Mexico-based fintech platform Uellbee closed a $350,000 seed-round with angel investors and a $2 million debt line from APx Capital to support people with credit card debt to refinance those liabilities with loans that adapt to their income and automate the management of their finances.
Uellbee offers flexible and personalized financing to customers and provides them with a simple and accessible tool for managing their debt and personal finances. The fresh funds will be used to further develop its innovative technology and capabilities to lend to new clients.
According to data from Banco de México and Inegi, in Mexico more than half of all households have some type of debt, and around 15 million people have credit card debt. This is why the fintech’s mission is to redesign consumer credit so that it responds to the true needs of Mexicans.
Cofounded by Francisco Meré (co-founder and CEO of Bankaool, a pioneer fintech bank in Mexico, and President of the Fintech Association of Mexico and of the IberoAmerican Fintech Alliance) and Mario Gamboa Cavazos (previous co-founder and CEO of Intelimétrica, a big data and analytics company specialized in the financial sector, recently acquired by a Mexican proptech), Uellbee was part of Google for Startups acceleration program earlier this year.
“The problem is not that we are indebted, but that the loans to which we have access do not respond to our needs, since they were created for life 50 years ago, for people who would only work as employees of a single company. Today, with the growth of the gig economy and the freelance sector, income is no longer necessarily constant, nor does it arrive on a certain date, which is why traditional financing no longer makes sense. When people get into debt and their financial flows do not match the profile for which the financial product was designed, the horror story we already know occurs: it is almost impossible to pay back the debt.” Francisco Meré co-founder and CEO of Uellbee.
