Fintech Company EBANX Is the Newest Unicorn in Latin America

FTV Capital Leads Follow-On Investment in Company Providing Payment and eCommerce Capabilities for Global Businesses

EBANX, a payments fintech company headquartered in Brazil that connects global businesses to Latin American consumers, has raised a significant follow-on investment from FTV Capital, a US-based growth equity investment firm. The investment contributed to making the fintech company the newest unicorn of Latin America.

“Becoming a unicorn reflects the unique solutions we have created to meet the demands of some of the world’s most recognized brands since we founded EBANX in 2012. From the start, our focus has been on connecting people in Latin America to global companies providing access and a seamless ability to transact. This investment from our partner FTV Capital highlights the continued success we have had in delivering best-in-class platform to our customers, and shines the light on Latin America as a massively attractive region for commerce,” said Alphonse Voigt, co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO) of EBANX.

With Latin America’s fast-growing market and highly positive forecasts for the region, EBANX consolidates itself as a complete payment solution for global companies looking to expand their businesses in Latin America. Global ecommerce enterprises such as AliExpress, Wish, Gearbest, Pipedrive, Spotify, and Airbnb (these two in a partnership with Worldline) rely on EBANX to power their business in the region. EBANX’s solution goes beyond the payment processing itself – providing market intelligence services, analytics, anti-fraud strategies, 24/7 customer service in local language of Latin American customers, and localized marketing consultancy.

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“We have a deep knowledge of the Latin American market. We engage closely with our consumers and are always looking out for our merchants’ needs. In order to succeed in Latin America, it is very important to understand the specificities of each country, and that’s exactly what EBANX offers technology, proximity, and solutions that fit seamlessly into the region’s context and are tailored to our merchant’s business models. This lowers the barrier to entry in the market and increases the Total Addressable Market,” said Voigt.

EBANX is continuing to expand its operations throughout Latin America and aims to increase its global business development efforts. In 2018, the company hired Henrik Nilsmo as chief commercial officer (CCO), and will continue to invest in adding talents, specifically in sales, marketing, and IT. The business development vertical emphasizes North America, Europe and Asia. Recently, the company also announced partnerships with:

• Uber Pay – In September, EBANX announced it had become a payment partner for the new Uber Pay ecosystem to process cash vouchers and bank transfer payments for Uber in Brazil and other countries in Latin America.
• Shopify – New integrations throughout LatAm countries.
• Coursera, Scribd, Ctrip – Expanded cross-border payment processing in LatAm.
• Spotify – In a partnership with Worldline, EBANX started collaborating in the expansion project of Spotify throughout Latin America.
• Visa – Visa partnered with EBANX to expand their Cities of the Future program in the Brazilian state of Paraná to increase the use of electronic payments.

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EBANX will also grow its product portfolio, including the expansion of EBANX Pay, a solution for local payment processing in Latin America. The solution first launched in Brazil in April for Brazilian businesses selling locally, and it is expected to launch in Colombia in 2020, followed by other countries in the region.

“EBANX is already a leader in cross-border payment processing, specializing in Latin America, and we will continue to build on this expertise. We also want to use our experience to build and enhance different products, such as local processing. By 2022 we aim to be the leader of both cross-border and local payments, for global companies in Latin America,” said Voigt.

History with FTV Capital

In December 2017 EBANX raised a $30 million US dollars growth equity investment from FTV Capital, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst. The funding was focused on expanding the reach of EBANX operations within Latin America, and it was the first investment raised by the company. Since that investment, EBANX has grown 80% across all its verticals.

“EBANX has consistently outperformed our expectations, nearly doubling processing volumes in two years to over $2 billion US dollars,” said Robert Anderson, partner at FTV Capital. “The Latin American ecommerce market is projected to double by 2023, making solutions that reduce friction and help merchants sell more highly attractive to businesses looking to capitalize on this large, underpenetrated market opportunity. FTV is excited to continue to support the company given EBANX’s proven management team, differentiated product offering and customer centric approach.”

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