Quipu, a Colombian fintech that develops digital financial solutions to democratize financial access to Latin American microbusinesses excluded from the traditional system, raises an investment of US$300 thousand from Impacta VC, a Latin American venture capital fund specialized in social and environmental impact. The investment was made as a lead investor in the startup’s bridge round, which also included the participation of Decelera, Vertical Partners, Corteza Capital and Comfama.
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.
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.
Quipu: Infrastructure to transform credit allocation
Impacta VC’s capital will be mainly used to expand the reach of Quipu’s alternative scoring model, integrating its API into more financial entities 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.
“From the beginning, Impacta understood that Quipu is not just a fintech, but an infrastructure to transform how credit is allocated in Latin America. Their support gives us impetus to continue scaling inclusive technology-based solutions,” said Mercedes Bidart, CEO of Quipu.
“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.
Impact thesis validated since 2023
The first contact between Quipu and Impacta VC occurred in 2023 during the Latin American Impact Investment Forum (FLII). From that moment on, the startup represented the fund’s investment thesis: ventures that use technology to reduce structural inequities in Latin America. Its ability to transform traditional credit evaluation systems and give visibility to informal workers makes it a scalable, sustainable and innovative model.
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.
Quipu becomes the thirteenth startup in Impacta VC’s portfolio, which includes companies such as Airbag, Betterfly, Carryt, Cuéntame, e-Green, Kilimo, Lab4U, Muta, Mozper, Polynatural, Retorna and Wheel the World. The entry of the fintech is part of the fund’s plans to close its Fund I and prepare the opening of its Fund II, to be completed in 2026.
