LatAm List – Kushki Pagos, a US payments processing platform, acquired QVO, a Chilean fintech founded by Oscar Quevedo, Matías Menich, and Waldo Uribe in 2016. QVO gives SMEs access to online payment solutions, and operates in Ecuador, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, US, Canada, and Chile.
The acquisition reflects a huge step forward for the Chilean startup ecosystem.
“We’re excited to acquire QVO to expand into Chile and help make it easier for businesses to accept payments online,” said Sebastian Castro, founder of Kushki Pagos.
Aron Schwarzkopf, Kushki Pagos’ co founding partner, explains why they decided to invest in Chile.
“[Chile is] peculiar because it has a population with the most demand for digital businesses in the region, but at the same time it’s one of the least advanced in providing the payment tools necessary to scale digital businesses. We decided to invest because we saw an opportunity to deliver a fast and significant impact to entrepreneurs and startups in the local market’s digitalization process.”
Both companies are part of Magma Partners’ portfolio, a Latin American venture capital firm that invests in Latin American startups.
“Magma originally invested in QVO when it was a Stripe clone in Chile, understanding that we would help them get acquired by similar, regional businesses. In the end, Kushki acquired QVO and we invested in Kushki to continue to help them expand across the region,” said Nathan Lustig, Managing Partner at Magma Partners.
Kushki Pagos aims to expand throughout Latin America standardizing the region’s means of payment through its platform which has already processed more than $30B. QVO also had previous investment from DevLabs.
Read more on El Mercurio.