Colombian startup Ontop announced its second round of investment of 2021: a $20 million Series A led by Tiger and Point72 Ventures. SoftBank’s SB Opportunity fund also participated.
With this round, Ontop has raised a total investment of $26 million during its first year of existence. Its founders are Santiago Aparicio and Julián Torres, who previously created the startup Fitpal. Jaime Avella, founder of Gentemóvil, is Ontop’s third founder.
Having created and operated these two companies made the three entrepreneurs see the need to solve payments and manage the members of increasingly international work teams.
That is why they created Ontop in mid-2020. The company offers an automated platform for startups to easily manage international hiring, compliance, and payment processes. This product allowed them to participate in Y Combinator’s winter acceleration program.
“We began to obsess over what international workers want. We are building several financial products made especially for them,” said Aparicio, CEO of Ontop, to Refresh Miami.
Ontop’s platform is already being used in 67 countries, allowing transactions in international payments. According to information provided by the company, it has grown its customer base by 40% month by month since its creation and its workforce increased by 130% only in the last quarter of 2020, while also opening operations in Africa and Asia.
Ontop is now headquartered inMiami, which has become a hub for technology and Latin American talent.
The opportunity of the future of work
The Covid 19 pandemic accelerated a trend for the future of work: work teams made up of employees from any geographic location, capable of working in different time zones.
A survey by Enterprise Technology Research estimates that the percentage of workers who work permanently from home will double during 2021. Recode even predicts that by 2025, 70% of the world’s workforce will work remotely for at least five days a month.
This opportunity is particularly beneficial for regions like Latin America, which have an increasingly prepared workforce. In this scenario, platforms facilitating an operation with international employees, like Ontop, are full of potential.
