Financial services startup Ualá in Buenos Aires, Argentina, recently launched Ualintec Capital, its own broker-dealer operations, to expand the number of investment alternatives it can offer customers through its digital wallet app, Bloomberg reported.
Most recently valued at $2.5 billion, Ualá was founded in 2017 by Pierpaolo Barbieri to help people in the region more easily manage their money. Ualá offers financial services linked to a prepaid Mastercard and operates digitally using a mobile app. The company has so far issued over 2.5 million cards in Argentina.
Ualintec Capital is headed by Andres Rodriguez Ledermann, Ualá’s head of wealth management. Users can access the investment options via the Ualá app.
See also: Argentinian FinTech Uala Buys ABC Capital for Ongoing Expansion
Ualá handles 30% of all investment accounts in Argentina, Barbieri said. Currently, 3.5 million users in the country have invested cash from their digital wallets into a money market mutual fund, up from 1.3 million users.
With Ualintec Capital, customers can still steer investments into the money market fund, but now they have more choices and can invest in one of the company’s own products, Barbieri said.
“We want to complement that with offerings that may offer a better return or a different risk profile,” he said.
Read more: Argentine FinTech Ualá Attains $2.45B Valuation After Investment Round
In August, Ualá raised $350 million in a Series D funding round led by SoftBank Group and Tencent. The startup also has received funding from George Soros, Steve Cohen and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., among others.
The company’s expansion plans included the acquisition of the digital bank Wilobank in Argentina and ABC Capital in Mexico. Once the deals are finalized, Ualá would have a banking license in each country.
Wilobank was founded by billionaire Eduardo Eurnekian of Argentina, who would become a minority shareholder of Ualá following the acquisition.
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