Uala – A FinTech App

In recent news, a personal finance management application Uala now has a valuation of 2.45 billion dollars after receiving private funding of about 350 million dollars. This comes after news that said that Uala was valued at 900 million dollars just last year.

This sudden rise can be indicated by the Latin American population shifting from cash to a digital economy. Uala offers prepaid cards and a mobile application that lets users access many financial services like sending and receiving money, online shopping, withdrawing cash from ATMs and getting loans. It is also linked to MasterCard. Last year Uala also started expanding into Mexico.

Uala has created a complete financial ecosystem that was thus far absent in Latin America. There is also much participation in its mutual fund sector, which is the second-largest mutual fund in Argentina. It aims to create financial transparency and inclusion in the Latin American region. It claims that the majority of its users had no credit history to download to the app.

While in its current state, it is operating only out of Argentina and Mexico, it aims to expand to all of Latin America and wishes to have at least 1,500 employees by the end of the year.

“We are most impressed by Ualá’s ambition and execution. Our investment will propel the next stage of their vision. Furthering a regional ecosystem that can make financial services more accessible and transparent across LatAm,” said Marcelo Claure, CEO of SoftBank Group International and COO of SoftBank Group, in a written statement.

Uala is very similar to full-fledged banks, and it does not have many similar counterparts in the world, which is dominated by e-Wallets and payment apps. It is a path-breaking venture in the Latin American region and hopes to flourish in the entire continent.