Argentine Fintech Ualá Raises $10 Million in Series A Funding

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Feb. 6, 2018.- Ualá, the Argentina-based personal financial management app, announced today that its parent company has completed a Series A equity financing round of $10 million led by a private investment fund managed by Soros Fund Management LLC with participation of Jefferies, Point72 Ventures, founders of General Catalyst and entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, among others.

In connection with the Series A equity financing, Brian McGrath and Diego Dayenoff have joined the Board of Directors of the parent company of Ualá.

The Series A financing will be used to fund Ualá's continued expansion, user growth and execute its product roadmap, including the launch of its credit platform.

The financing comes at an exceptional time for Ualá which saw a rapidly growing number of users and more than 50,000 cards issued since its launch in October 2017.

Ualá is a personal financial management mobile app developed in Argentina linked to a Mastercard prepaid card that allows users to conduct live financial transactions, such as transferring money and making payments and purchases.

Ualá provides financial inclusion in a country with 92% mobile penetration and 7% consumer credit to GDP, one of the lowest in Latin America. In 2018, users will be able to top up cell phones and pay bills, among other innovations. Ualá will also launch credit and loan products.

“We are excited to continue to work with Ualá and support its goals of making savings, payments and credit accessible to the unbanked and underbanked in Argentina and the broader Latin American region,” said Ilan Stern, a portfolio manager at Soros Fund Management LLC.

“We believe that Ualá has the potential to deepen financial access in the least banked country in Latin America,” said Brian McGrath, managing director at Jefferies.

"We often take for granted the breadth of digital financial services available in the US and Europe. The team at Uala has bundled the services most relevant for the Argentinian population, and the early adoption reinforces their vision of a modern digital financial offering," said Pete Casella of Point72 Ventures.

"We have been amazingly surprised by the demand for our product and we are proud of the trust from our investors. Argentina is our home and we will continue to expand our user base and features here. Our goal is to revolutionize local finance – but our future is regional. The best is yet to come," said Pierpaolo Barbieri, founder of Ualá.