MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: AlphaCredit Raises $125m in Equity for Fintech Lending in Mexico, Colombia from SoftBank Innovation Fund, Other Investors

AlphaCredit, a non-banking financial technology (fintech) firm based in Mexico City, recently raised USD 125 million from a group of investors led by the SoftBank Innovation Fund, a vehicle of the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank that focuses on Latin America. AlphaCredit provides loans to individuals in Mexico and Colombia; it also serves small and medium-sized enterprises in Mexico. Neither the size of SoftBank’s participation in this Series B equity round nor the identities of the other participants have been made public.

Founded in 2011, AlphaCredit began its operations by granting payroll loans to employees of the Mexican government. In 2015, it expanded into Colombia. As of 2018, AlphaCredit had net assets of MXN 17.7 billion (USD 950 million). As of 2020, it employs 2,000 sales agents and operates 68 branches in Mexico; 950 sales agents and 25 branches in Colombia.

The SoftBank Innovation Fund was launched in 2019 and is valued at USD 5 billion. It focuses on technology-based industries in Latin America such as “e-commerce, digital financial services, healthcare, mobility and insurance.” As of February 2020, SoftBank’s market capitalization is USD 104 billion.

By Ng Chee Meng, Research Associate

Sources and Additional Resources

PR Newswire post on AlphaCredit funding round
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alphacredit-enters-into-an-agreement-to-raise-up-to-usd125-million-from-an-investor-group-led-by-softbanks-latin-america-fund-300993229.html

AlphaCredit homepage
https://www.alphacredit.com/

LinkedIn profile on AlphaCredit
https://www.linkedin.com/company/alphacredit-mexico/about/

AlphaCredit financial statement, 2018
https://www.alphacredit.com/documentos/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Alpha-Holding-Audited-Financial-Statements-2018.pdf

AlphaCredit earnings release, third quarter 2019
https://www.alphacredit.com/documentos/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/AlphaCredit-Earnings-Release-3Q19-vf.pdf

SoftBank press release; March 7, 2019
https://group.softbank/en/corp/news/press/sb/2019/20190307_02/

Yahoo finance data on SoftBank; February 13, 2020
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SFTBY/

Crunchbase article on AlphaCredit funding round
https://news.crunchbase.com/news/mexicos-alphacredit-lands-125m-in-softbank-led-series-b/

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