Banking & Finance Visa to buy Brazilian startup Pismo for $1bn By Reuters June 29, 2023 Creative Commons/wuestenigel Turkish travel agents say the majority of clients pay for trips by instalments using credit cards Visa is acquiring Brazilian fintech platform Pismo for $1 billion to expand its footprint in Latin America. The deal, a vote of renewed confidence in the region during a funding slowdown, is the largest fintech exit in Latin America since Nubank went public in late 2021 and the largest disclosed startup exit so far this year. It is the payments giant’s first major takeover since 2021 when it bought European open banking platform Tink for $2.2 billion, as well as British cross-border payments provider Currencycloud. Debt and fintech dominate Mena startup funding Fintech pushes Mena startups to raise $445m in May Pismo, based in Sao Paolo, offers a cloud-based platform for financial institutions. It hosts more than 70 million accounts and transacts more than $200 billion a year, providing the technology through which clients can issue Visa and Mastercard cards. Earlier this year Mastercard was reported to have been interested in acquiring Pismo. It did not reply to a request for comment. The acquisition comes as venture funding in Latin America dropped by 82 percent year-on-year in May, according to data group Sling Hub. Pismo was founded by entrepreneurs Ricardo Josua, Daniela Binatti, Juliana Binatti and Marcelo Parise. It has operations in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, India and Latin America.
