The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Cumbuca bets foreign fintechs will rent Brazil's license instead of waiting years
A YC startup that got Brazil's PISP license in 2022 pivoted from consumer payments to renting that license as a proxy for foreign fintechs.
Cumbuca
What the business is
Cumbuca is Brazil's first regulated-payments 'proxy': foreign firms build their own payment-initiation and Open Finance infrastructure under Cumbuca's Central Bank license, while Cumbuca handles license compliance.
Starting capital：Backed by Y Combinator, Lightspeed and Supera Capital; the amount was not disclosed in launch coverage.
How it started
Founded in 2022 by Daniel Ruhman, Bruno Cury and Pedro Castilho, who became among the youngest statutory directors in Brazil's financial sector when they secured a payment initiation service provider (PISP) license for a consumer product — one of the first companies in Brazil to hold one. Going through licensing themselves showed them how slow and painful the status quo was.
What happened
After running the consumer product, the team pivoted in late 2025 to a proxy model: international firms initiate payments and build Open Finance infrastructure under Cumbuca's license. The product launched December 3, 2025, with a team including ex-INIT president Gustavo Lino and Nic Marcondes, architect of the JSR no-redirect payment flow; in May 2026 Cumbuca shipped Regulus, a free AI chatbot trained on Central Bank Pix/Open Finance rules.
No ending yet — it is still running.
Background
Cumbuca is a Brazilian fintech founded in 2022 by Daniel Ruhman, Bruno Cury and Pedro Castilho. They became among the youngest statutory directors in Brazil's financial sector when they secured a payment initiation service provider (PISP) license for a consumer product — one of the first companies in the country to hold one.
Having lived through licensing, the founders pivoted: instead of selling consumer payments, Cumbuca now acts as the first proxy for Brazil's regulated ecosystem. International firms build their own payment-initiation and Open Finance infrastructure under Cumbuca's license — direct Central Bank access without waiting years for a license or surrendering control to Open Finance-as-a-Service providers.
The proxy product launched December 3, 2025, with Y Combinator and investors including Lightspeed (its only Brazil investment) and Supera Capital. In May 2026 Cumbuca added Regulus, a free AI chatbot trained on Central Bank Pix/Open Finance rules. The company remains small and self-funded in this phase.
What has to be true
- The founders held one of Brazil's first PISP licenses, so the product came from firsthand regulatory pain rather than a hypothetical market.
- The 'third way' framing targets both sides of the market: the multi-year licensing wait and the lock-in of third-party providers.
- Cumbuca's credibility assets are people, not code: a former INIT president and the architect of the JSR payment flow joined the team.
- A Product Hunt launch plus PYMNTS and BusinessWire coverage gave a regulatory-infrastructure startup distribution it could not buy.
What can be applied
Turn your own regulatory pain into the product: a hard-won license becomes the wedge, and in fintech the hardest asset to copy is compliance credibility, not code.
Aftermath
As of September 2026, Cumbuca continues to operate the proxy model from São Paulo with investors including Lightspeed and Supera Capital; it has disclosed no client roster or revenue figures, and its launch coverage says it has no immediate plans for a new round. The bet — that foreign fintechs will rent Brazilian license access rather than wait or outsource — remains unproven at scale, with Regulus as its public face.
Sources
- Cumbuca Launches Fast-Track Payments Initiation Access to Brazil's Booming Financial Services Market
- Global FinTechs Race Into Brazil as Cumbuca Offers a New Back Door
- Regulus by Cumbuca: AI chatbot trained on Brazil's Central Bank regulations
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe what you are building, and see who is betting on the same thing.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card