Aplazo Raises $27M in Series A Funding for Mexico BNPL Growth

Mexican omnichannel buy now, pay later (BNPL) platform Aplazo on Tuesday (Nov. 16) announced it’s raked in $27 million in Series A funding, four months after it grabbed $5.25 million in seed funding, and it plans to use the fresh capital for growth, including adding employees in several sectors.

Aplazo said in the announcement it will look to add talent in the product, engineering, sales and merchant departments of the company with the Series A funds, which were topped by Oak HC/FT and included investments from existing backers Kaszek and Picus Capital.

Aplazo’s seed funding allowed it to boost its total processing volume more than eight times. The company has also forged partnerships with hundreds of merchants and plans to scale its expansion to other Latin American countries next year.

Before BNPL came to Mexico, customers needed a credit card to make installment purchases, an issue in a country where 11% of the population has access to credit and about 40% of residents have no credit history.

“We’re combatting unequal access to credit by providing consumers with access to an alternative form of credit that helps them to extend their purchasing power in a financially responsible, low-risk way,” said Angel Peña, co-founder and CEO of Aplazo, in the company announcement. “Putting consumers’ needs first has allowed us to create an inclusive solution.”

Aplazo uses open banking and telecom data to determine what customers can afford and how much credit they can get as well as optimizing approval rates and providing fair credit products to underserved consumers.

“We see our platform as the basis for democratizing credit in Latin America. We are enabling merchants to connect with consumers in a creative and purposeful way, which builds more loyalty and trust,” said Alex Wieland, co-founder and COO of Aplazo, in the company announcement.

“By providing our partner merchants with access to new customer segments that are credit-worthy, Aplazo is already an indispensable payment method, taking up to 60% of the share of their transactional volume and increasing conversion and repeat purchases,” he said.

Related: Deep Dive: Examining Latin America’s Payments Ecosystem and the PSP Opportunity

A recent study predicted that 84 million Latin American shoppers will make eCommerce purchases by the first quarter of 2022 — 70% more than would do so in the absence of the pandemic. eCommerce penetration jumped from 45% to 63% of the total Latin American population.