Mexican fintech Stori hits unicorn status after $150 million round

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<br>By Valentine Hilaire<br> <br>MEXICO CITY, July 15 (Reuters) – Fintech Stori, which lends to many Mexicans who do not have bank accounts, became the second Mexican start-up in 2022 to achieve a valuation of more than $1 billion, giving it “unicorn” status, after a $150 million series C funding round, the company said on Friday.<br> <br>Stori reached a valuation of $1.2 billion with the round, led by BAI Capital, Singapore’s GIC and GGV Capital.

Lightspeed Venture Partners, General Catalyst, Vision Plus Capital, Goodwater Capital and Tresalia Capital also participated.<br> <br>The fintech, the second to reach unicorn status this year after logistics startup Nowports in May, also raised a round of $100 million of debt.<br> <br>”The funding will be used to reach more users of our credit card product in Mexico and expand our portfolio with financial education services,” Marlene Garayzar, Stori’s co-founder and first Mexican female leader of a unicorn, told Reuters.<br> <br>She said credit card penetration in Mexico was about 12% when Stori began studying the market.<br> <br>The start-up offers loans in a country where only 31% of the population have some type of credit, while most Mexicans with credit cards still tend to use charge cards provided by retailers, according to the country’s statistics agency.<br> <br>”We talked to potential customers to see what they needed and most of them said access to credit, not just a card, since they wanted a way to start building their credit history and get access to credits in the market,” she said.<br> <br>Stori, which provides loans of as little as 500 Mexican pesos ($24), accepts 99% of its applicants, trying to approve card requests within 10 minutes.<br> <br>Garayzar said the firm, which has more than 1.4 million clients in Mexico, aims to reach 2 million by 2023.

It also plans to expand elsewhere in Latin America next year, Slot Pragmatic she said, without specifying which countries. ($1 = 20.8240 Mexican pesos) (Reporting by Valentine Hilaire; Editing by Christian Plumb and Edmund Blair)<br>

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