PicPay Targets $2.46 Billion Valuation in US IPO

Brazilian digital bank PicPay is targeting a $2.46 billion valuation when it goes public in the United States.

The company aims to raise up to $434.3 million in its initial public offering (IPO) by providing nearly 22.9 million shares priced at $16 to $19 each, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

PicPay filed for its IPO earlier this month and has become one of the most closely watched Brazil-linked FinTech listings since the region’s equity-capital-markets pipeline cooled following Nubank’s debut in 2021.

Meanwhile, investors are keeping a close watch on the role that Pix, Brazil’s central bank-supported instant payments system, plays in reshaping the country’s consumer finance and merchant payments space.

PYMNTS examined the popularity of Pix in November as the system marked its fifth anniversary. What began as a push “to modernize the national payments infrastructure has moved beyond any initial peer-to-peer activity.”

Government figures as of late October showed there were close to 7.3 billion Pix transactions during that month, compared to 5.7 billion in the same period one year earlier. The momentum is in keeping with wider shifts in consumer digital behavior among Brazilians documented in PYMNTS research.

The PYMTNS Intelligence report “How the World Does Digital: A Global Benchmark Of Consumer Digital Transformation” found that Brazil was the most digitally engaged country across a range of activities from banking to booking travel.

Elsewhere, Brazil-based digital bank Inter won regulatory approval to establish a state-licensed international banking branch in Florida.

“This milestone strengthens our position as a global platform and enables us to deliver even more value to our clients across borders,” Inter CEO João Vitor Menin said in a Friday (Jan. 16) press release. “The U.S. branch allows us to scale our offering, deliver greater value to our clients, and strengthen Inter’s position in the international financial system.”

Another Brazilian FinTech, Agibank, might postpone its U.S. IPO after the Brazilian social security system, INSS, suspended one of the firm’s main businesses.

INSS blocked the company from making new payroll-deduction loans for retired workers in December, citing “serious irregularities.” Until that suspension is lifted, Agibank may need to put off its listing.