PayPal joins group investing $15M in Brazilian startup
Summary
None PayPals venture arm and other investors are injecting $15 million in Ume, a Brazilian payment services provider that caters to small and mid-sized merchants, according to a Friday press release. In addition, it will fund improvement of its Pix capabilities, the Brazilian real-time payments system .Prior to its recent Ume investment, PayPal Ventures has poured money into international e-commerce and AI companies in recent years.Earlier this year, PayPal Ventures and other investors invested $30 million in Rasa, an international generative AI company that serves banks, insurance, travel and hospitality companies. In 2021, PayPal Ventures bought a 6.73% stake in the Miami-based special-purpose acquisition company MELI Kaszek Pioneer, which aimed to buy fintech and e-commerce companies in Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Argentina.Ume, which provides its services via Pix, aims to capitalize on the rise of buy now, pay later services in the country. The Pix system has become popular in that country since the Brazilian government started it as a domestic payments service in 2020. Since integrating Pix into its business in early 2023, Ume has increased its merchant user base and boosted its repeat customer count.Ume has capitalized on the ubiquity of Pix in Brazil and has gained impressive traction, Ian Cox, a PayPal Ventures partner, said in the statement, saying Ume is seeking to build the future of payments in Brazil.PayPal Ventures has put money in some 70 startups from three investment funds backed with $850 million since 2017, a spokesperson for the company said.By tapping Pix for its services, Umes strategy is to provide flexibility of payment options to consumers while giving merchants another way to appeal to customers.