The Mexico-based fintech R2 has raised $5.9M in a seed round that GeneralCatalyst led. Y Combinator and the 166 2nd family office also participated in the round. The company enables platforms to offer financing to their merchants seamlessly and was part of a Y Combinator batch last year.
R2 is redefining the financial infrastructure for small & medium businesses through an embedded lending infrastructure. It has partnered with some of Latin America’s most iconic companies, such as Rappi and Clip.
The fintech R2 was given its name by its two founders, Roger Larach and Roger Teran. The startup’s founders are originally from Central America. Roger Teran has a background in data science and works as the company’s chief data officer. Roger Larach has experience in finance and serves as R2’s CEO, and along with Teran, they decided to found the startup to help the small and medium-sized companies in the region to access capital.
The company’s goal is to close the credit gap in Latin America, and it does so through an embedded lending infrastructure that leverages transactional data. The R2 tool functions as the integrated lending infrastructure behind platforms such as the giant Rappi. These platforms can provide capital to merchants, while R2 handles the offering, authentication, fulfillment, and loan collections.
This seed round will help the company continue to build its team, which counts with employees from all over Latin America that bring their experience having worked before in companies such as JP Morgan, Google, Ualá, Mercado Libre, Uber, and McKinsey.
