The Argentine fintech Cocos closed its first round of external capital for US$34 million, led by Kaszek with participation from Spice Expeditions, an investment firm specialized in fintech. The operation values the company at US$508 million.
Cocos was founded in 2021 by Nicolás Mindlin, industrial engineer at ITBA and executive vice president of Pampa Energía, as president, and Ariel Sbdar, former head of strategy at BIND, with experience at Banco Macro and Allaria Ledesma, as CEO. The company started with an initial capital of US$50,000 and grew for five years by reinvesting its own results, without resorting to external investors.
According to the company, today it is profitable and has a turnover of US$150 million annually throughout the group. It reports more than 2.5 million clients, more than 2,000 user companies, more than US$2,000 million in assets under management and a transaction volume of about US$200,000 million per year.
The team has almost 300 people. For Kaszek, founded in 2011 by Hernán Kazah, co-founder of Mercado Libre, and Nicolás Szekasy, former CFO of the same company, this is the first major investment in a company whose business is mainly concentrated in Argentina.
Cocos Bank and the commitment to the digital investment bank
In Argentina, the funds will be used to expand the product offering with a focus on artificial intelligence and to accelerate the consolidation of Cocos Bank, the digital investment bank that the company is building on the Banco Voii platform, whose purchase has already been approved.
In October, Cocos added accounts in pesos and dollars, fixed term and QR payments to its app, after having moved its crypto business to a separate application, Cocos Crypto.
“Five years ago we started with US$50,000 and a conviction: that from Argentina we could build a world-class digital investment bank. Today we are a profitable company, with our own technology and a solid financial position,” said Nicolás Mindlin.
Expansion to Brazil via Warren, subject to the Central Bank
The second destination of the round is Brazil, where Cocos agreed in July to acquire the assets of Warren, an investment platform in which Kaszek has been an investor since its first round in 2019.
The operation is subject to approval by the Central Bank of Brazil, and the newly raised funds will accompany the development of Warren once that approval is obtained. The entry into the Brazilian market marks the first step in the internationalization of Cocos, which until now had concentrated its entire operation in Argentina.
Kaszek, who raised more than US$3 billion in nine funds and has Nubank, Creditas and QuintoAndar in his portfolio, incorporated Guilherme Lago, former CFO of Nubank, as a new partner in September.
