Tencent Invests in Argentine Mobile Banking Startup

Voice of America
24 Apr 2019, 09:38 GMT+10

BUENOS AIRES - Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings has invested in Argentine mobile banking service Uala, which also counts George Soros and Point72 Ventures LLC among its investors, the start-up's founder said.

Uala founder Pierpaolo Barbieri said the company planned to collaborate with the Chinese social media-to-gaming giant to further develop its app. He declined to disclose the amount of Tencent's investment.

Tencent, one of Asia's most valuable listed companies, announced last year it would boost investments in a number of 'key areas' including digital payment, where its service jostles with rival Alipay, backed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

Tencent's own messenger-to-payment app WeChat now has more than 1 billion users in China and has launched in-app services that compete with Apple and Google apps.

'We are proud of their interest in Uala and look forward to collaborating on new products and services. This investment will allow us to grow even faster with our product roadmap,' Barbieri said in an email to Reuters.

Argentine startups face regulatory hurdles in South America's second largest economy, but the country has spawned some of the region's most successful tech startups, including U.S.-listed online marketplace MercadoLibre and Internet travel agent Despegar.com.

The country, which has a large unbanked population, is also seeing a boom in digital finance from start-ups like Uala to a new wave of online banks competing with more traditional lenders.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Brazil Sun.

More Information

25 ℃

Mostly Cloudy in Brasilia

South America

Section

Renegade Catholic order offered money to abused victim to lie

MILAN - The cardinal's response was not what Yolanda Martinez had expected - or could abide.Her son had been sexually ...

What Russian ballet looked like before the 1917 revolution

Culture Feb 19 2020 Alexandra Guzeva'Swan Lake' at the Mariinsky Theater in St. PetersburgSputnik Ballet became one of Russia's national ...

ATP roundup: Thiem fights off scare in Rio opener

Top-seeded Dominic Thiem of Austria overcame a second-set hiccup on Tuesday to win in the opening round of the clay-court ...

Bolsonaro Repeats Debunked Sexual Comments about Journalist

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro repeated a debunked sexually charged allegation about one of the country's ...

US Sanctions Russian Oil Trading Firm for Role in Venezuela

WASHINGTON - The Trump administration announced sanctions Tuesday on a Russian state-controlled brokerage that has helped the Venezuelan government skirt ...

Pompeo Faces Uphill Battle to Win Over African Leaders

ADDIS ABABA - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the African Union ...

Business

Section