Pomelo Raises $160 Million to Power AI-Driven Digital Payments Across Latin America

Connecting data through the cloud. Digital platforms that handle billions of data points so that a card purchase or the allocation of funds to a credit card can be processed in seconds. In simple terms, this is part of what the tech startup Pomelo does, the company that raised US$55 million in capital a few weeks ago amidst a challenging environment for venture capital investment.

Founded in the midst of the pandemic, the Argentine-born technology company, Pomelo ,with a strong presence in Chile has raised no less than US$160 million and has been ranked as one of the possible next unicorns (companies worth US$1 billion) in Latin America.

Argentine fintech company Pomelo backed by Kaszek and Insight Partners accelerates regional expansion and pioneers agentic AI payments

Pomelo was founded by Gastón Irigoyen, Hernán Corral, and Diego Cherniak, three Argentine entrepreneurs with experience in the financial and technological sectors. Irigoyen had led Naranja X , the fintech arm of Grupo Galicia, and has worked in investment banking; Corral has experience in developing technological infrastructure and payment systems; and Cherniak has a background in startups and digital products. Together, they launched a platform focused on issuing, processing, and managing cards in Latin America.

While that’s happening, Pomelo—which detailed its plans to EL DÍNAMO —is providing services to MetroMuv, the new Metro card, and 150 other clients such as Global66 and BCI’s Mach . The mood within the company is positive. And that’s because in their third round of funding, they brought in some heavyweights from the innovation ecosystem.

Among those who invested capital to fuel Pomelo’s growth were Kaszek and Insight Partners. Hernán Kazah, co-founder of Mercado Libre, and other former top executives of the company are investors in the former fund . Kaszek has financed companies such as Nubank, Kavak, Rappi, and dLocal.

Also joining the group is Adam Street Partners, a highly respected tech fund that has invested US$50 billion in companies like Airbnb and Facebook. Other investors include TQ Ventures , where Scooter Braun, former music manager for artists such as Justin Bieber, J Balvin, and Ariana Grande, has a stake.

Santiago Witis, Country Manager for Argentina and Chile at Pomelo, explains that the next steps are to become the most effective partner for banks and issuers. This includes being able to quickly access your investment earnings on a card, manage remittances, or pay for services.

Money is being digitized at breakneck speed, and Witis asserts that there’s an endless opportunity for new products. In the not-so-distant future, we’ll see biometric or fingerprint payments.

Pomelo’s plans with the new investment are to be as efficient as possible in delivering new products and to grow. They are currently seeking to fill 20 positions on the team.

In Chile, they requested authorization from the Financial Market Commission (CMF) to issue payment cards. The executive explains that the goal is to offer brands a complete package of solutions: providing them with all the technology and enabling them to issue their payment method.

The plans are completed with their arrival in the Panama and Puerto Rico markets, and growth in Mexico and Brazil.

Pomelo’s next step, Witis explains, is the development of Artificial Intelligence. “It’s like they can read your mind, and it’s called agentic payments. What is it? It’s the use of AI to serve people: imagine your payment assistant being able to find the cheapest flight to your desired destination and complete the entire transaction, or suggesting the cheapest and most efficient grocery list,” he illustrates.

AI and agent payments could also suggest savings or investments and have the ability to execute them. Google and other major tech companies are already working on the protocols to implement these new functionalities.

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(Featured image by Clay Banks via Unsplash)

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First published in FinteChile. A third-party contributor translated and adapted the article from the original. In case of discrepancy, the original will prevail.

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