Digital Bank Neon Pagamentos Raises $300M
Brazilian digital bank Neon Pagamentos has raised $300 million in a Series C round of funding, the company announced Tuesday.
The round was led by General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm. New investors participating in the round include funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, as well as Vulcan Capital, PayPal Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst, in addition to former investors Monashees and Flourish Ventures. BBVA also participated via existing shareholder Propel Venture Partners. The investment will be split between two tranches of $150 million each.
The Series C proceeds will be used to support hiring efforts, grow Neon’s user base across consumer and business clients, enhance the platform’s technology capabilities, and invest in product development. Specifically, the financing will fuel key g
rowth areas, including the release of new products and features on Neon’s consumer platform, including those geared toward direct deposit customers, as well as rolling out additional financial services to its growing user base of around 1 million micro-entrepreneurs through its MEI Fácil platform, which provides tax and payments products. Proceeds will also be used to scale the company’s credit offerings, which will be key to driving additional business monetization. It will also enable Neon to pursue strategic M&A opportunities that can further enrich its offering.
“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,” said Jean Sigrist, President of Neon. “This new financing enables us to continue our mission of serving even more clients with an increasingly robust offering.”
