Creditas, Brazil’s largest secured loan fintech, raised $50 million in July to buy the Brazilian banking licence of Andorran private bank Andbank. It financed the move by extending a January 2022 Series F round that had valued the company at $4.8 billion, up from a previous valuation of $1.75 billion in December 2020.
It is quite a contrast to publicly listed comparables such as Stone and PagSeguro, whose values fell by 60% in the first half of this year.
Sergio Furio, founder and chief executive of Creditas, says he bought the banking licence to broaden the firm’s funding base.
“I expect that in the near-term, having a banking licence will lead us to shift to a deposit-funding model of around 25%,” he says. “The main strategy continues being capital markets, but now with the banking licence we can complement it with a more efficient deposit-based strategy.”
I expect that in the near-term, having a banking licence will lead us to shift to a deposit-funding model of around 25%
Furio thinks that Creditas’ credit portfolio, which today stands at R$5 billion ($980 million), will reach R$10 billion by the end of 2023, and could approach R$20 billion by the end of 2024.
