Liquido, a U.S.-based fintech founded by Chinese citizens, has just obtained the license from the Central Bank to operate as a payment entity in Brazil.
Operating in the same segment as companies like Stripe, which provides infrastructure for electronic commerce transactions, the platform has focused on the needs of Latin America and can now compete globally.
“The lack of this license was a limitation. Until now, we had focused on providing basic payment connectivity services, which, by the way, were going very well. This license will allow us to reach our full potential,” reveals MK Li, one of the founders of the fintech.
Liquido has been operating in Brazil for just under two years and already conducts transactions equivalent to USD$1 billion annually in the country.
In Mexico, competing for the position of the main market for fintech, the current POS is the same. The startup also operates in Colombia and Chile, with smaller volumes.
With the new license, it will be able to serve its customers directly, but this is a long-term plan. However, there is great potential unlocked by the Central Bank’s approval for the platform to operate its WhatsApp e-commerce solution without intermediaries in the second-largest country with the highest number of users of this messaging platform.
Although Meta chat has already developed its own button for transfers and financial transactions, Liquido will not depend on it.
Its solution, called Payment Plus (PPP), allows creating an e-commerce within WhatsApp itself so that merchants can sell products without having to pay for them.
In addition to WhatsApp, Liquido is betting everything on Latin products. Outside the system of major banks, the platform is already one of the main transaction platforms for Pix.
It is also preparing to accept Drex in its transactions. It is a natural step, explains MK, as less than 30% of Latinos have a credit card.
Much of what the platform has built comes from the experience of its founders in large technology companies and with popular applications in the country.
While Li was a product director at companies like Google and Microsoft, his founding partner Shanxiang Qi worked at Uber and Didi, where he observed how Latin markets still relied on physical money.
That’s why Liquido has been concerned with anti-fraud solutions since its pre-operational phase. A tool called Payment Success Booster can flag scams and suspicious transactions, through a real-time control panel, block operations, and even recover payments via WhatsApp.
In 2021, Liquido raised two rounds before reaching Brazil. The fintech company raised a total of USD$26 million from funds such as Index Ventures, Base Partners, Restive Ventures, Mantis VC, and UpHonest Capital.
To obtain more capital, the fintech is waiting for a more opportune moment in the market and to achieve more attractive numbers for investors, with a break-even point from the second half of 2024.
