Visa Inc agreed to buy Brazilian fintech platform Pismo for $1 billion in cash on Wednesday to expand its reach in Latin America, signaling increased confidence in the region amid a funding slowdown.
The Pismo transaction is the largest financial exit in Latin America since Nubank went public in late 2021, as well as the largest announced startup departure this year.
Visa, the world’s largest payments processor, is making its first major acquisition since 2021, when it paid $2.2 billion for European open banking platform Tink as well as British cross-border payments service Currencycloud.
Pismo’s cloud-based infrastructure for financial institutions, situated in Sao Paulo, holds more than 70 million accounts and transacts more than $200 billion per year, enabling clients to issue Visa and Mastercard cards.
Earlier this year, it was rumored that Mastercard was also interested in acquiring the banking infrastructure business. It did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
According to data provider Sling Hub, venture funding in Latin America fell 82% year on year in May, as high interest rates and worries of a recession jolted global markets and shattered tech values.
Pismo’s present management team will be retained as part of the acquisition, which is anticipated to finalize by the end of the year, according to Visa.
Entrepreneurs Ricardo Josua, Daniela Binatti, Juliana Binatti, and Marcelo Parise formed the seven-year-old enterprise. It operates in Europe, North America, Southeast Asia, India, and Latin America.
Pismo has raised over $110 million in funding from investors such as Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, Amazon.com Inc, venture capital firm Accel, and Headline, which first invested in the seed round and now owns over 30% of the company.
