Colombia's financial authorities gave Mexican fintech Kapital the preliminary go ahead it needs to begin banking locally, a step that puts deposit accounts within reach. The company arrived in Colombia in 2022 by extending business credit, and it still requires one last approval before rolling out full banking services.
With the banking authorization in place, Kapital would be able to offer companies savings and credit products, broadening cash and liquidity options. The company is licensed as a bank in Mexico. Speaking from the company's Mexico City offices, Chief Executive Officer René Saúl said, "Our strategy is the same everywhere: You have to be able to take deposits and leverage them."
Kapital bought Woz, a Y Combinator backed artificial intelligence startup based in Silicon Valley, in a $30 million cash and stock deal. The purchase adds a team of about 25 developers and supports a bigger AI bet while the company builds out in priority markets such as Mexico and the US. It also plans to keep expanding its team in San Francisco over the next year.
Coming on the heels of September's $125 million mix of equity and debt, the funds are earmarked to build out Kapital's AI platform and to finance expansion at home and abroad.
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Launched in Mexico City in 2020 by Saúl and Chief Financial Officer Fernando Sandoval, Kapital provides banking related services to SMEs and larger companies, setting it apart from Mexican peers like Nu Holdings Ltd., Mercado Pago and Plata that tilt more toward retail customers. The firm serves about 350,000 clients and carries a $2 billion valuation.
According to the executive, the company has brought on legal counsel and begun discussions with banks while it evaluates a potential initial public offering. He said the business is on solid footing but needs more time and faster growth to reach the scale required for a listing. "We're on the correct path in the next couple of years, to IPO," he said.
In plain English: a banking foothold in Colombia plus an AI team in San Francisco gives Kapital more products to sell and more software to sell them with. If the company hits the growth targets it says it needs for an eventual IPO, cross border expansion tied to AI enabled services could be the lever that gets it there.
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