The International Finance Corporation (IFC) – the private sector institution of the World Bank Group – and impact venture capital firm Elevar Equity each contributed $4m to the fundraise. The involvement of these entities speaks volumes to the positioning of the Afluenta platform. The investment strategy of each participating company is built up around effecting progress in developing countries. Afluenta satisfies that criteria by leading the development of peer-to-peer lending in Latin America. This is the first time that Elevar Equity has invested in a peer-to-peer lending company in Latin America, and IFC’s first investment within the peer-to-peer lending space globally.
Peer-to-peer lending has been slow to establish itself in Latin America. So slow, in fact, that we’ve scarcely covered the market at all. There simply hasn’t been the news flow. Rocket Internet-backed platform Lendico entered into the Brazilian market in July last year via a partnership with Banco BMG. Lendahand is a Dutch peer-to-peer lending outfit that facilitates investments across a number of emerging markets, including Colombia. That’s about the extent of our coverage in the region.
Afluenta launched in Argentina in 2012 and branched out into Peru last year. The $8m Series B investment will be used to accelerate the platform’s ambitious expansion plans, which involve taking its services to Mexico, Colombia and Brazil within the next 12 months. Alejandro Cosentino, Founder and CEO of Afluenta, provided further detail:
"We are grateful to Elevar Equity and IFC for their support and commitment to Afluenta’s growth and success. This Series B world class investors give us valuable resources to further develop our evolving technology, develop new products, offer much better service to our customer base and expand our reach to a whole new segments of potential customers."
Johanna Posada Gil, Co-Founder at Elevar, also weighed in:
"Afluenta is uniquely positioned to lead the emerging class of innovative FinTech companies in Latin America. Already a leader in Argentina, Afluenta will expand marketplace lending to multiple countries in the region and disrupt traditional models for loans and investments, making these services more accessible and affordable to millions of people."
