QI Tech bets non-banks rent licensed credit rails; Brazil's only 2024 unicorn

A full-stack financial-infrastructure platform: modular APIs for onboarding, credit scoring, digital accounts, Pix, payments and anti-fraud, wrapped in a Direct Credit Society (SCD) licence so non-banks can embed financial products.

That companies like telecoms and e-commerce sites would rent modular, licensed credit and banking rails instead of building them or partnering with a traditional bank.

$262M raised through the Oct 2023 Series B (GIC-led $50M Series A in 2021, $200M General Atlantic-led Series B), plus a $50M extension in 2024 and $63M in Jul 2025

Pedro Mac Dowell, Marcelo Bentivoglio and Marcelo Buosi founded QI Tech in São Paulo in 2018 and bootstrapped it — profitable from its first year — until November 2021, when GIC led a $50M Series A. The founding thesis, in Mac Dowell's words: any company should be able to act like a bank toward its customers, employees or suppliers, and no one offered a full suite combining modern modular tech with a real licence.

QI Tech acquired KYC and anti-fraud engine Zaig in December 2021 and banking-app developer Builders Bank in 2023, then closed a $200M Series B led by General Atlantic in October 2023 — reported as Brazil's largest round that year — bringing total funding to $262M. First-half 2023 net revenue was $21.2M, up 89% year on year; the 300-plus customers included Shopee, Vivo Telefónica and 99, charged pay-as-you-go per transaction; headcount grew from 50 to 120 in a year. A $50M extension in 2024, again with General Atlantic and Across Capital, pushed the valuation past $1B — making QI Tech the only Brazilian startup to reach unicorn status in 2024. It reported R$700M revenue for 2024, added a $63M extension in July 2025, and by then served 400-plus enterprise clients including QuintoAndar.

Running and expanding under founder control: 2026 plans include a Nasdaq IPO around mid-2027 at a hoped-for $15B valuation, up to R$4B for acquisitions, an insurance push and the Autobanking purchase to enter automotive credit.

Brazil's embedded-finance wave was the wedge: non-banks that owned customer relationships wanted to lend and bank their users, but licences and compliance blocked them.

Bootstrapping and staying profitable from year one let the founders acquire Zaig and Builders Bank with cash and keep control before taking General Atlantic's capital.

The SCD licence turned regulation into a product feature — a 'tech company that holds the bank licence' — a moat pure fintechs and traditional banks could not copy quickly.

Sell the licensed plumbing instead of outspending banks for consumers: regulation becomes a moat, and profitability from year one lets founders buy capability rather than beg for runway.

As of September 2026, QI Tech is scaling under founder control: it targets 60–70% annual growth, projects about R$2B revenue for 2026, and says its lending unit processes R$9–10B in credit monthly, reaching roughly 20 million Brazilians. In June 2026 CEO Pedro Mac Dowell told Bloomberg Línea the company plans a Nasdaq IPO around mid-2027 at a hoped-for $15B valuation, backed by up to R$4B for acquisitions. It has applied for its own insurance licence after moving R$240M in premiums via partners, and in July 2026 bought vehicle-financing platform Autobanking to enter automotive credit.