A Unicorn named Clara Emerges in Mexico

The financial technology startup solution Clara became a new member of the growing Mexican unicorn family, after receiving a US$70 million funding round. 

Clara reached the “unicorn” status after reaching the U$1 million valued-status after beginning operations in Mexico eight months ago. The unicorn offers credit cards to businesses and a spend-management platform.

Its success has allowed it to function in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Panama, Uruguay and most recently in Brazil with more than 2,000 business clients like Kavak, Jokr, Casai and Jüsto and 10,000+ credit cards that have been placed in the market. 

"We have been entrepreneurs and collaborators in some of the companies that operate throughout the region, so we understand that the needs in Brazil are similar to those in Mexico or Colombia. In addition, many of our clients operate in these countries," said Giacomán Colyer, CEO & Co-Founder, Clara.

Clara also had much success when partnering with Mastercard to issue their credit cards through a license backed by the global leading payment company. This decision allowed the startup to stop depending on banking institutions and assure stability and quality service while allowing a fast expansion. 

“Clara controlled all the software infrastructure of its application, but at the time of launching our product we were working with a bank that was the sponsor of the entire card issuance, and now we have the card issuance license," said Colyer. 

Clara aims to provide a financial alternative for businesses that need frequent credit card generation through a simplified digitization process, building an end-to-end spend-management solution. The company also offers payment options tailored to benefits for executives, digital cards for online expenses, or cards for traveling and employee’s expenses.

In addition, the startup services its clients with an expense-management platform where businesses can track their expense visibility in real-time, assuring an international coverage with high acceptance through a corporate credit card and a payment SPEI platform to facilitate the sending or scheduling of payments, reported by MBN.