Fintech in Uruguay 2020 (beta)

Contxto – Talk about overachievers. Uruguay has often been proven that big things can come in small packages. But, could it be that country’s fintech industry is the exception that proves the rule?

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a country with a market size just shy of 3.5 million people, Uruguay has a small selection of fintechs. As it stands, 13 stand out—one less than at the beginning of 2020, since we lost CryptoFacil a few months back.

• Related article: Cryptofacil reaches a tough decision: it’s closing down

But don’t let appearances fool you. The contenders on this list are no pushovers. In fact, after some successful scaling across the region, many are well on their way to global expansion.

Startup missing?

Fintech in Uruguay

The main subdivision of Uruguay’s fintech industry is made up of five parts. These are fintech enterprise services (FES), payments, exchange, open banking, and investments. 

FES concentrates this fintech cohort’s focus, offering software to other companies in need of cutting edge online financial services. A booming vertical thanks to the pandemic. Indeed, these startups are no doubt doing their part in making Uruguay one of Latin America’s rare Covid-19 success stories. 

An interesting nascent sector is open banking, and the two fintechs covering this sector are illustrative of it:

Tuna is barely nascent, but it is clearly promising. It raised an undisclosed round from Canary Ventures before even launching. Meanwhile, Prometeo also has its sights set beyond Uruguay. Its API platform allows for users to interoperate within the entire Latam financial sector.   

Related articles: Tech and startups in Uruguay!

-AG