GIC led a USD50m Series A for QI Tech, a Brazilian API-based credit issuance platform.
(Press Release) – QI Tech, fintech that provides a range of financial services through APIs and the first SCD approved by the Brazilian Central Bank, announced today that GIC, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, has invested $50M in one of the largest Series A in Latin America.
QI Tech will invest in the construction of new products, focusing especially on improving the consumer’s credit journey (origination and collection) and on developing its data science team. To accelerate the launch of some capabilities, the company also plans to quadruple the team, which currently comprise 48 people. Inorganic growth through strategic M&A is also part of the company’s agenda.
To date, QI Tech has a loyal user base of over 100 clients, ranging from fintechs, to fund managers, banks, and traditional companies, and including names such as Geru, iFood and Vivo Money. Since the beginning of its operation in mid 2019, QI Tech has handled more than $1 billion in credit transactions: $40 million in its first year of operations, $200 million in the second year, and over $800 million in 2021 until now.
“We are the first financial institution to create an exclusive Lending-as-a-Service model in Brazil and we aim to continue to break new ground in this market. We introduced a fully automated model that runs 24/7 and that can handle high frequency operations (several operations during a short window of time), which allows our customers to offer an unique experience to their clients. GIC’s funding comes at a decisive moment in our trajectory, as we seek to take the next step towards improving the end-to-end credit journey experience and enabling any business to offer fully digital banking services through our proprietary technology”, says Pedro Mac Dowell, CEO of QI Tech.
QI Tech was born with the purpose to meet an yet unsatisfied demand: to offer the services of a traditional bank, but ‘as a service’; that is, to provide the necessary financial infrastructure as a service to companies, fintechs and other smaller financial institutions so that they can themselves innovate in offering credit solutions to the end consumer, from origination to collection.
“We offer all Lending-as-a-Service verticals, such as student finance, direct consumer credit, BNPL Buy now, Pay later, auto loans, home equity, working capital lines and secured credit operations. Thereby, any fintech, traditional company or bank can use QI Tech’s APIs to offer these verticals to their end customers”, explains Marcelo Bentivoglio, partner at QI Tech.
According to Bentivoglio, QI Tech has an intelligent platform embedded with a traditional bank’s regulatory knowledge, thus eliminating an intermediary in the process, and bringing more promptness to the financial market. By doing so, QI Tech clients can focus their efforts on their businesses without bureaucratic concerns.
“Any company can offer financial products to their customers. Whether it’s a fintech, retailer or service company, QI Tech has the infrastructure necessary for them to offer an end-to-end experience. We offer over 60 services through APIs, such as bank accounts, issuance and settlement of bank slips, payments including the new PIX instant money transfer that uses a dynamic QR code in the e-commerce checkout.” complements Marcelo Buosi, co-founder of QI Tech.
Without the need of a traditional bank, QI Tech’s clients can directly provide financial services to millions of people. In addition to promoting financial inclusion, the increased offer of loans also increases competition, which in turn generates better offers for the Brazilian population.
“The Brazilian largest banks are losing market share in credit to other companies such as retailers, service apps and national operators. QI Tech is the infrastructure that allows this change, in the asset-light model, it can be compared to the Uber of banks, since it is already the largest credit issuer in Latin America without carrying the loans in its balance sheet. The arrival of the GIC reinforces our commitment to always be looking ahead of financial services, in addition to maintaining our independence.” completed the companies’ CEO.
Vinci Partners and Quata Confidence were QI Tech’s financial advisors for this funding round.
About QI Tech:
QI Tech is the first Direct Credit Company (SCD) approved by the Brazilian Central Bank. We are a technology company with a banking license, which allows us to operate as a financial institution and empower our partners to offer 100% digital banking services. We combine an intelligent platform with all the regulatory needs so that our customers can offer payments and credit services safely and with the best customer experience that fits their business model.
QI Tech, as an independent and conflict-free fintech, does not offer credit directly to final borrowers, since its core business is precisely to offer the infrastructure (technology, operational capacity, backoffice, legal authorization, etc.) for its customers, so they can provide financial products without the need to hold a banking license.
For more information, visit https://qitech.com.br/
About GIC:
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to secure Singapore’s financial future. As the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves, we take a long-term, disciplined approach to investing, and are uniquely positioned across a wide range of asset classes and active strategies globally. These include equities, fixed income, real estate, private equity, venture capital, and infrastructure. Our long-term approach, multi-asset capabilities, and global connectivity enable us to be an investor of choice. We seek to add meaningful value to our investments. Headquartered in Singapore, we have a global talent force of over 1,800 people in 10 key financial cities and have investments in over 40 countries.