Ualá

Ualá Raises Us$150M in Series C Round Led by Tencent and SoftBank

The Argentina-based fintech, announced today that it has completed a Series C financing round totaling us$150 million.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, November 25, 2019.- The round was led by Tencent, a leading provider of Internet value added services in China and owner of WeChat, the largest communication and social platform in China, and SoftBank Innovation Fund, the largest-ever technology fund focused exclusively in Latin America. Representatives of both Tencent and SoftBank will join Ualá’s Board of Directors.

Endeavor Catalyst, a co-investment vehicle designed to support Endeavor entrepreneurs, and existing Ualá investors – affiliates of Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP), Soros Fund Management LLC, Monashees, Ribbit Capital, and Jefferies LLC – also participated in the round. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP served as legal counsel to Ualá in its Series C financing round, and in all previous fundraisings.

The financing will support the continued growth of Ualá, which issued more than 1.3M cards since inception two years ago and has most recently been focused on expanding its product offering. In early 2019, it launched a lending platform to originate personal loans and has just premiered mutual fund investments. The company will use the capital to further scale its business and aims to triple in size in the next year, hiring over 400 people between technology and operations. Ualá has captured attention from international investors since before its launch to the public in October 2017. After a us$10M Series A round led by an affiliate of Soros Fund Management LLC, along with an affiliate of Jefferies LLC, Point72 Ventures, entrepreneur Kevin Ryan, and others, Ualá raised us$34M in 2018 in a Series B round led by an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Investment Partners (GSIP), with Ribbit Capital and Monashees. Tencent invested an undisclosed amount in April 2019.

According to the World Bank, only 41% of Argentines have a debit card and only 7% have requested a loan or saved at a traditional financial institution. Ualá aims to improve financial inclusion by helping users better manage their finances hassle-free. The personal finance management app is linked to a prepaid, global Mastercard and allows users to transfer money, invest in mutual funds, request loans, pay bills and top-up prepaid services.

James Mitchell, Tencent’s Chief Strategy Officer, said “We are glad to witness Ualá’ s rapid growth since we first invested in the company earlier this year. Through this stepped-up investment, we will strengthen our support for Ualá in its development into a full-fledged financial services platform, promoting the financial inclusion and technology innovation.” “Uala’s growth has been truly remarkable. What the team is building has revolutionized financial services in Argentina. We believe the strategy and exceptional execution demonstrate great potential.” said Shu Nyatta, Managing Partner, SoftBank Innovation Fund.

“Ualá’s mobile-first finance technology brings access, transparency and convenience to the consumer,” said Christopher Dawe, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs. “This investment is consistent with our philosophy of backing mission-driven teams who are promoting financial inclusion.”

“Ever since our time together in the classroom at Harvard, Pierpaolo and I have been obsessed with the idea that financial exclusion is a key driver of poverty. Eleven years ago, when I wrote about this in The Ascent of Money, there wasn’t a good solution. Now, thanks to advances in technology and the spread of the smartphone, there is. I am hugely excited by the rapid growth of Ualá and its success in attracting the world’s leading tech investors.” Niall Ferguson, Founding Board Member of Ualá.

“Financial services are based on three basic pillars: payment, credit, and investments. Our objective is to disrupt access to those services, giving even more people the opportunity to build a credit history, inclusively and transparently. This round endorses our strategy and will allow us to boost our growth," said Pierpaolo Barbieri, founder and CEO of Ualá.

Ualá in numbers

  • +1.3M cards issued in two years
  • +180 employees
  • +4% of Argentina has Ualá, >13% of 18-25 year old residents.
  • ~7% of cards issued to foreigners living in Argentina.