● The fastest growing challenger bank in Mexico seeks to reach more than 500,000 users in the next 12 months.
● Fondeadora is Google´s most recent and first bet in a FinTech company worldwide.
Mexico City, August 31, 2020: Fondeadora (https://fondeadora.com/), Fondeadora, the Mexican challenger bank leader in the market, closed a Series A investment round of US$14 MM led by Gradient Ventures, Google’s early stage venture fund. Also, participated in this round Scott Belsky, Product Director of Adobe and Founder of Behance – the largest online platform for showcasing the creative industry works – as well as other investment funds like Y Combinator, IGNIA, FinTech Collective and Sound Ventures, this last founded by Ashton Kutcher.
“We are very excited to partner with Norman and Rene and their vision of building the best neobank experience in Latam” said Darian Shirazi, General Partner of Gradient Ventures / Google. “The growth they have shown, as well as the user experience they have built, gives us full confidence that Fondeadora will become one of the main ways for Mexican consumers to move, spend and save their money”.
Gradient Ventures is Google’s investment fund focused on supporting early stage startups by providing capital, resources and education. Founded in July 2017, Gradient has invested in 60 companies whereby Fondeadora is its most recent and first bet in a FinTech company worldwide.
“While financial markets are focused on financial optimization, design focuses on user experience”, said Rene Serrano, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Fondeadora. “As founders, we decided to reinvent the bank, through a design-driven vision”.
Created in 2018, Fondeadora was co-founded by Norman Müller and Rene Serrano, a couple of designers who saw the opportunity to merge technology and design, to revolutionize the banking experience for Mexicans. Through its services, Fondeadora seeks to facilitate consumer’s immediate access to their money and give them freedom to use it whenever they want.
“We are very excited to continue supporting Norman and Rene in consolidating the leading position of Fondeadora in the Mexican FinTech sector. The great team they have managed to put together coupled with Fondeadora’s highly innovative solution, have the potential to revolutionize the way Mexicans use financial services. Likewise, welcoming such relevant co-investors in the Mexican startup ecosystem is a great satisfaction”, said Fabrice Serfati, Partner of IGNIA.
Just one year after starting operations in Mexico, Fondeadora has more than 150,000 active deposit accounts, receives monthly transactions for more than MX$400 MM and experiences growth of 40% month over month. In addition, it operates with the technological and operational infrastructure of a bank, which increases the type of services that it can offer to its users.
“México continues to lag in the financial services industry, there is still a lot to build”, adds Norman Müller, Co-Founder and Co-CEO. “There is a large underserved market that needs a bank to be focused on understanding and addressing the real needs for its users. With that in mind, we want to become the new standard for financial services in the region”.
With the capital raised in this investment round, Fondeadora will seek to reach more than 500,000 users in the next 12 months. In this respect, it will continue its growth in the region and will continue working to offer its users a spectacular service experience and fulfill the objective of becoming the leading premium savings account in México.
In addition, Fondeadora will soon implement the QR code payment modality, as well as the production of infoless cards, which will allow them to offer the safest card and account in Mexico.
About IGNIA
IGNIA is a venture capital firm that invests in Mexico and Latin America in high growth digital platforms that serve the needs of consumers in the emerging middle class in sectors such as financial services, education and eCommerce. Founded in 2007, IGNIA has two funds with $200 million dollars under management. For more information please visit: http://www.ignia.mx, http://www.igniaunlocked.mx and @IGNIA_Fund
About Gradient Ventures
Gradient Ventures is Google’s venture fund with technical mentorship for early stage startups. Through Gradient, Google provides startups with capital resources and exclusive Access to experts, and training bootcamps. Gradient takes a minority stake in the startups they invest in.
About Fondeadora
Fondeadora is an app linked to a debit card that allows you to send, spend and save your money with simplicity never seen before. We seek to provide financial access to all of Mexico through technology, in order to democratize a system that has always been closed to millions of Mexicans. Fondeadora manages to solve the inefficiencies of the old banks to return their time, money and energy to their users.
Contact FONDEADORA
Pamela Olvera pamela@fondeadora.com
Cheryl Santos cheryl@fondeadora.com
Saúl Lomelí saul@netacomunicacion.mx
Valentina Ugarte valentina@netacomunicacion.mx
Contact IGNIA
Jimena García Cuéllar
Investor and Institutional Relations
Tel: +52 (55) 8000 7295
Email: jgc@ignia.mx