Creditas closes US$ 50 million round, the largest fintech round of 2017 in Latin America

Sao Paulo, December 2017

Creditas, the leading Brazilian secured lending platform with a mission to restructure Brazilian household debt and drastically reduce the high interest rates paid by consumers, announces its US$ 50 million Series-C funding round. This new round was led by Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF), a publicly traded investment company focused on early and growth stage fintech companies across emerging and frontier markets, based in Sweden. Current investors also participated in the round, including Kaszek Ventures, Quona Capital, QED Investors, International Finance Corporation and Naspers Fintech.

Creditas has grown seven times in the last 12 months and plans to use the new funds to support the fintech’s expansion plan, with significant investments in technology and expansion of its client base. With a staff of 285 and growing, Creditas plans to develop new products and explore new markets in the coming year.

“We want to maintain our accelerated growth in the coming years, we are just at the beginning and want to be 30 times bigger in three years. Moreover, our goal is to lead the dissemination of secured loans in Brazil, as the main instrument to lower interest rates to consumers, promoting healthy and productive borrowing behaviors”, says Sergio Furio, Creditas founder and CEO.

Creditas is a digital-first secured lending platform, with a mission of reducing the Brazilian consumer debt burden by offering consumer loans at more affordable rates. Brazilians are paying some of the highest interest rates on the planet in the unsecured lending space, while at the same time approximately 70% of home and car owners don’t have mortgage or auto financing. Creditas leverages these assets that represent US$ 3 trillion in the country to offer home and auto secured loans at more reasonable rates, as is the norm in markets like the US and Europe. Creditas was founded in 2012 by Sergio Furio and is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

“We believe Brazil offers one of the most attractive fintech market opportunities globally and Creditas is tackling this opportunity with a very unique approach. Creditas has one of the strongest management teams we have come across coupled with deep moats built over the 5 years the business has been in existence. We look forward to supporting Sergio and the team on the journey ahead”, comments Vostok Emerging Finance Managing Director Dave Nangle.

About Creditas Creditas is a secured lending platform, operating with a mission of reducing the Brazilian consumer debt burden and significantly reducing interest rates. Based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Creditas has a staff of 285 and employs technology and data-driven intelligence to generate efficiency and reinvent the borrower’s experience. The company operates across the secured lending value chain, including customer acquisition, credit origination, pricing, documentation, and servicing, keeping the relationship with customers through their full journey. The company has two credit investment funds that provide liquidity from investors to fund the loans to its customers. Creditas is backed by venture capital funds and institutional investors, including Redpoint eVentures, Kaszek Ventures, Quona Capital, QED Investors, International Finance Corporation (“IFC” from the World Bank), Naspers Fintech and Vostok Emerging Finance.

About Vostok Emerging Finance Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF) invests in early and growth stage fintech companies across emerging and frontier markets. VEF is structured as a publicly traded investment company, trading under the ticker VEMF SDB and listed on Nasdaq First North in Stockholm.