Aviva, a Mexican “phygital” financial platform aimed at serving the underbanked and micro businesses, has successfully raised $5.5 million in seed funding.
Krealo, the corporate venture capital arm of Credicorp, alongside Ignia Partners, Carao Ventures, Rainforest Capital, DCG, Wollef, Newtopia, 500 Global, and Magna VC, participated in what is considered Mexico’s largest seed stage funding round this year.
Founded in 2022, Aviva is leveraging a blend of physical and digital services to cater to the over 70 million Mexicans living in cities with populations of less than 500,000. This demographic often relies on informal labor and cash transactions, representing an estimated $150 billion opportunity in lending assets, according to the startup.
Aviva offers loan applications that are entirely conversation-based, utilizing natural language processing and computer vision. At their micro-sized bank branches, customers can receive real-time approvals following a bot-assisted seven-minute video call.
Currently, Aviva operates in 26 cities, where approximately 90% of their clientele is part of the informal sector. Over 50,000 potential customers have already completed their phygital onboarding experience.
The new funding will be allocated towards expanding Aviva’s product offerings, enhancing its partnership distribution model, and growing its network of kiosks in medium and small cities. The company aims to extend its operations to over 50 cities by the end of the year.
Filiberto Castro, Co-CEO of Aviva, stated, “Despite countless attempts by fintechs and neobanks, the smartphone is not a one-size-fits-all solution for providing financial services; a non-conventional strategy is critical. We have proven that our phygital approach is essential for reaching those who greatly benefit from access to financial services yet have been excluded from the formal system.”
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