Santander InnoVentures, the $200M fintech venture capital fund of Santander Group, has joined a $55 million funding round in Brazillian secured lending platform Creditas.
Founded in 2012, Creditas is a digital-first secured lending platform, with a mission of reducing the Brazilian consumer debt burden by offering consumer loans at more affordable rates by using borrower collateral like homes and autos.
Santander joined with Amadeus Capital Partners to inject a further $5 million into Creditas, rounding off a $55 million Series-C funding round that was led by Sweden's Vostok Emerging Finance (VEF).
Creditas has grown seven times in the last 12 months and plans to use the new funds to develop new products and explore new markets.
Creditas founder and CEO Sergio Furio says: “We are proud to be the first investment of Santander InnoVentures in Brazil. We want to maintain our accelerated growth in the coming years, we are just at the beginning and want to be 30 times bigger in three years."