Belvo backed by Citi Ventures

Latin American Open Finance API platform Belvo has received backing from Citi Ventures, the venture capital investing arm of Citi.

Citi Ventures’ investment will facilitate the Open Finance API platform’s growth in Mexico, where it has already begun jointly exploring opportunities to boost the development of the Open Finance ecosystem in Mexico.

Luis Valdich, managing director of venture investing at Citi Ventures, said: “Open Banking represents an enormous opportunity in Latin America as a key enabler of the explosively growing fintech ecosystem in the region, and we are excited to invest in Belvo, which we view as the leading provider in this exciting space.”

The investment, the details of which have not been disclosed, means that Citi Ventures joins Belvo’s existing investors, including Visa, Kaszek Ventures, Founders Fund, Y Combinator, Future Positive, Maya Capital, and FJ Labs.

To date, Belvo has received investment totalling $56 million.

Pablo Viguera, co-CEO and cofounder of Belvo, said: “This investment is yet another great sign of the increasing collaborative efforts that are taking place between fintechs and traditional financial players in Latin America in the context of Open Finance.

“As regulation quickly moves forward in countries like Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, we believe that working together with financial institutions is key to bringing the benefits of these new models to more and more businesses and end-users, and that these collaborations will have a great impact on increasing access to better financial services across the region.”

Sinead O’Connor, corporate director of consumer banking at Citibanamex, added that Citi Ventures’ investment in Belvo will get Citibanamex “closer to Belvo”, by “accelerating our path to develop Open Banking capabilities, while creating omnichannel, and deeply personalised, digital experiences and products for the benefit of our customers”.