The company’s Series C round brings its total funding to $160 million and will allow Pomelo to grow its presence in Latin America and expand into new products and payment methods, according to a Tuesday (Jan. 20) press release.
“In this new phase, the goal is to further enhance our capabilities and accelerate the development of new products and payment rails that will shape the future of the region’s financial ecosystem,” the release said.
The financing will help Pomelo bolster its issuance and credit card solutions and expand its global product offering. This includes a native global stablecoin card, payment tokenization and artificial intelligence-powered chargeback management.
Pomelo CEO Gaston Irigoyen expanded on the company’s plans in an interview with Bloomberg published Tuesday. The company expects to bolster its credit processing business in Brazil and Mexico, its two biggest markets.
The FinTech also plans to develop agentic and real-time payment systems that can operate across borders, pushing into markets outside the region, according to the report.
In addition, Pomelo is widening its customer base to include large international companies and traditional banks, with clients that include BBVA, Santander, Binance and Western Union, the report said.
“We see a very large need within traditional banking, which also has to compete against the large Latin American and global neobanks that are increasingly coming to Latin America,” Irigoyen said, per the report.
Latin America’s FinTech space is one that “remains defined by steady financial innovation” despite upheaval in the region, PYMNTS reported Jan. 5.
Tools such as digital wallets, account-to-account transfers and real-time payment systems are replacing cash, modernizing commerce and providing greater access to formal financial services, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Digital Developments: Charting Digital Payment Growth in Latin America.”
This shift is structural and not cyclical, with expert predictions saying that digital payments will make up for roughly two-thirds of eCommerce transaction value and nearly half of point-of-sale value in the region by the end of the decade.
“Headed into 2025, digital payments accounted for 48% of eCommerce transaction value and 30% of in-store value across Latin America, while cash’s share of in-store transactions had fallen to 25% and continues to decline,” the January report said.
