There’s been a lot of money being invested in Latin American startups. Why do you think that is?

There’s a giant sense of community among entrepreneurs in Latin America. Personally, I have been an adviser to multiple startups in the region that have raised substantial capital during the last year and was fortunate to be chosen by Picus Capital as their first partner in a new global network of venture capital partners. It’s really been a two-way street in Latin America for us with entrepreneurs such as Sebastian Mejia from Rappi investing in Clara, among other relevant entrepreneurs and unicorn founders.

Startups are born with a “tech DNA” and are solving needs of customers and companies in a very easy and affordable way by leveraging and/or creating new technology. Latin American entrepreneurs are really focused on this and combine that with that sense of community in the region, these ideas and solutions seem to be expanding off one another.

What problem is Clara solving?

Spend-management for companies. Clara is giving Latin American companies more control over their financial future by reducing the bureaucratic processes of obtaining corporate credit cards and also leveraging innovative technology to give companies affordable, agile, and digital spend management solutions. 

What makes Clara attractive to investors and tech talent?

As an organisation, Clara has a ton of experience in traditional banking, which is essential to understanding our product and services. Clara’s solid business model and tech infrastructure has been attracting sought-after minds in the industry. Our Chief Marketing Officer and Chief People Officer come from Citibanamex. One of our regional directors comes from HSBC and Scotiabank. But at Clara, we also understand that the success of an organisation depends on a mix of seniority and young talent. That’s why we make sure to have a balance of experienced employees and those who are still developing their careers.

It’s not just our people that make Clara attractive, but what we offer them for joining our organisation. There’s no other Latin American startup that offers exactly what Clara does, which we call the “7 Dimensions”. We focus on our employees’ physical health, emotional health, self-development, work environment, financial health, family, and community. Aside from our customers, we want our employees to be happy and healthy in all aspects of their lives. We cannot deliver the best product without a productive team.

Clara’s solid business model and tech infrastructure has been attracting sought-after minds in the industry.

How is Clara committing to financial inclusion in Latin America?

Clara contributes to financial inclusion across Latin America through its offering of digital solutions that align enterprise growth with versatile and dependable resource management. Clara is developing tech products that are easy to use and affordable, with no annual fees or no costs upfront. Clara does more than just that for our customers, though. Clara also has a digital onboarding process where we guide our customers through the platform and how to make the most out of it. We like to ensure our customers understand our products and can use them efficiently. If a customer does have any issues, we have a solution for that, too. When Clara enters a new market, we build local customer service teams to ensure customers speak with Clara representatives who are immersed in the region and able to understand local, regional, and national business needs. Our customers don’t call another country to reach our call centre representatives. They can speak directly to Clara representatives in their region. And finally, Clara leverages our network to offer exclusive benefits to our clients through partnerships with other companies in the region that they would otherwise be unable to secure. 

Who’s using your products and why did they select them?

Fast-growing startups and an increasingly important number of companies in the enterprise segment, including companies in the automotive, logistics, real estate, travel, and tech industries have chosen Clara. Clara is solving a very common pain point (spend management) for Latin American companies through digital tools that can be adapted to any ERP (enterprise segment).

What makes applying for a corporate credit card a hassle for most businesses? 

Applying for a corporate credit card is tough, especially with the bureaucratic processes of traditional banks. Startups don’t have a financial or credit history and that’s why they are often denied corporate credits. Clara gets rid of that red tape and gives startups and big corporations a chance to thrive here in Latin America.

How does Clara help Latin American businesses compete in the global marketplace?

By leveraging Clara’s technological solutions and solid infrastructure, companies are able to grow, rise, and thrive. It’s imperative to match growth with good financial management to reach long-term success. With the bureaucratic processes and often year-long waits to be approved for corporate credit cards, Latin American companies need to remain competitive through agile and integrated digital products that get companies credit and spend management solutions quickly without the red tape.

Where do you see the financial services technology industry going in the future?

In a more technological way, more agile and integrated. Digital payments services and products will rise throughout the region and world.

Where’s Clara expanding next?

Clara has plans to expand into Peru, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and the rest of Latin America.

Copenhagen-based company card start-up Pleo has raised $150 million in a financing round, which was led by Thrive Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Pleo has said that the round, which is now the largest Series C for Danish startups, has led to the company being valued at $1.7 billion. 

Pleo, which sells corporate expense management software and linked smart payments cards, has increased its valuation to $1.7 billion following a $150 million financing round, led by Thrive Capital and Bain Capital Ventures. Following its recent valuation, Pleo is now the latest European fintech firm to reach “unicorn” status. 

Around 70% of Pleo’s profit comes from interchange fees from merchant bank accounts, subtracted each time a customer uses their card. Paid subscriptions are Pleo’s second largest form of revenue. The start-up has said that the coronavirus pandemic has served as an accelerator for its business model. Over the course of 2020, Pleo’s customer base doubled to 17,000 as an increase in remote working offset a decline in international business travel. 

Pleo’s founders were previously employed by Tradeshift, a $1.1 billion fintech company that relocated from Copenhagen to San Francisco. Moving forward, Pleo’s founders plan to use fresh funds to increase the company’s presence in countries like the United Kingdom and boost marketing and PR.

London-based fintech unicorn Revolut has started to apply for a bank charter in the US, the firm announced on Monday.

On the first anniversary of its US launch, the company submitted a draft application with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, the first step in the banking license application process.

“A US banking license would ultimately enable us to provide US customers with all the essential financial products and services they can expect from their primary bank including loans and deposits,” Nik Storonsky, co-founder and CEO of Revolut, said in a statement.

