Aviva Secures US$5.5 Million To Strengthen Its Presence In Mexico

Aviva is a fintech company that focuses on microbusinesses and personal financing. The firm has revealed that it has secured $5.5 million in an overfunded investment round, a kind of round where investors contribute more than what the company asked for.

The round saw participation from DCG, Rainforest Capital, Carao Ventures, Ignia Partners, Credicorp’s venture capital fund, and Krealo, and its existing investors Magna VC, 500 Global, Newtopia, and Wollef.

The Firm Plans To Expand Its Credit Portfolio To More Than 500 Million Pesos

With this capital, the company intends to expand its credit portfolio to beyond 500 million pesos. The firm is presently a Multiple Purpose Financial Society (Sofom) and offers loans of up to 20,000 pesos to its clients.

Aviva has adopted a physical and digital method in kiosks, called “phygital,” to target 70 million Mexicans, especially in towns with less than 500,000 people.

A market that the company highlighted has a lot of informal work and uses cash a lot, which the firm believes offers a chance for over $150 billion in credit.

To help this group, Aviva created a credit application that uses natural language processing and computer vision. Users get instant approval following a seven-minute video chat with a bot that adjusts to their needs. So far, over 50,000 people have finished the process.

Aviva is in 26 cities and has 24 Kiosks in Mexico. According to Aviva, 90% of its customers work in the informal sector.

Aviva Wants To Provide Financial Services To People With Limited Access

Filiberto Castro, the founder and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Aviva, said even though many fintech and neobanks have tried, smartphones are not the only way to offer financial services to people without access. He stressed that the team needed to create a different solution.

With this investment, the technology firm said it will expand its network of kiosks and products. By the end of the year, it plans to be in over 50 cities and aims to make a profit before its third year of operations is complete.

Besides this new funding, the financial firm has achieved a total of $8.7 million in venture capital so far and a $2.2 million pre-seed round in December 2022. Aviva’s “phygital” platform provides financial services to 70 million people with limited access in small Mexican cities. It mixes AI, computer vision, and a network of kiosks to help close the gap.

Aviva’s compact and affordable kiosks make loan applications easy by using video calls instead of paperwork. Users just need a government ID to get started.