INFOGRAPHIC: LATAM's Top Weekly Startup Funding—Week 41, 2025

It was another strong week for Latin America’s tech and fintech ecosystem, as startups across Argentina, Colombia, Chile, and Mexico secured fresh funding to accelerate expansion, build new products, and strengthen financial inclusion across the region. Investors continued to bet on scalable models in payments, lending, and crypto, reaffirming the region’s resilience after the last market slowdown.

Leading the activity, Lemon, the crypto wallet giant from Argentina and Peru, raised $20 million in a Series B round co-led by F-Prime and ParaFi, with participation from DRW Venture Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Van Eck VC, and AAVE founder Stani Kulechov, among others. The raise marks one of the largest post-bear market rounds for a regional crypto firm.

Lemon, which boasts 5 million users across Argentina and Peru, is expanding into Colombia, where it has launched a crypto pilot product and plans to roll out a dual wallet integrating pesos and cryptocurrencies. The upcoming VISA Lemon Card will allow users to make payments globally with cashback in Bitcoin. The company aims to reach 200,000 users in Colombia by year-end, solidifying its position as a leading crypto gateway in Latin America.

Following closely, Akua, a Colombian paytech, closed an $8.5 million seed round, bringing its total raised to $13 million. The round was co-led by Flourish Ventures and Cathay Latam, with participation from Atlântico, Honey Island 4UM, Krealo, and Simma Capital. Akua has developed a cloud-native, AI-powered Acquiring-as-a-Service (AaaS) platform capable of processing 50 million daily transactions.

With clients already operating in Colombia and Uruguay, Akua plans to enter Brazil in 2026 and expand across Mexico, Argentina, Peru, and Central America. The platform uses over 20 AI agents for fraud detection, automation, and analytics—cutting client costs by up to 60%. The new capital will help Akua scale infrastructure and strengthen its position as the “new payments highway” of Latin America.

Next, Creditú, a Chilean fintech offering housing and mortgage loans financed through development banks, secured $6 million to expand in Brazil and Peru. The round was led by Alive Ventures and L4 Venture Builder, the venture arm of the Brazilian Stock Exchange.

Founded in 2017, Creditú has already provided $800 million in housing loans to 15,000 families and recently introduced AI-driven tools for credit risk evaluation, fraud detection, and document verification. The funding will be used to scale operations in Brazil, build real estate partnerships, and develop a $20 million fund for renewable energy housing loans through its partnership with solar startup Ruuf.

In the crypto and payments space, Takenos, an Argentine stablecoin wallet, raised a $5 million seed round co-led by Variant and Lattice, with participation from Reverie, North Island Ventures, Gumi Cryptos Capital, and others. The startup allows users across Latin America to spend, save, and transfer funds seamlessly across currencies and borders. With $500 million in processed transactions and partnerships with Mastercard, Visa, and Fireblocks, Takenos plans to grow its team, strengthen its infrastructure, and expand into new markets across the region, starting with Argentina and Bolivia.

Rounding out the week, Mexico-based Grupalia raised $4.8 million in a seed round combining equity and debt, backed by Platanus, Semilla Ventures, Innogen Capital, CAPEM, and Addem Capital. Grupalia is building Mexico’s first neobank for microbusinesses, digitising traditional group loan models to make financing faster, more inclusive, and accessible. The startup’s technology simplifies risk analysis and enables rapid disbursement, helping underserved entrepreneurs access working capital. With 31% month-over-month growth, over $7.5 million in loans issued, and 20,000 app downloads, the funds will help Grupalia expand lending capacity, enhance its platform, and roll out financial management tools for small businesses.

Together, these latest rounds underscore Latin America’s steady momentum in fintech and crypto innovation. From next-generation payment rails to digital wallets and AI-powered lending platforms, the region’s startups are not just weathering global market shifts—they’re shaping the financial future of emerging economies.