PayU, known as the PayPal of emerging economies, made a double bet in Latin America to expand its presence: it bought the mobile payment platform Ding and led a US$46 million investment in Treinta, a financial app for small businesses. Both are from Colombia.
PayU is the fintech bet of the Dutch investment firm Prosus, with operations in more than 50 countries.“Our recent activity in Colombia reflects PayU‘s desire to provide seamless online and cross-border transactions for merchants and consumers,” said Mario Shiliashki, PayU’s global CEO, in a press release.
Ding provides products for businesses to accept payments with debit cards, credit cards, and QR codes. Also, it makes it possible for those who use their services to sell phone top-ups and digital content. These could be favorable for PayU to integrate into its platform of products. PayU did not disclose the price of Ding’s purchase.
For its part, the recent raising of Treinta led by PayU was a US$46 million Series A. Investors such as LionTree Partners, Ethos VCT, and EN13 also participated. According to data from Crunchbase, with this latest round, the startup accumulates US$60.8 million in funds.
With a year and a half in the market, Treinta has previously been backed by Y Combinator, Levels Up Ventures, Outbound Ventures, Luxor Capital, Mango.vc, Goodwater Capital, Soma Capital, First Check Venture, Houston Angel Network, FJ Labs, Commerce Ventures, Rhombuz Ventures, Acacia Venture Partners, and Evening Fund.
Currently, Treinta has around four million customers, many of them small businesses from 18 countries.
“By acquiring and investing in businesses like Ding and Treinta, both global and local SMEs are able to expand their business within LatAm, providing the best payments service with the consumer experience first in mind,” said Francisco León, PayU’s CEO for Latin America.
