BBVA’s independent capital venture firm, Propel Venture Partners, has made an investment in Brazilian neo-bank Neon.
Propel joined Monashees, Quona Capital, Omidyar Network, Tera, and Yellow Ventures, in the $22 million raise for the two-year old smartphone banking startup.
Launched in July 2016, Neon now claims more than 600,000 customers and is striving to reach one million customers by year's end.
Pedro Conrade, Neon’s CEO, says that the Series A investment will support the company’s product expansion, investment in technology, and innovation.
“We have just launched our credit card, and will have some exciting news to share later in the year about additional products and services in the pipeline," he says. "This funding shows the investors’ confidence in our team, the market opportunity, and in our mission. It will allow us to keep moving at a fast pace while cultivating the creativity and technology to build a leading financial services company in Brazil.”
He adds that the company is also planning to expand into business banking account services and investing options over the coming months.
Neon adds to the roster of digital-only banks supported by BBVA funding across the world, including the UK's Atom Bank, Simple in the US, German-based solarisBank, Finland's Holvi and the inhouse incubated Denizen.