Brazil-based digital bank Neon Pagamentos agreed $300m in series C funding today from investors including online payment processor PayPal and Propel Venture Partners, the venture capital firm funded by banking group BBVA.
Growth equity firm General Atlantic is leading the round, which also features Vulcan Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, Monashees, Flourish Ventures and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, while PayPal is investing through corporate VC unit PayPal Ventures.
The capital will be provided for the company through two equally sized tranches. Once both have closed it will have raised approximately $414m since being founded in 2016.
Neon offers a digital bank account in addition to credit cards, loans and investment products for both consumers and businesses. It oversees 9 million accounts and will put the series C proceeds into technology and product development, recruitment and expanding that user base.
Jean Sigrist, Neon’s president, said: “Brazilian banking penetration is relatively high for Latin America but still lags developed market peers, with a significant under-banked population that traditional banks have generally overlooked.
“Neon is focused specifically on providing access to this group and bringing them into the financial world. This new financing enables us to continue our mission of serving even more clients with an increasingly robust offering.”
The company raised $22m in a mid-2018 series A round that included Propel Venture Partners, Monashees, Quona Capital, Yellow Ventures, Tera and Omidyar Network.
The 2018 round preceded a series B in November 2019 that Neon said today was sized at $92m. General Atlantic and financial services firm Banco Vorantim co-led the round, investing with Propel Venture Partners, Monashees, Tera, Quona Capital, Omidyar Network and Mabi.
