From left to right: Mercedes Bidart, CEO; Viviana Siless, CTO and Juan Constain, COO
Grupo Bancolombia has made a significant investment of US$1.5 million in Quipu, a Colombian fintech (not the Invoice software in Barcelona) specializing in providing working capital to micro and small enterprises. This investment, part of Quipu’s seed funding round, comes as the fintech is enhancing its technological product and expanding its operations nationally.
Mercedes Bidart, co-founder and CEO of Quipu, expressed ambitions to revolutionize digital credit access for the popular economy and transform the financial system over the next five years. Quipu aspires to become the preferred choice for those overlooked by traditional financial systems, especially those most in need of assistance.
A key focus for Quipu has been aligning with the practicality of Grupo Bancolombia’s digital wallets. Currently, over 80% of Quipu’s disbursements are processed through platforms like Bancolombia, A la mano, and Nequi.
The fresh capital injection will strengthen Quipu’s “ladder credit” product, which offers increasingly larger credit limits based on a point system that considers the customer’s payment behavior, including those with negative credit reports. Additionally, Quipu aims to improve the credit life of small business owners by generating positive credit bureau reports.
Quipu positions itself as an accessible, fair, and alternative option for these entrepreneurs, predominantly women, who need quick funding for increasing production or covering expenses like supplier payments.
Quipu’s unique system employs an AI-based algorithm to assess risk and payment capacity, providing production capital to credit applicants. The company’s investors include not only Bancolombia but also esteemed partners like MIT’s Met Fund and E14, Flori Ventures, Vertical Partners, Caffeinated Capital, G2, Istari Ventures, and BID Lab, which recently granted Quipu a second capital injection after winning a gender and AI contest in Latin America.
