Colombian consumer credit fintech Addi lands $15m

Written by Ruby Hinchliffe
26th May 2020

Addi, a Colombian fintech which offers consumer credit in as little as four minutes, has landed a $15 million investment round, Latam Fintech reports.

Led by Quona Capital, the backer of fellow Latino fintech start-ups such as micro-businesses credit platform Konfío, and car loan provider Créditas, the round also saw participation from LendingClub backer Foundation Capital, and S7 Ventures.

“We are aware that difficult months are coming, but in the long term we see a very great opportunity,” says CEO

Andreessen Horowitz and Monashees, one of Brazil’s biggest venture capital firms, also made fresh contributions, bringing the total raised to $31 million.

The start-up, which is now the most venture capital-funded Colombian fintech, has not disclosed its valuation.

Addi will use the fresh capital to continue issuing point of sale (PoS) credits, as well as to increase its digital capacity and boost its product development.

The 75-person fintech is also looking to expand. Pandemic-permitting, it wants to branch out into Brazil and Mexico before the year is out.

Before Addi, which was created in 2018, founder and CEO Santiago Suárez was vice president of strategy for San Francisco-based LendingClub. Prior to this, he led JP Morgan’s global innovation team in New York and London.

“We are aware that difficult months are coming, but in the long term we see a very great opportunity,” says Suarez.

“We have a new ally who told us that in April he achieved online sales that he expected by 2026. The opportunity is that in our countries we have a habit of financing and the system is more restrictive.”

Addi delivers credit at the time of payment for a product or service. It works a lot like a payment button, and tries to guarantee the same offering for those buying at physical points as through ecommerce platforms.

It allows a seller to have access to a consumer’s ID, email and phone number when they enter a physical store, which acts as “sufficient” data for the Addi to run a credit risk analysis.

“The client only needs WhatsApp, because that is where we collect and close the contract,” says Suarez.

The start-up’s integration with V-Tex, which rolled out in January, allows sellers to ‘onboard’ with Addi and use this platform to sell. The fintech says it has a presence in 1,200 stores in 85 municipalities of Colombia.

So far, Addi claims it has issued $100 billion in loans for more than 70,000 consumers.