The information of the second edition of the Fintech report in Southern America 2018, developed by the IDB and Finnovista cannot be more positive: 1166 Fintech startups have been identified in the region, reflecting a 66% growth since the first measurement in 2017, year in which 703 companies were identified.
Two out of three ventures are already in advanced stages of development, and Fintech activity grew from 15 to 18 countries in the last year. Brazil is the country that contributes the largest number of enterprises with 380, followed by Mexico with 273, Colombia with 148, Argentina with 116 and Chile with 84 (the latter is the one with the highest concentration of Fintech companies by population density.
“This is the tip of the iceberg that only promises to continue accelerating in the coming years, reflected not only in the increase of the actors that are part of the Fintech ecosystem since its inception, but also of financial institutions that come to interact with them, but rather other actors as investors of local venture capital, “says Juan Miguel Tirado, Regional Marketing Director of Gosocket, a company that actively participates in the Fintech system through electronic factoring.
Indeed, invoice financing represents 10.4% of the number of solutions present, with loan solutions and crowdfunding being a majority. This explosion of Fintech solutions has other manifestations: one in three companies declares that they have expanded their operations beyond national borders.
“While five countries account for 86% of Fintech companies in the region, ventures have been identified in each of the Latin American countries and a growing trend towards internationalization, which shows the opportunities that entrepreneurs perceive, but also the importance of continuing to strengthen dialogue and harmonization at the regional level, “comments Juan Ketterer, head of the IDB’s Connectivity, Market and Finance division.
The main business segment continues to be that of payments and remittances, representing 24% of the identified businesses (285 in total), followed by the loan segment (18%) and business finance management (15%). It also highlights rapid growth in the digital banking segments and, mainly, credit scoring, identity and fraud.