The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2014–2025
FinMaq's machinery-financing bet wins $29M from impact investors
FinMaq bets asset-based scoring can lend Colombia's micro-firms money for tractors and clinics; a $29M pre-Series A says yes.
FinMaq
What the business is
FinMaq is a Bogotá-based fintech that finances productive machinery — tractors, medical equipment, construction machines — for micro, small and medium enterprises and independent workers in Colombia.
How it started
Founded in 2014 and restructured in 2019 by Diego Sanz de Santamaría and Diego Acero, both from investment-banking backgrounds, FinMaq set out to close the structural credit gap facing Colombian MSMEs that want to buy productive assets.
What happened
From 2022 the company digitized underwriting, cutting approvals from weeks to days, grew its portfolio 4.8x to over US$17M, disbursed more than US$30M to over 550 clients, and partnered with more than 40 machinery distributors across agriculture, health and construction.
How it ended up
In January 2025 FinMaq closed a US$29M pre-Series A combining equity led by impact fund ALIVE Ventures with participation from 30N Ventures, and debt from Accial Capital and Iris Bank — money earmarked to double the portfolio in 2025, deepen distributor ties and cut final approval to two days.
Background
FinMaq is a Colombian fintech that finances productive machinery for micro, small and medium enterprises and independent workers, covering assets such as tractors, medical equipment and construction machines across agriculture, health and construction.
The founding bet was that lending decisions should rest on the asset being financed and the borrower's real activity, not on traditional income statements and collateral — a model for the micro-businesses that formal banks exclude.
Founded in 2014 and restructured in 2019 by Diego Sanz de Santamaría and Diego Acero, FinMaq digitized underwriting from 2022, grew its portfolio 4.8 times to more than US$17 million, disbursed over US$30 million to more than 550 clients, and built ties with over 40 machinery distributors.
In January 2025 the company closed a US$29 million pre-Series A mixing equity led by ALIVE Ventures and 30N Ventures with debt from Accial Capital and Iris Bank, to double its portfolio in 2025 and cut loan approval times toward two days. Ninety-three percent of its clients are micro and small businesses, and 30 percent have no prior credit history.
What has to be true
- Colombian MSMEs face a structural financing gap: banks demand collateral and credit history that micro-firms, farmers and independent professionals do not have.
- Financing the productive asset itself gave FinMaq both a reason to say yes and a recovery path if a borrower defaulted.
- Digitization made the model cheap enough to scale: five data points yield pre-approval in five minutes and a finished loan in under eight days.
- The 4.8x portfolio growth since 2022 gave impact investors evidence that serving excluded borrowers could be profitable, unlocking a US$29M mixed debt-and-equity round.
What can be applied
Credit can be built around the asset, not the applicant: scoring the financed machine let FinMaq serve borrowers with no credit history, and impact capital followed once the book proved it.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-05 FinMaq is still operating and growing in Colombia. After the January 2025 round, ALIVE Ventures managing partner Santiago Álvarez joined the board, and the company said it would use the capital to double its loan portfolio, expand its distributor network and shorten final approvals from days toward two. No shutdown, acquisition or later round has been reported in the sources reviewed.
Sources
- Finmaq obtiene US$29 millones para financiar la compra de maquinaria productiva
- Finmaq raises $29M to expand SME asset financing in Colombia
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