Clara fintech, new Mexican unicorn, starts operations in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mexican fintech Clara announced that it received a Series B financing round for US$70 million, reaching a valuation of US$1 billion, which places it in the unicorn classification.

Clara began operations in early 2021 along with a US$3.5 million pre-seed round. Since then, the startup’s growth has been meteoric.

In less than a year, the startup achieved what Kavak, Bitso, Clip, and Konfío (the other four startups that are also unicorns in Mexico) took several years to complete, which strengthened the Mexican entrepreneurial ecosystem and also announced its arrival to the Brazilian market.

Founded by Gerry Giacomán and Diego García in 2020, the startup began its operations in Mexico in March 2021 with an eye on the potential of the B2B financial solutions market. Clara offers an end-to-end solution for spending management for companies.

In October, it announced a partnership with Mastercard to issue corporate cards to its customers – the operations in Brazil will also be supported by the payments giant. In addition to corporate credit cards in physical and virtual formats with no annual fee and customizable limits and restrictions, the company has a platform for controlling expenses.

This company focuses on corporate expense management to support companies’ financial growth, offering businesses real-time control and visibility of company expenses through easy-to-use corporate credit cards.

CONQUERING THE MARKET

The startup also announced the official start of its operations in Brazil, where it already has a team of 40 people, including the country manager, Layon Costa.

They already have a portfolio that reaches 100 clients, among which are the regional operations of other Mexican startups that have also arrived in the South American country, such as Kavak.

In March 2021, Clara achieved a US$30 million Series A led by DST Global Partners and Monashees and Kaszek Ventures funds. This brings its total to US$33.5 million in three months since its official startup in Mexico.

“We were not looking for a new round of financing, but we are in good contact with several investors, and there was a lot of enthusiasm when we saw the infrastructure and the solidity of what we are doing,” said Gerry Giacomán, CEO and founder of Clara.

According to Gerry Giacomán, Clara provides its financial management and administration services to startups such as Kavak, Jüsto, Jokr, and Casai and large corporations, such as an airline bank in Mexico, that already use its product.

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