The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2019–2025
Bold bets Colombia's cash economy on cheap dataphones; Tiger-led $55M, then $130M
Colombian fintech sells low-cost card terminals to cash-first SMBs; 100k merchants by 2021, 150k by 2024, US$130M raised, expanding to Peru
Bold
What the business is
Bold sells low-cost card-payment terminals (dataphones) and pay-by-link to Colombian micro and small merchants, layering business bank accounts, credit and software on top.
Starting capital：US$55M Series B led by Tiger Global (Feb 2022, total US$65M); US$50M Series C led by General Atlantic with IFC, InQLab and Amador (Feb 2024, total US$130M); further US$40M led by General Atlantic with InQlab, Cóndor Inverlink and IFC (Oct 2025).
How it started
José Vélez, former co-founder and CEO of PayU Latam, founded Bold in Bogotá in Q2 2019 with Ana María Sandoval, Enrique Ramírez, Jorge Ulloa and Sergio Vergara. Cash was still over 80% of Colombia's transaction volume, and Bold aimed at micro and small merchants that established banks overlooked; it launched its first card reader in Q1 2020 and pay-by-link in Q1 2021.
What happened
Bold ended 2021 with more than 100,000 merchants and 31x year-over-year transaction growth, then raised a US$55M Series B led by Tiger Global in Feb 2022 (total US$65M, 400+ employees). A US$50M Series C led by General Atlantic with the IFC followed in Feb 2024 (total US$130M): 150,000 monthly active merchants, revenue up 6x since 2022, about 3% of Colombia's payment volume, and a financial-institution license to open merchant bank accounts. In Oct 2025 it raised US$40M more from General Atlantic, InQlab, Cóndor Inverlink and the IFC, and acquired Peru's VendeMás from Niubiz as its first market outside Colombia.
How it ended up
Still scaling: as of Oct 2025 Bold is entering Peru through the VendeMás acquisition, with Ecuador, Chile and Central America next, while turning payments into banking and credit for its merchant base.
Background
Bold is a Colombian fintech founded in Bogotá in Q2 2019 by José Vélez, the former co-founder and CEO of PayU Latam, together with Ana María Sandoval, Enrique Ramírez, Jorge Ulloa and Sergio Vergara. Its bet was simple: Colombia's cash-first micro and small merchants would adopt card payments if given a low-cost dataphone with no monthly fees and enrollment in minutes instead of the weeks legacy banks took.
Cash still represented over 80% of Colombia's transaction volume when Bold launched its first card reader in Q1 2020 and pay-by-link in Q1 2021. The model worked fast: Bold ended 2021 with more than 100,000 merchants and processed 31x more transactions than in 2020, which drew a US$55M Series B led by Tiger Global in February 2022.
By February 2024 Bold had raised a US$50M Series C led by General Atlantic with the World Bank's IFC, bringing total funding to US$130M. It reported 150,000 monthly active merchants, revenue up six times since 2022, about 3% of Colombia's payment volume, and a financial-institution license to open merchant bank accounts, debit cards and cash advances.
In October 2025 Bold raised US$40M more from General Atlantic, InQlab, Cóndor Inverlink and the IFC, and acquired Peru's VendeMás from Niubiz as its first step outside Colombia, with Ecuador, Chile and Central America named as the next targets.
What has to be true
- The pain was structural: banks ignored micro merchants, so most Colombian SMBs had never accepted a card payment; a cheap terminal and 5-minute enrollment removed the two biggest barriers.
- Pricing as the weapon: no monthly POS fees made the first card payment free, converting cash-only vendors into repeat, visible users of the device.
- Payments became a distribution channel: each dataphone user was a candidate for the bank account, credit and software Bold added once it held a financial-institution license.
- The macro tailwind did the selling: COVID and a young generation pushed Colombia's cash economy toward cards, letting Bold ride rather than create the transition.
What can be applied
In a cash economy the cheap terminal is the wedge: no monthly fees and minutes-long onboarding turn cash-only merchants into paying distribution you can cross-sell banking into.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Bold is live and scaling: it raised US$40M in October 2025 from General Atlantic, InQlab, Cóndor Inverlink and the IFC, closed the acquisition of Peru's VendeMás to enter Peru, and publicly targets Ecuador, Chile and Central America next. The company has moved from a payments link provider toward a full merchant banking stack, cross-selling business accounts and credit to the merchants that use its dataphones.
Sources
- Colombia's Bold raises $55M in Tiger Global-led round to enable digital payments in LatAm
- General Atlantic leads $50M Series C into Bold to grow digital payments in Colombia
- Colombian fintech Bold raises $40M funding round
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