Santander InnoVentures has joined a $57.5 million debt and equity seed financing round for Klar, a Mexican startup bidding to take on traditional credit cards and debit services.
The round, which is made up of $50 million in debt and $7.5 million in equity, was led by by Quona Capital and joined by Aspect Ventures, FJ Labs, and Western Technology Investment.
Klar aims to win over a slice of Mexico's underbanked population by promising an app and card-based system that offers simplicity, transparency, security and control. Currently, the company offers a debit account with cashback and a revolving line of credit. More services are in the pipeline.
Klar was set up about a year ago by a team of engineers, data scientists and operations people with experience at companies such as N26, Google, Uber and Microsoft.
Klar CEO Stefan Möller says having Santander InnoVentures as an investor will provide a host of useful connections and could lead to collaboration with the Spanish banking giant.
Manuel Silva Martínez, head, investments, Santander InnoVentures, adds: "We have been impressed by Klar's team, execution and, most importantly, ability to imprint a truly customer-centric approach to an ambitious product vision."