Published:
Mar 24, 2022
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
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We are very pleased to announce that FTC has led Bogota-based Simetrik’s $24m Series A financing. The round included participation from Tiger Global and Moore Capital, among others, along with existing investors including Cometa and Monashees. It also included a set of distinguished angels from the region.
When we first met Alejandro and Santiago in 2020, the company had yet to fully roll out the second version of their reconciliation solution, but their vision was already set on reaching deep into the realm of payment orchestration. Upon visiting their headquarters in Bogotá, conviction quickly deepened, as we discovered a well-oiled, systematically engineered machine, fueled by a palpable desire to improve the underlying infrastructure of the region’s data-rich enterprises. Given our positive experiences investing in Flutterwave, Minka and Qlub, it became clear that Simetrik represented a very promising next step in our repertoire of payments infrastructure plays within emerging markets.
Since 2019, Simetrik’s infrastructure has strived to deliver greater control and transparency over companies’ financial transactions. Initially, this was achieved by perfecting a product that automates reconciliation through a no code solution. The company has seen rapid adoption of its services in the 24 months since it launched, reconciling over $75 Bn of TPV per year in over 22 countries and serving well-known names across the industry including Mercado Pago, NuBank, Rappi Bank, Bancolombia, Addi, DLocal, Clara, Clip, and Ualá.
The company is now positioned to consolidate its market leadership across Latin America. It is poised to revolutionize the way Latin America’s rising super apps, banks, and retailers reconcile bank statement transactions and add payments to company ledgers. We are confident that these soft-spoken and diligent operators will settle for nothing less than a large dent in the global payment ecosystem. Efficient, self-aware, and philosophical, they are equipped with the DNA – and team – to do just that.
FTC Summary
The experience of working closely with payment and fintech companies allowed Alejandro and Santiago to realize that there are still many obstacles for companies that rely on numerous types of payment methods to satisfy increasing demand. Even before the massive “push to digital” that the COVID-19 pandemic induced in Latin America, they saw the payment methods landscape become increasingly saturated and complex. From the proliferation of BNPL, issuers, wallets, and loyalty programs to crypto-wallets and cash networks, they had first row seats to this shifting reality while sitting within the inner mechanism of Rappi (where the founders tested product market fit after an initial pivot). They understood that payment orchestrators will be key for money movement and data ledgers going forward.
Simetrik has built a strong solutions-oriented reputation among its customer base. Mercado Libre’s CFO – Pedro Ant – said that, thanks to the synchronicity between their ERP and Simetrik’s tools, their teams “spend most of their time analyzing deviations and working on recommendations and recoveries”, rather than manually seeking to manually fix incongruities in reconciliation. Looking ahead, Simetrik is in a great position to fully optimize the money movement lifecycle for such enterprises in the region.
Heading into the second quarter of 2022, in addition to strengthening the reconciliation tool footprint, the company seeks to begin monetizing the payment orchestration platform. With an initial partnership in place, Simetrik is actively discussing potential partnerships with other existing clients. Already immersed into the data flow of numerous large enterprises via the reconciliation tool, the gateway product leverages powerful synergies that result in competitive differentiation. Furthermore, having achieved PCI and SOC1 compliance in record time, Simetrik is positioned to securely handle credit card and financial information. This reinforces its payments foundation, spearheaded by a new, highly experienced hire.
Equipped with a robust management team from an early age, Simetrik has embraced the reality of the pandemic to structure a remote, tech-focused culture – recruiting top talent from across the region (and beyond) while maintaining its Bogotá base. Given our mission of rewiring the way money moves through the world, this is an obvious fit. We are looking forward to helping the company continue its ascendent trajectory. Vamos!
“With their worldwide presence, FTC not only brings deep knowledge in fintech innovation to the table but insights on how money flows around the world. In the few months we’ve been working together, the FTC team has already challenged, cheered and supported us, this brings only excitement on what else we’ll build together,” said Santiago and Alejandro.