in obtaining limits," he says.
The change in the business's headquarter (HQ) coincides, and not for nothing, with the increasing penetration of Clara's solution in medium and large companies. "We have seen a lot of interest from larger companies and 'enterprises'. We have started to give a greater strategic focus to this customer profile," says Francisco.
With more than 10,000 customers in total, more than 2,000 in Brazil, Clara has names like Amaro, Mapfre, BR Malls, SmartFit, as well as startups like Méliuz, Kavak, Bitso, among others. "The active customer base has been getting bigger and growing month by month," says the executive.
Today, Brazil represents about 30% of Clara's total payment volume and the expectation is to exceed 50% by next year, becoming the largest fintech operation, both in TPV and revenue.
In 2022, BRL 600 million were transacted in the country, an amount that should jump to BRL 2 billion in 2024, according to the fintech's accounts. The growth does not take into account the potential movement that will come from other payment methods, such as Pix, boleto and TED. That is, the expansion may be even greater.
In order to pursue its growth plans, Clara is capitalised. In April, it closed a Series B extension, worth US$ 60 million. Since starting the business in 2020, the fintech has raised more than $400 million between equity rounds and debt structures, according to data on Crunchbase.
Corporate spend management has attracted several fintechs. Among them is Portão 3, which raised BRL 19m in January in a seed round led by Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV), a US fund specialising in early-stage fintechs. Also in a seed round, four months ago Banco do Brasil (BB) injected BRL 4 million into Payfy, through BB Ventures.
There are even other foreign competitors willing to break into the Brazilian market. This is the case of the American Jeeves, which landed here in March last year. The segment also brings together names such as Conta Simples, Onfly, VExpenses, as well as flexible benefits startups, for example Flash and Caju, which have expanded their operations to also manage corporate expenses.