Fintech
Aplazo raises $45 billion from QED investors to expand BNPL in Mexico
Mexican fintech Aplazo has closed its $70 million Series B, including an additional $45 million in new equity funding in a round led by QED investors.
Since its founding in 2020, the now four-year-old fintech Buy Now Pay Later has amassed more than $100 million in equity funding and $75 million in committed debt funding. In the latest round, Volpe Capital and QED, together with venture capital investors Oak HC/FT, Kaszek and Picus Capital, contributed to the financing.
Aplazo provides end users with a virtual card that allows them to make purchases in numerous stores with the option to defer payment until later. The fintech specializes in these split payments for offline and online merchants, serving shoppers without access to a credit card.
“Aplazo aimed to become the preferred payment method in Mexico through fair, simple and transparent financial solutions, rather than traditional credit products that lure users into a debt trap,” said Angel Peña, CEO and co-founder of Aplazo. “This behavior has been common practice in Mexico over the past decades and we put the consumer at the center of our offering of fair payment solutions.”
A tangible alternative to cash
In countries like Mexico, where there is a substantial population with insufficient access to banks, BNPL platforms like Aplazo offer a tangible alternative to cash. The company said it will use the additional capital to double its BNPL product offerings and develop artificial intelligence capabilities to better serve customer and merchant behavioral analytics.
“We serve as a growth lever for our merchant partners to attract new customers and increase online and in-store sales,” said Alex Wieland, co-founder of Aplazo.
Lending to the poor in Latin America is not without risk, prompting fintechs to increasingly rely on new technologies to predict consumer behavior and improve risk assessments before making loans.
The company said its loss rates were in the single digits, ranking it as “one of the lowest in the country.” The company said that nearly 40% of Aplazo users have no credit history, but its approval rate for loan applications exceeds 80%.
Aplazo is now “close to breakeven”
The company said this funding round follows a three-fold increase in revenue, driven by the expansion of its market share among online and offline merchants in Mexico. In a press release, the company said it has been operating “close to breakeven” for the past two months.
Aplazo has emerged as a major fintech player in the Mexican BNPL space by targeting the offline retail market, which is estimated to account for approximately 93% of total retail sales in Mexico. It said in-store transactions now contribute to more than half of its business.
“We see an opportunity to provide deeper engagement with our customers as they begin to transact more frequently with us,” Peña said, adding that Aplazo’s BNPL product “resonates well with Mexico’s underserved population.”
QED partner and Latam head Mike Packer celebrated the deal. “Angel and Alex have surrounded themselves with a world-class team that we believe is only scratching the surface of consumer and merchant payments opportunities in Mexico.” The company’s regional portfolio includes other fintech companies such as Bitso, Creditas, Credit Karma, Konfio and Nubank.
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David is a Latin American journalist. He regularly reports on the region for global news organizations such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Financial Times and Americas Quarterly.
He worked for S&P Global Market Intelligence as a Latin America financial reporter and gained experience on fintech and market trends in the region.
He lives in Buenos Aires.