Citi buys stake in Peruvian foreign exchange fintech


FILE PHOTO: The Citigroup Inc (Citi) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. Picture taken October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/File Photo

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup has acquired a stake in Peruvian foreign exchange startup Rextie, its first fintech investment in Latin America.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Citi and Rextie executives said the bank is injecting cash into the company to finance its growth. Rextie, founded in 2016, has closed so far $4.5 billion in forex transactions and expects to reach $7 billion by the end of next year.

Rextie provides forex transactions through digital channels to 12,000 mid-sized and small companies in Peru and 170,000 individuals. The company also provides factoring and payment processing to companies.

Aldo Alvarez, Head of Institutional Strategic and Fintech Investments for LATAM at Citi, said the deal creates opportunities to offer the bank's products to Rextie clients.

The deal comes as the funding of Latin American startups sharply dropped this year. The first quarter saw a 54% drop from the same period last year, according to CB Insights, and volume was the lowest in three years.

The startup has not been burning cash to grow, its CEO and co-founder Mateu Batle said, adding: "We have turned to profit after one year and a half."

(Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer; editing by Miral Fahmy)

Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!

   

Next In Tech News

Study: Smart devices gathering excessive amounts of personal data
Android: How to get back notifications you accidentally swiped away
How to transfer data from an old console to the Playstation 5 Pro
Missing spooky season? Here are more video games to sate your appetite for horror
Instagram criticised for cutting video quality on less popular posts
Why Google is splitting future Android updates into two-stage releases
WhatsApp rival Signal now lets tidy your chats into folders
Review: With PlayStation 5 Pro, Sony creates attractive alternative to high-end gaming PC
OpenAI's ChatGPT back up after brief outage
Booking.com could cut jobs as part of reorganization plan

Others Also Read