Argentina-based payment fintech company Ualá has raised $350 million in a funding round which has raised the company’s valuation to $2.45 billion, according to media reports.
The funding round led by the Chinese-based Tencent Holdings and SoftBank Group’s Latin America focussed fund.
Other participants in the funding round included Soros Fund Management, funds managed by affiliates of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Ribbit Capital, Greyhound Capital, Monashees and Endeavor Catalyst. New funds, such as D1 Capital Partners and 166 2nd.
This round is believed to be the largest private raise ever by an Argentinian company and brings Ualá’s total raised to $544 million since the company started in 2017. Ualá offers Mastercard branded prepaid cards and users have access to a plethora of financial services like sending and receiving money, online shopping, withdrawing cash at ATMs and requesting loans.
The company already has a headcount of 1,000 and plans to raise that number to 1,500 by the end of this year. In June, the company said it had issued more than three million Mastercard branded prepaid cards in Argentina and they are trying to expand through the acquisition of rival Wilobank, the first fully digital bank approved by the central bank in Argentina.
Founder and CEO Pierpaolo Barbieri said that his primary goal was to create a platform that would bring all financial services into one app linked to one card. At present, the fintech company has a complete financial ecosystem with a global Mastercard card, bill payment options, investment products, personal loans, installments (BNPL) and insurance.
They have also launched Ualá Bis that caters specifically to entrepreneurs and merchants and it allows selling through a payment link or mobile point-of-sales (mPOS).