Prosus Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of media and internet group Naspers, led a $15m series A round for Mexico-headquartered digital bank Klar yesterday.
Mouro Capital, the venture capital firm spun off by financial services firm Santander, also took part in the round, along with the World Bank-owned International Finance Corporation and VC firms Quona Capital and Acrew Capital.
Founded in 2019, Klar has launched a banking app that allows users to set up a current account with no minimum balance, in addition to providing debit cards with 1-4% cashback rates and access to lending services that use data from account histories to assess creditworthiness.
The funding will be used to expand the company’s product range along with an engineering team split between its home country and Germany.
Banafsheh Fathieh, principal at Prosus Ventures, said: “Prosus Ventures partners with entrepreneurs that are solving big societal problems with technology, in a uniquely local way. We invest in sectors of the economy where technology can lead to meaningful change in the lives of consumers.
“Klar has identified a massive need in the Mexican financial market and brings a unique solution through their credit and debit offering. In less than a year, the team has shown an ability to build a world-class digital bank for the masses, one focused on financial access and inclusion.”
Quona Capital led the startup’s $7.5m seed round, which included Mouro Capital (then Santander Innoventures), Acrew, FJ Labs and Western Technology Investment. It was announced in September 2019 together with $50m in debt financing from Arc Labs.
