FTC leads investment in Latam fintech, Minka
We are very excited to announce that we led the Series Seed financing in LatAm fintech startup, Minka. Additional investors in the round included Mastercard, Colle Capital, Collaborative Fund, Carvajal, and DEG (German government development bank).
Minka is bringing real-time payment infrastructure to Latin America using distributed ledger technology. Currently, cash is still king in Latin America - with only a 9% penetration of digital transactions as a result of slow and obsolete technology infrastructure. Minka's first implementation will be a partnership with ACH Colombia and its 28 member banks to bring low cost, real-time peer-to-peer payments to the entire country of Colombia.
FinTech Collective got introduced to Minka CEO, Domagoj Rozic, through a long-time friend of the firm and mutual emerging markets investor. We’ve been continually impressed by Dom’s ideal mix of technical prowess and commercial savinness, maintaining a push-the-boundaries, hacker culture within Minka despite serving some very large and important global banking partners.
"For the fintech revolution to occur in Colombia and Latin America more broadly, critical infrastructure rails must first be established. It is very difficult to solve the problems of financial inclusion and the use of cash without the modern infrastructure to move money.”
Sean Lippel, Principal at FinTech Collective and Minka Board Member
FTC Summary
Peer-to-peer ACH bank transfers in the region take two days to complete and cost $3 - $5 per transaction, regardless of the size. The Latin America region also suffers from no existence of an open banking standard or a Plaid-like equivalent for financial account connectivity.
Minka’s blockchain-based second layer technical solution is highly scalable and allows for real-time payments, without requiring material changes to its partner’s core banking stack. By building this much needed payment infrastructure layer that other apps can easily plug into through API endpoints, Minka will help foster fintech innovation in Latin America.
Media Highlights
Colombian fintech Minka raised US $ 3 million to facilitate real-time payments, Forbes
Minka raises US $ 3 million to develop fintech infrastructure in Latam, Contxto
Colombian fintech Minka raised US $ 3 million to facilitate real-time payments based on Open Banking and Blockchain, LatAm Fintech Hub