Ana Clara Pedotti
05/05/2021 9:40 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 05/05/2021 9:40 AM
The
cryptocurrency boom
is seen not only in rising prices, but also in the
growing interest of institutional investors
in betting on the gears of this business.
Now, the Bitso platform managed to raise in its last round of investments about
US $ 250 million,
which positions it as
the first unicorn specialized in cryptocurrencies in the region
. The players that entered this round were the funds
Tigre Global, Coatue, Softbank, Paradigm, BOND, Valor Capital Group, Kaszek, QED and Pantera Capital.
Thus, Bitso reached a valuation of
US $ 2.2 billion
and managed to become the third most valuable fintech and platform in Latin America.
Daniel Vogel, CEO and Co-Founder Bitso,
commented in dialogue with Clarín. "We are very excited to make this announcement. We have
the largest company in the sector in the region.
But this is beginning to be a challenge that exceeds Latin America:
we are committed to being a very important global player
,
" he
said. "In the region we are beginning to see more and more companies that manage to attract private investors with large amounts: in Argentina we have Ualá, in Brazil we have Nubank. This is beneficial for the entire region, because it is bringing new products and services and improving the competition, "he added.
Founded in 2014 in Mexico, Bitso's growth has gained momentum in the last three years. "We started three people in a small office in Mexico City.
It took us six years to get our first million clients
. Today, less than ten months later, we have exceeded 2 million users."
The company landed in the country just over a year ago and achieved strong growth in its operations, hand in hand with greater interest in the world of investments in crypto assets.
The platform already has 430,000 active users in Argentina.
"The volume of operations was larger in the first quarter of 2021 than in all of 2020. The amount of funds that clients have within the platform has more than doubled in the last five months," he explained.
"We feel a lot of responsibility to be able to make this industry grow throughout the region and in Argentina in particular. We want to
continue growing in the country
, not only from a commercial point of view, but also in terms of what it means for us to
attract local talent
", Vogel assured. "We have incorporated many people to our team here and this round will allow us to continue
expanding our presence in the country:
not only by expanding our offer of financial services, but also by creating
new jobs,
" he said.
Regarding the profile of Argentine users of the platform, the entrepreneur said: "In Argentina we have a large number of
freelance workers,
who are working abroad and are paid with cryptocurrencies. That is allowing these people to stay in the country , with your family,
spend that money locally,
instead of needing to emigrate to be able to work in international companies. "
Regarding the company's future plans, the executive highlighted that in the next quarter they will be able to launch their credit-related option and later deepen their crypto-based payment service.
"There is still a long way to go
. If you ask on the street who has bitcoin, 9 out of 10 people will answer no. So there is still a long way to go.
What we are seeing is that those who start using this technology They do not only do it as an investment, but they choose it for their day to day, "
said the executive.
YN
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