Akua, a Latin American payments startup established by former executives from Mastercard, dLocal, PayU, Jeeves, and Pomelo, has raised $4.3 million in seed funding. The round was led by Propel and received backing from Plug and Play, HTwenty, RallyCap, Flourish Ventures, and ICventures.
With this funding, Akua now has 28 months of operational runway and a team of 25. The company’s acquiring infrastructure platform is set to launch in the first quarter of 2025, following eight months of development. The initial phase will facilitate connections with Visa and Mastercard to process card payments from both issuers, with plans to expand to other alternative payment methods later.
Akua will first operate in Colombia, entering a competitive landscape that includes Credibanco and Redeban, before expanding to Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Brazil in the upcoming months.
Carlos Marín, CEO of Akua and a former employee of PayU and Mastercard, recently served as the country manager for Colombia and Peru at Pomelo. He notes, “The payment landscape in Latin America is at a crucial turning point. Many businesses are still reliant on outdated systems that lead to slow processing times and high fraud rates. Our value proposition centers around enabling all types of payment methods—both card and non-card—across the region.”
Marín explains, “Once we integrate all payment methods, we can assist our clients in processing transactions using the most cost-effective and efficient options, both in terms of approval speed and fraud mitigation.”
He added that the funding round was “oversubscribed” by $18 million within three months, although the founding team chose to finalize it at $4.3 million. “We engaged with 80 funds during the process, and ultimately 20 participated. Investors were drawn to a team of founders with extensive experience,” says Marín.
The founding team also includes Juan José Behrend (CTO), originally from Uruguay, who contributed to the technology at DLocal, Pomelo, and PedidosYa, and Rodrigo Rodrigues (COO) from Brazil, who previously held an executive role at Mastercard and led global card operations for Jeeves.