Twelve Startups Selected for Village Capital’s Finance Forward Latin America 2021 Accelerator

August 12th, 2021 (Mexico City, MX) —Village Capital, with support from MetLife Foundation in Brazil and Mexico, and Moody’s, announced that 12 startups were selected to take part in Finance Forward Latin America 2021, an accelerator program for early-stage financial health startups in the region.

The open call had a focus on technology that helps gig, contract, and essential workers reduce income volatility, upskill their skill sets, and access better benefits and emergency cash. In total, 95 startups from 11 countries in Latin America applied to be a part of the accelerator, including: Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

The final cohort is composed of the top 12 companies from 5 different countries. These companies are creating solutions around payroll financing, SMBs management, and P2P lending, among others, and 50% of them are working from outside major fintech hubs.

From August to November, selected startups will participate in virtual workshops on improving investment-readiness. Each company will have the opportunity to work closely with industry experts, investors, and ecosystem partners to develop the networks they need to scale their impact.

Here are the 12 selected startups:

1. AgroInvesting (Magdalena del Mar, Peru) operates a digital financing platform that makes credit more accessible for farmers.
2. Akiba (Mexico City, Mexico) offers payroll lending, salary on demand, and saving funds for low income employees in Latin America.
3. Aptoclick (Mexico City, Mexico) provides loans with lower interest rates to ease down payments and increase housing access for low and middle income employees.
4. ContaAyuda (Queretaro, Mexico) uses machine learning to automate accounting, taxes, and finance for small businesses.
5. Creizer (Mexico City, Mexico) provides financing for online regional sellers through customizable payments based on their sales.
6. Ecomm-App (Buenos Aires, Argentina) helps online merchants in Latin America manage their inventory in real time and invoice in seconds.
7. FINLOOP (Puebla, Mexico) operates an alternative lending platform that boosts the supply of credit grantors for individuals and SMBs.
8. Firgun (São Paulo, Brazil) operates a peer-to-peer microlending platform for low income Brazilians regardless of their background and credit history. 
9. Flexio (Mexico City, Mexico) helps small businesses optimize how they charge their clients through an automated and end-to-end process.
10. HiSofi (São Paulo, Brazil) allows credit consumers to decide how they want to settle their debts.
11. KredFeed (Guadalajara, Mexico) advances payments for small businesses that would normally receive delayed payments. 
12. VitaWallet (Viña del Mar, Chile) lowers the cost of international payments for Latin Americans by providing transparent pricing and low fees.

The participating entrepreneurs will benefit from Village Capital’s experience, including the opportunity to work closely with industry experts, investors, and ecosystem partners to develop the networks they need to scale their impact. The program will disburse USD $100K in grants to a subset of the program participants.

For more information, reach out to Sofía Cándano at Village Capital (sofia.candano@vilcap.com).