The archive · Commerce & Marketplaces · Product decision · 2020–2026
Kiwify bets simpler beats bigger in Brazil's course market; 25M students, BC license
Brazilian creator-commerce platform Kiwify bets beginners pick simpler tools over Hotmart: 30k+ creators, 25M buyers, YC-backed, Central Bank license
Kiwify
What the business is
Brazilian creator-commerce platform: anyone can host, sell and deliver online courses and digital products (infoprodutos) with embedded payment processing (KiwiPay), affiliate management and video delivery.
Starting capital：US$125K pre-seed from Y Combinator (Feb 2021); R$50M raised in 2024 through its own receivables fund (FIDC), per company announcement.
How it started
Founded in early 2020 in Balneário Camboriú by Artur Ribas (CEO) and Marinho Gomes (CTO), digital marketers who met on an online marketing forum; influencer Raiam Santos joined for marketing. They saw that incumbents like Hotmart dominated, yet a totally inexperienced seller still found it hard to start, and creators' biggest complaint was support that took days to reply. By February 2021 revenue was compounding ~113% monthly and Y Combinator invested US$125K.
What happened
Kiwify rode Brazil's infoproduct boom: by February 2025 it reported 30,000+ active creators and 25M registered buyers with ~190 employees, and Brazil's Central Bank authorized it to operate as a payment institution (e-money issuer) after a ~10-month licensing process, letting it run KiwiPay flows in-house. A 2024 FIDC raise of R$50M funded payouts to creators. An AWS case study documents the 2025-26 migration of its video pipeline to GPU spot instances: transcoding costs down 70%, and video onboarding cut from 30 minutes-2 hours to under 20 minutes.
How it ended up
Still running and scaling: one of Brazil's largest course-selling platforms by creator base, operating as a licensed payment institution with 25M registered buyers as of 2026.
Background
Kiwify is a Brazilian creator-commerce platform founded in 2020 by Artur Ribas and Marinho Gomes, betting that the country's huge market of would-be online-course sellers would choose the simplest, fastest-supporting platform rather than the biggest incumbent, Hotmart. The wedge was the exact pain point: rival platforms took days to answer support tickets, and complete beginners found onboarding hard.
Growth rode Brazil's infoproduct boom. Y Combinator invested US$125K in February 2021 when revenue was compounding ~113% monthly, and by February 2025 the company reported 30,000+ active creators, 25M registered buyers and roughly 190 employees, hosting, selling and delivering courses and digital products with its own payment processing.
The verticalization came next: in February 2025 Brazil's Central Bank authorized Kiwify to operate as a payment institution (e-money issuer) after a ~10-month process, moving KiwiPay money flows in-house, and a 2024 R$50M FIDC raise funded creator payouts. An AWS case study documents the 2025-26 migration of its video encoding to GPU spot instances — a 70% cost cut and video onboarding time reduced from up to two hours to under 20 minutes.
As of 2026 Kiwify remains independent and scaling as a licensed payment institution and one of Brazil's biggest course-selling platforms — so far validating the bet that simplicity plus owned payments can outrun an incumbent.
What has to be true
- Beginners were structurally underserved: incumbents optimized for professional producers, leaving onboarding and support pain for everyone else.
- Speed was a defensible wedge: hours-not-days support and fast payouts were features big rivals could not quickly copy without reworking operations.
- Owning payments through KiwiPay and a Central Bank license cut fees and payout latency, compounding the product edge over time.
- Pix-friendly local rails meant no dependence on foreign card processors, matching how Brazilian consumers actually pay.
What can be applied
Win the edge incumbents ignore: Kiwify took beginners Hotmart underserved and won on speed — support in hours, fast payouts, simple onboarding — then verticalized payments.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Kiwify is live and scaling: 30,000+ active creators and 25M registered buyers per its February 2025 reporting, ~190 employees, licensed by Brazil's Central Bank as a payment institution, and running its video infrastructure on AWS after a 2025-26 migration. It remains private and independent; competitive pressure from Hotmart, Eduzz and newcomers persists, but its creator base and payment license keep it among Brazil's largest course-selling platforms.
Sources
- Start-up brasileira Kiwify recebe investimento da aceleradora Y Combinator
- Kiwify é autorizada pelo Bacen a operar como Instituição de Pagamento
- Kiwify reduces video transcoding costs by 70% with AWS infrastructure
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