Fina, the Venezuelan startup founded in 2024 by Enrique Rivas, Diego Aponte, Alejandro Fariña and Sebastián Sánchez, closes a US$1 million seed round that, according to its founder, was oversubscribed. The operation raised capital from four countries: co-led by SquareOne Capital (USA) and Tomorrow Capital (United Kingdom), with the participation of Norte Ventures (Brazil), Platanus (Chile) and Neer Venture Partners (USA).
The list of angels works like a map of the sector: Marcelo Lombardo from Omie, Jorge Ulloa from Bold, Rodrigo Tognini from Conta Simples, Gabriel Monroy from Colektia and Adriel Araujo from Hackmetrix.
Enrique Rivas and Diego Aponte are not new to the Venezuelan ecosystem: they both co-founded Caracas Ron, a delivery e-commerce that grew during the pandemic, before launching Fina. The startup has accumulated three rounds: an initial one of US$100,000 linked to the Emprelatam accelerator, a second of US$350,000 and now this seed of US$1 million.
Management software designed for Venezuela
Fina’s platform unifies inventory, sales, accounts receivable and payable, bank reconciliation and profitability reports in bolivars and dollars in the cloud, all for US$35 per month calculated at the official BCV rate. The product is designed for low connectivity and small equipment, serving hardware stores, auto parts, technology stores, restaurants, wineries and distributors, sectors where administration is still carried out in notebooks or spreadsheets.
With more than 5,000 active businesses and an ARR close to US$2 million, Fina comes to this round with real metrics. “We firmly believe in the potential of Venezuela and in trade as the strategic engine of the economy,” said Enrique Rivas.
Credit and AI as the next step
With the new resources, Fina will target new financial and artificial intelligence products over the next six months. The central focus is a credit vertical for SMEs that started a few months ago and, according to the company, is doubling in size month after month. The loan pilot carried out with a Venezuelan bank showed almost zero defaults, a sign that reinforces the thesis that formal, digitalized Venezuelan commerce is a viable credit subject.
The operation is framed at a time of renewed international interest in the Venezuelan technological ecosystem, where Cashea raised US$100 million this year and the payments market operates almost completely digitally. “People are no longer afraid to invest in the country and this round shows it,” concluded Enrique Rivas.
