PicPay’s entry into U.S. public markets last week was not just about ringing the NASDAQ opening bell. It was a statement about where the company’s business, and its growth engine, now lives.
After years of building scale through payments, PicPay is taking its credit strategy public.
The Brazilian FinTech began trading in the U.S. on Jan. 29, completing its transition from a privately held wallet provider to a publicly traded financial platform. The IPO follows a pivotal internal shift: PicPay’s decision to move its core credit products onto its own balance sheet, giving the company greater control over underwriting, economics and long-term growth.
CEO Eduardo Chedid described the listing as an inflection point rather than an endpoint. “We’ve been on this road for a while, and so it’s really exciting to reach that milestone,” he told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster. “But it’s really a new start.”
Reframing the IPO as a Credit Story
The timing of the IPO reflects a broader recalibration across FinTech. Earlier growth cycles prioritized rapid user acquisition, often at the expense of profitability and balance-sheet discipline.
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“If you look at FinTechs around the globe, it was all about growth, growth, growth,” Chedid said. “Now we need to look at revenues. Now we need to look at net income.”
For PicPay, that transition has centered on credit.
By late 2022, the company brought credit cards and lending products onto its own balance sheet, a fundamental business model change that reshaped how PicPay measures success. Since the second half of 2023, those products have been held internally, anchoring what Chedid described as a more sustainable ecosystem built around its digital wallet.
“And more than that,” he added, “it also drives engagement.”
Wallet Data as the Underwriting Engine
PicPay’s credit strategy is rooted in its original mission: identifying “broken journeys” in financial services and fixing them digitally.
That philosophy, which first guided instant payments before Brazil’s Pix system existed, now extends to lending. Credit is introduced gradually, allowing customers to demonstrate behavior before limits increase. “It’s easier for the customer to actually start showing their behavior, and then we will progressively increase their credit limits,” Chedid said.
Today, that approach is powered by data flowing through PicPay’s wallet. The platform holds 52 million cards on file, processes millions of bill payments, and sees 11% of all Pix transactions either begin or end within a PicPay account. Chedid described the result as “a really powerful data collection machine.”
That data advantage deepens further through PicPay’s account aggregation tools, which allow users to link multiple bank accounts within the app. With the average Brazilian holding five to six accounts, the combination of internal wallet activity and external financial data gives PicPay what Webster described as “a complete picture of the consumer” — a foundation for more precise underwriting.
Why Brazil — and Why Now
PicPay’s credit-led evolution is unfolding against a uniquely mature digital backdrop. Brazil has reached roughly 94% digital adoption, according to PYMNTS Intelligence, with digital payments now functioning as core infrastructure rather than emerging technology.
Chedid also credited Brazil’s central bank for fostering competition and enabling FinTech platforms to scale, creating an environment where wallet-based ecosystems can naturally extend into credit.
That maturity, he suggested, made the shift to balance-sheet lending not just possible, but necessary.
Measuring Success Beyond the IPO
As a public company, PicPay now faces the quarterly cadence of Wall Street. Internally, however, Chedid said the company continues to focus on metrics that reflect the health of its credit strategy: product-level customer satisfaction and the depth of credit adoption across its existing user base.
“At the end of the day, customer satisfaction is key,” he said, noting that PicPay tracks performance across individual products rather than relying on a single aggregate score.
Penetration of credit products within the existing base has become a primary driver of margin expansion and revenue growth, multiplying across payments, bills and lending into a more unified financial experience.
With $434 million raised through the IPO, PicPay’s roadmap emphasizes integration rather than isolated feature launches. Building on the connectivity between wallet activity and credit decisioning that now defines its strategy.
“We know it’s just the beginning,” Chedid said. “And there’s lots to be done.”
