Contxto – Brazilian BizCapital raised some equity capital of its own. Yesterday (17) the lending startup for businesses announced it closed a Series B round for US$12 million courtesy of DEG, a development finance institution from Germany and a subsidiary of KfW Group.
Another newcomer to join the table was MELI Fund, the corporate venture arm of Mercado Libre. Participants from previous rounds contributed to BizCapital‘s latest investment as well.
The fintech will use a part of the funds to develop new products for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Brazil. It shall also serve to create new distribution channels.
BizCapital had already raised a seed round through Monashees and 42K Investimentos in January of 2018. In September of that same year it closed its Series A for US$5 million through Quona Capital.
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Lending fintech BizCapital
Like other lending startups that have raised funding recently, BizCapital is quite clear-headed as to what comes next.
“What we aim to achieve with these new resources is to continue helping entrepreneurs during the entire life cycle of their companies. With the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, BizCapital continues to support companies with an increasingly active role,” said Francisco Ferreira, co-Founder and CEO at BizCapital.
Up until now, the fintech has worked with 5,000 customers in over 1,200 cities in Brazil. However, given the pandemic’s impact on businesses, BizCapital has likely experienced a rise in demand for loans.
And given that SMEs are very much the backbone of the Brazilian economy, they can’t be ignored.
By the numbers: SMEs in Brazil account for 62 percent of the country’s total employment.
Moreover, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), one of the hindrances for these businesses to prosper are tight credit market conditions. Mainly in the form of high interest rates and short loan maturities.
In that sense, Brazilian fintechs like BizCapital want to give them some credit.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Brazil!
-ML
