Visa has invested in Belvo, backing up a recently-announced partnership with the Mexico City-based open finance API platform.
Visa has gone public with the news that it joined Belvo's $43 million Series A funding round in June, joining the likes of Future Positive, Kibo Ventures, FJLabs, Maya Capital and Venture Friends.
Belvo has built an API platform that it says can be used to access and interpret end-user financial data to build better, more efficient and more inclusive financial products in Latin America.
Founded in 2019, the startup already has connections with over 50 financial institutions and works with over 125 clients including leading fintech and financial companies in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia like Jeeves, Rappi, Mobills, Ferratum, and Higo.
Recently, it inked a strategic partnership agreement with Visa to help financial institutions and issuers across the region leverage and implement open finance offerings.
Romina Seltzer, SVP, products and innovation, Visa Latin America and the Caribbean, says: "At Visa, we believe open finance has the potential to unleash great collaboration across all payment’s ecosystem participants, while ultimately driving greater financial inclusion and empowering consumers with more choice in how and where they share their financial data."
Visa has been targeting deals with open finance players over last couple of years; after its aborted takeover of US giant Plaid, it snapped up European platform Tink for €1.8 billion and has also invested in Australian outfit Basiq.
Elsewhere in the region, Visa-backed cards and payment software provider Dock has acquired Mexican card processor Cacao.
The acquisition brings Dock, which is the only Brazilian company to offer card issuing, acquiring and banking as a service on one fully integrated platform, more than 50 new clients, including Albo, Bnext, Lanapay, Oyster, Kapital, Clip, Rapyd, Billpocket, Jefa, and Tribal.