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Bolda financial technology company building electronic payment infrastructure in Colombia, raised $50 million in Series C funding in a round led by existing investor General Atlantic.
The International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, joined existing investors InQLab and Amador in the round. In total, Bold has raised $130 million, company co-founder and CEO José Vélez told TechCrunch.
Bold offers low-cost payment terminals, called dataphones, that enable small and medium-sized businesses to accept link payments and other local payment methods.
“COVID has accelerated the transition to electronic payments, or digital payments, in the country, and we are the beneficiaries of this transition,” Vélez said.
TechCrunch profiled the company when it raised a $55 million Series B round in 2022. At that time, the payment service provider had around 100,000 merchants using its services per month. Now, one year later, 50,000 more monthly active traders have been added. Bold also has more than 800 employees, up from 380 in 2022.
Meanwhile, revenue has increased sixfold since 2022, and Vélez said the company is growing rapidly. Bold has approximately 3% market share in terms of current volume in Colombia.
“Other companies, for example in Brazil, have reached 10% market share. So we believe there is a big opportunity when we can triple or even more our volume in the next three to five years,” Velez said. “We have put a lot of effort into gaining market share, being a relevant player and achieving scale. »
He did not disclose the company’s valuation, but said it was similar to Bold’s Series B valuation.
Cash remains king in Latin America, but electronic payments are gaining ground as the younger generation embraces credit cards and online shopping. Bold works alongside other startups, like Pomelo, Liquid And From Matt — to name just a few, to gain market share.
Bold founders, from left, Sergio Vergara, José Vélez, Ana Sandoval and Jorge Ulloa: Image credits: Bold
Where Bold differentiates itself is by adding layers of additional services beyond payments, said Luiz Ribeiro, managing director and co-head of General Atlantic’s Brazil office.
“The first layer is all the financial products and services you can add, like insurance,” Ribeiro said in an interview. “Then you can, in parallel, add software solutions to, for example, help merchants not only accept payments, but also manage their own finances. When they are able to offer banking services and software in the next five years, that will mean success.
With this new funding, Bold plans to strengthen its roadmap and product offerings. Vélez also wants to focus on expanding its business from a payment link provider to a more global offering for merchants.
The company also recently received its financial institution license to offer a bank account to merchants and will be cross-selling this account to its merchants over the next 12 months.
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