The share of companies operating in other countries rose from 2% in 2022 to 4.1% in 2025
The movement towards internationalization of fintechs in Brazil is gaining momentum at a rapid pace. According to the Brazilian Association of Fintechs (ABFintechs), which brings together 750 companies, the number of Brazilian fintechs operating abroad has grown from 10 to 25 in the last year. (ABFintechs), which brings together 750 companies, the share of companies with operations abroad rose from 2% in 2022 to 4.1% in 2023. abroad rose from 2% in 2022 to 4.1% this year.
“The share grew due to factors such as greater maturity of our financial ecosystem and the establishment of strategic partnerships abroad,” says Diego Perez, president of ABFintechs. “The United States, Mexico, and Colombia are among the most sought-after destinations for starting a business.”
At Monkey, a fintech company in the receivables anticipation sector created in 2016, expansion began in 2021 in Chile. “We chose our neighboring country because of its cultural proximity and thanks to its regulatory framework, which is similar to Brazil’s,” explains Gustavo Muller, CEO and founder of Monkey. The expectation is to operate in the United States and Mexico later this year and to reach Colombia and Peru in 2026. “We will take advantage of the network already established in the region [Latin America] and use local partners.”
Muller says that the business abroad does not represent more than 10% of the company’s revenue, but the plan is for this share to reach 25% by 2026. According to the executive, in addition to the agreements with companies in the sector, the advancement will be paved with investment in human capital.
“We hire executives who know the local markets,” he explains. “In the next 12 months, 10% of our team will be allocated there.” Monkey processes between 12,000 and 15,000 tax invoices per day and serves more than 30,000 companies. In Brazil, Petrobras and Suzano are among its clients.
At Ebanx, a payment platform that connects global brands such as Uber and Amazon with consumers, cross-border business has been operating since the company began in 2012. The first markets conquered were Mexico and Peru. “Today, we are in more than 20 countries, including South Africa and India,” says product director Sebastian Fantini.
In 2024, 50.7% of the total volume of payments processed by Ebanx came from abroad—a percentage that stood at 42.9% in 2023. According to Fantini, part of this growth was driven by the company’s expansion into Latin American countries. “In Colombia, we saw a 6% increase in the number of companies operating on our platform,” he says. “In Mexico, this growth was 10%.”
The company has also expanded its range of payment methods, offering over 200 options, including credit cards and digital wallets. This year, it integrated UPI AutoPay, an Indian system considered one of the most popular in the world. In the coming months, one of the focuses will be to consolidate its presence in recently opened markets, such as Africa and Asia.
The challenges are not few, the director recalls. “One of the main challenges is the ‘fragmentation’ of markets,” he reports. “Each country has its own payment ecosystem, with regulations, preferences for consumption and technological infrastructure that are distinct.”
In Kenya, for example, mobile money (mobile phone transactions) is extremely popular, accounting for 48% of the country’s e-commerce, well above the 14% recorded in Nigeria, where bank transfers and cards are more widely used, he compares.
Another bottleneck is project execution, Fantini continues. “It’s not enough to just open an operation in the target country,” he says. “You have to build trust among local partners and maintain operational performance.”
To overcome the difficulties, one of the strategies is to thoroughly understand the nuances of the target territories, he teaches. “This means having teams ‘on the ground,’ in direct contact with financial regulators and capable of understanding the consumption habits of each region.” Ebanx set up its own teams in 16 of the more than 20 countries where it operates.
Alejandro Vollbrechthausen, partner responsible for the international development of FitBank, which provides technology for payment services, says that the globalization project aims to secure markets such as Central America by 2026. The company began its geographic expansion last year, via Mexico and Guatemala. “We are operating digital wallets connected to three banks in the Guatemalan financial system [G&T, Nexa, and Inter Banco],” he says.
Cássio Krupinsk, CEO and founder of BlockBR Digital Assets, in the sector of tokenization, draws attention to the importance of contact with law firms in the countries served. “One of the biggest obstacles to the contracts abroad is the regulatory framework, which a24> varies greatly between markets,” argues the executive, who works
Source: Valor Econômico Globo
