Quipu, a Colombian fintech that develops digital financial solutions to democratize access to credit for Latin American microbusinesses excluded from the traditional system, closed a pre-Series A round of US$1.1 million in equity. The operation included the participation of Impacta VC, Decelera, Vertical Partners, Corteza Capital and Comfama, raising the total capital raised by the company to approximately US$4.6 million since its founding.
Founded in 2021 by Mercedes Bidart, Juan Cristobal Constain, Eduardo Carrasquilla and Viviana Siless, Quipu was born as a result of an incubation process at DesignX at MIT. Fintech is defined as the credit bureau of the informal economy in Latin America, using artificial intelligence to evaluate people excluded from the traditional financial system through alternative scoring models based on non-traditional data.
This financing positions Quipu to accelerate its regional expansion and consolidate its alternative scoring infrastructure as a scalable solution for financial institutions seeking to democratize access to credit in the region.
Traction with more than 300,000 users evaluated
To date, Quipu has generated a new credit score for more than 300,000 users, placed more than US$7 million in loans with positive unit economics and established strategic alliances with players such as Nequi, Claro, Bancóldex and ProMujer, validating its model in the Colombian market.
The capital from the pre-Series A round will mainly be used to expand the reach of Quipu’s alternative scoring model, integrating its API into more financial entities – such as banks, digital wallets and cooperatives – and strengthening its technology and data intelligence team. It will also support expansion to new markets in Latin America, consolidating the vision of becoming a regional infrastructure for financial inclusion.
“Quipu is not just a fintech, but an infrastructure to transform how credit is allocated in Latin America. This new round gives us impetus to continue scaling our technology to more entities in Colombia and the region. We are proud that the round is made up mostly of Latin American funds,” said Mercedes Bidart, CEO of Quipu.
Commit to reducing structural inequalities
“We saw in Quipu a competitive team that could be a regional leader in scoring so that more SMEs in Latin America can access credit for the first time or have a second opportunity to obtain credit, thus impacting the development of millions of families in the region,” said David Alvo Verdugo, founder and CEO of Impacta VC, one of the funds participating in the round.
“Quipu is redefining how credit history is built in Latin America. While traditional bureaus leave out millions of microbusinesses, its technology uses alternative data and artificial intelligence to evaluate risk in a more fair way and in accordance with the reality of the region. This type of innovation is key to solving structural problems of financial inclusion”, Felipe Uribe, Corteza Capital
By 2026, Quipu plans to expand its technological infrastructure to new countries in the region, consolidate its network of alliances with traditional financial actors and strengthen its position as a reference in the development of ethical, inclusive scoring models based on alternative data. Likewise, it will continue to expand its debt funding to increase its credit portfolio in Colombia, and it is planned to raise a new round of equity around 2027.
The company becomes an example of how technology can transform financial inclusion in Latin America, building infrastructure that gives visibility to informal workers and allows financial institutions to make fairer credit decisions based on alternative data.
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Learn more about quipu:
www.quipuscore.com
www.quipu.com.co
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