“We’re on a mission to build the world’s first global financial superapp, and pursuing a US banking licence is an integral part of the journey.”

Revolut was granted an EU banking license in Lithuania in December 2018, allowing it to offer banking services in Central Europe. It applied to the FCA and the Prudential Regulation Authority for a UK banking license in January.

The startup also intends to launch its business accounts in all 50 US states. These accounts allow companies to make free money transfers in 29 currencies at the interbank exchange rate, among other features.

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Since launching in the UK in 2015, Revolut has built a customer base of more than 15 million across nearly 40 different countries. Its flagship products include an app-linked debit card that allows users to spend different currencies at the interbank exchange rate with low fees attached.

Revolut’s fintech peers are also seeking bank charters in the US. In February, Brex announced that it would apply for a bank charter in Utah, while Varo Bank obtained a license last summer.

PayPal is an American company operating a worldwide online payment system that supports online money transfers and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper methods like checks and money orders. PayPal is one of the world's largest Internet payment system companies.

Established in 1998, PayPal had its initial public offering in 2002, and became a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay later that year. In 2014, eBay announced plans to spin-off PayPal into an independent company. Today, PayPal has over 200 million users worldwide. Under the kind patronage of Samuel Patterson.

Every year we see more and more up and coming golden eggs in the tech sector, so we thought we’d bring you a quick round up of what to expect for 2017, authored by Ben Little, co-founder Fearlessly Frank.

From the Silicon Valley to our Silicon Roundabout here in East London, new tech businesses are launching daily, each with a huge ambition to replicate the success of recent companies before them. When someone describes their business as “It’s like Uber, only for [insert category]” or “AirBnB for [insert audience demographic]”, hidden in the description is “It’s going to be big”, because the truth is that it could be.

We live in a time full of opportunity: not since the industrial revolution has there been the right conditions for the ‘new’ to overpower the ‘old’ and for growth to be achieved with such amazing speed, as seen with companies like Uber and Airbnb. However, although the conditions are right, the truth is only one in thousands will achieve the success of these amazing businesses, making them very rare and quite fascinating. It’s not surprising we’ve begun calling them unicorns, because they are.

1. Turo is the Airbnb of cars. Anyone who’s been through the hassle of renting a car will appreciate how Turo lets you rent a car wherever and whenever you want. But it’s also a business putting money in the pockets of car owners who don’t need their vehicle every day. 38% of urban residents could easily imagine living without a car, which makes sense since in major cities the cost of congestion to individual households is over $4000 a year. The fact remains though that cars are still incredibly useful at certain times, so peer-to-peer car sharing is surely the next big place for disruption in the automotive space. 2017 should be a big year for Turo.
2. Everyone is talking about VR but these guys 8i are going deeper. We think there is a good chance they are going to make it onto the unicorn list this year. 8i specialises in volumetric human capturing and is building an agnostic platform for creators to build their own content on – so this is VR going beyond gaming. Co-founder Linc Gasking says it’s all about the human dimension. They’re from New Zealand but have expanded to LA and San Francisco. Looking forward to seeing them everywhere else in 2017.
3. With all the news around the pressure the NHS is under, and Trump throwing out ObamaCare, is 2017 the year of the tech MD? Technology enabled healthcare solutions have been around for a while, but perhaps people are now more willing than ever to give them a go. Companies like Babylon Health promise to connect you with a doctor in minutes. With amazing AI and bot technology on the rise, people will be able to seek immediate healthcare advice at the touch of a button. It isn’t surprising that the NHS has been quick to partner with them: the BBC said it was “…as easy as ordering a cab on your phone”. Uber for your GP sounds like it has unicorn potential to me. The question will be how they take an idea like that to market. It won’t be cheap, but the upside could be a totally new way for people to seek the help they need.
4. Vero: The unicorn club has never been complete without a social network or two, Snapchat being one with its recent IPO filing revealing that the company grew revenues by 600% to $404 million in 2016. But it’s an industry that’s growing up quickly. It’s strange to think that an industry only formed in the last two decades could be ripe for reinvention, but the big five - Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Pinterest, are no longer networks, loved and celebrated by the users, but instead are media channels structured to serve up intelligent advertising solutions for brands. Perhaps a percentage of the billions of us who use social media sites might well be interested in trying something new, where the user is put first and their experience and data is protected. The rapid introduction of Snapchat and Instagram into a market we all thought was saturated proves it’s possible. Some have recently tried and failed. Yubl, the social messaging platform that was like Snapchat combined with WhatsApp, had a hugely successful fundraise but sadly couldn’t sustain the investment needed to compete in a tough market. One contender we have been working with could however: the next generation social media platform Vero combines privacy with ease to create a strong user experience that also doesn’t require advertising to make it profitable and grow. It’s less of a media platform and back to the basics of a social network with all the makings of a unicorn… watch this space.
5. Faradion: One thing holding back the entire smartphone industry is the electric battery. These guys in Sheffield recently picked up some investment that will help them scale. Perhaps Samsung’s $3.1B loss on exploding batteries will turn up at Faradion, who are 25% cheaper than current batteries. 2017 should be big for sodium-ion battery tech.

Entry to the Unicorn Club is getting harder. Imagine the next generation of companies existing on a tree of opportunity, the successful companies powering their way into the club have been the low hanging fruit. The next generation of unicorns are going to have to think bigger and aim higher.

The environment that has made start-up success so possible, has now entered the mainstream - big businesses know they need to innovate to survive. If these companies can adopt the behaviour of these successful startups, be willing to enter a parallel universe to try new things and keep both businesses a success - anything is possible.

When you hire well, be daring and have the resource and funds to do it, new insights and ideas can come from dab hands and entrenched brands.