Citi Ventures invests in LatAm open finance fintech Belvo

Citi Ventures,  the venture capital arm of one of the world’s largest investment banks, has invested in Belvo. 

The undisclosed investment into Belvo, an open finance API platform in Latin America,  will fund the co-development of an ‘open finance ecosystem’ in Mexico between the bank and fintech. 

Pablo Viguera, co-CEO and cofounder of Belvo, said Belvo was “ecstatic” to collaborate with Citi and was evident of a trend of increasing open finance collaboration between fintechs and traditional financial players in Latin America.

“As regulation quickly moves forward in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, we believe that working together with financial institutions is key to bringing the benefits of these new models to more and more businesses and end-users, and that these collaborations will have a great impact on increasing access to better financial services across the region,“ he said.

Belvo, which closed a $43m Series A round in which Visa also participated, is similar to Plaid in that it helps institutions and banks with secure connections for end users’ financial data.

It currently provides connectivity through its API platform to over 60 financial institutions and works with over 150 clients, including financial institutions and fintechs in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia such as Tribanco, Rappi, Mobills, and Mercado Libre.

Belvo was founded in 2019 by Pablo Viguera and Oriol Tintoré and is backed by some of the Kaszek, Founders Fund, Future Positive, and Kibo Ventures, and has received a total of $56m.

“At Citibanamex, we aim to offer the best banking experience in Mexico. Citi Ventures’ investment in Belvo will get Citibanamex closer to Belvo, accelerating our path to develop Open Banking capabilities while creating omnichannel, and deeply personalized, digital experiences and products for the benefit of our customers,” said Sinead O´Connor, Corporate Director of Consumer Banking, Citibanamex.