RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Hash payment infrastructure fintech company has just received a US$15 million investment led by QED Investors, which invests in Brazilian unicorns Nubank and Creditas. The Canary and Kaszek funds, which have invested in the company, followed the round.
Founded in 2017 by João Miranda, Hash is a startup that enables other companies to offer their own financial solutions. Like a “fintech factory,” it offers fully customizable digital payment terminals and solutions.
One of its largest customers, lumber retailer Leo Madeiras, for example, launched a digital account and developed a card terminal, Leozinha, which is used by over 10,000 woodworkers in Brazil to negotiate installment purchases and advance receivables with the distributor.
“The company has done a great job building a value-added product that its customers love. More and more companies will continue to seek greater control over payments and transaction flows to provide better experiences to their customers. We believe Hash will meet this need,” says Mike Packer, partner at QED Investors.
Last year, with large companies looking for their own payment solutions, Hash grew more than tenfold in the first semester alone, processing US$300 million in the year and totaling more than 15,000 traders using its solutions. According to its founder, the fintech did not grow more because it decided it needed to improve the organization of its operational structures for sales, logistics, communication, and customer service before gaining scale.
With the new round, the fintech has room to invest in the business expansion process. The company’s projection is for R$1.5 billion to be processed on its platform this year and at least R$8 billion in 2022.
The capital received also enables the company to enter new banking services. As establishments now handle their payments through Hash’s systems, the company realized that it could keep this money within its infrastructure if it offered additional complementary services. This year the fintech will start issuing cards and offering customers a digital account. In coming years, it is studying ways to enter the credit and investment market.
“Hash believes that the market will have dozens of companies offering customized financial solutions. Since we started with payments, due to my experience at Pagar.me [sold to Stone in 2016], we now have access to money and have gained the trust of companies, so we are in a favorable position to offer additional services,” says Miranda.
To be able to enter new fronts, the company is now hiring. The project is to end the year with 200 employees, twice as many as in January.
In the long term, the company’s goal is to be the main payment infrastructure in Latin America.
“The payments market lived in a duopoly until 2010. Then more players came in, such as GetNet, Stone and PagSeguro. We believe that the next era will be one of decentralization. Instead of 10 players, there will be 200. And we want Hash to represent this wave”, says Miranda.
Source: Exame