Santiago de Chile. Xepelin, the Chilean FinTech looking to give Latin American’s SMEs better access to financial services, has closed $30M financing, plus $200M in credit facilities, one of the largest Series A rounds ever raised in LatAm. Co-led by Kaszek Ventures and DST Global, it marks the first joint investment in the region between Cathay Innovation and Seaya Ventures following their official partnership in April.
Xepelin is a strategic investment since 65 million SMEs in developing countries have an unmet financing need of $5.2 trillion every year, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). And Latin America is among the regions with the highest proportion of the finance gap. Adding to the challenge, about half of formal SMEs don’t have access to credit.
In this sense, using Latam’s tax regulatory framework that has implemented electronic invoices, Xepelin provides visibility into cash flow and metrics. It acts as an all-in-one platform to manage working capital for B2B SMEs and solves key problems starting with liquidity through accounts receivable and payable (AR/PR) loans. Xepelin is currently working with mid-market corporations (105 partnerships and growing) to onboard a greater network of SME suppliers, and is on the fast track with more than 5,000 clients in Chile and Mexico and loaning more than $500M to SMEs in the last 22 months. Overall, the company has been seeing a growth rate of 30% per month and has more than 110 employees.
The company’s long-term vision is to become the go-to digital bank for SMEs in LatAm. By building a virtual wallet in a contained payments ecosystem, Xepelin can enable businesses to “move money” between each other’s wallets and cash out at the edges to their banks when needed, creating an all-in-one financial platform. “Our goal is to scale a platform that can solve the true pains of all SMEs in LatAm, an all-in-one place that also connects them with their entire ecosystem, and above all, democratized in such a way that everyone can access it,” Sebastian Kreis, co-Founder and co-CEO at Xepelin, said, “regardless of whether you are a company that sells billions of dollars or just a thousand dollars, you will get the same service and conditions.”
Pablo Pedrejón, Principal at Seaya, commented that “This deal is a clear example of the advantages of Cathay and Seaya’s alliance. By combining Cathay’s global ecosystem of investors, startups and Fortune 500 corporations with Seaya’s unmatched expertise in Southern Europe and LatAm, our goal is to create a stronger and more expansive investment platform that grants more startups access to worldwide resources and the capital they need to scale.”
Alex Lazarow, Partner of Cathay Innovation, added that “Xepelin is a great example of a differentiated model that was invented in Latam, and is not possible in the west. Specifically, they are leveraging two major and reinforcing trends today: regulatory tailwinds towards digitization of invoices and rapid adoption of new technologies among underserved SMBs in emerging markets.”
Since it was founded in 2019, Xepelin has raised over $36 million in equity and $250 million in asset-backed facilities. Also participating in the round were Picus Capita, Kayak Ventures, MSA Capital, Amarena, FJ Labs, and Gilgamesh Ventures. And a group of angels, including Kavak founder and CEO Carlos Garcia, Jackie Reses, executive chairman of Square Financial Services, Justo founder and CEO Ricardo Weder, Tiger Global Management Partner John Curtius, GGV’s Hans Tung, and Gerry Giacoman, founder and CEO of Clara, among others.
About Xepelin
“We’re reimagining financial services in Latam so every company can focus on operating their business and realize their potential.”
Xepelin is a Latin American fintech company that aims to be the leading SME digital bank in Latam. The company was founded in 2019 by Nicolas de Camino and Sebastian Kreis. Thousands of businesses use Xepelin to manage their finances. We’re proud to serve SMBs from all regions and industries in Mexico and Chile, helping founders, managers and their teams stay focused on what they care about most: operating their business. Xepelin is backed by Kaszek, DST Global, Picus Capital, Kayyak Ventures, FJ Labs, Kavak founder Carlos Garcia and ex-head of Square Capital Jackie Reses. Xepelin has raised over $36 million in equity and $250 million in asset-backed facilities to date.
About Seaya Ventures
Seaya Ventures is a leading European & Latin-American Venture Capital firm based in Madrid, Spain, investing in exceptional entrepreneurs who are building global technology companies. Since raising its first fund in 2013, Seaya manages an aggregated volume of €300M across three early-stage funds. Seaya Ventures accelerates startup growth by working with the founders to enhance their strategic vision, putting at their disposal its global platform, its strong network of founders, investors and corporates, as well as Seaya’s experience in scaling leading companies such as Glovo, Cabify, Wallbox, Clarity, Clicars and Savana. For more information, please visit www.seayaventures.com.
About Cathay Innovation
Cathay Innovation is a global venture capital partnership, created in affiliation with Cathay Capital, investing in startups at the center of digital revolution across North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Its global platform unifies technology investment across continents, investors, entrepreneurs and leading corporations to accelerate startup growth with access to new markets, invaluable industry knowledge and introductions to potential partners from the start. As a multistage fund with over $1.5 billion assets under management and offices across San Francisco, New York, Paris, Shanghai, Beijing and Singapore, Cathay Innovation partners with visionary entrepreneurs and startups positively impacting the world through technology. To learn more, please visit www.cathayinnovation.com or follow us on Twitter @Cathayinnov.
