The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2018–2026
Stori bets AI underwriting can profitably card Mexico's credit-invisible; $212M, 3.7M
Mexico's credit-card fintech for people with no credit history: $1.2B unicorn in 2022, $212M more in 2024, 3.7M customers and a 2026 IPO plan
Stori
What the business is
Mexican credit-card fintech: a mobile-first card with a ~99% approval rate for people with no credit history, earning from interest and interchange fees, now adding deposits and personal loans.
Starting capital：US$200M+ in equity by mid-2022 plus a US$100M debt facility; then US$212M in August 2024 (US$105M equity led by Notable Capital and BAI, US$107M debt from Goldman Sachs and Davidson Kempner).
How it started
Founded in Mexico City in 2018 by Bin Chen, an ex-Mastercard and BCG executive, with co-founders including Marlene Garayzar; most of the founding team had cut their teeth underwriting underserved borrowers at Capital One. The card launched in January 2020. Because only about a third of Mexican adults have formal credit access, the bet was that a mobile card that said yes to everyone would win the rising middle class.
What happened
September 2021: US$125M equity plus a US$75M debt facility. July 2022: a US$50M equity extension at a US$1.2B valuation made Stori a unicorn — the first Mexican unicorn co-founded by a woman — with 1.4M customers and 20x revenue growth in 2021. October 2023: a SOFIPO license let it launch Stori Cuenta+ deposit accounts. August 2024: US$212M more (US$105M equity led by Notable Capital and BAI; US$107M debt from Goldman Sachs and Davidson Kempner) as customers passed 3M.
How it ended up
Still running and scaling: by January 2026 Stori reported 3.7M customers, 80% revenue growth and breakeven, won Colombian regulatory authorization to set up a financing company with plans to invest US$100M there, and is expected to file for an IPO in 2026.
Background
Stori is a Mexican credit-card fintech founded in 2018 by Bin Chen, an ex-Mastercard and BCG executive, with co-founders including Marlene Garayzar. Its bet: AI-driven underwriting on alternative data could profitably issue credit cards to Mexicans with no credit history, a market traditional banks ignored.
The wedge was the approval itself. While most Mexican lenders rejected thin credit files, Stori said yes to essentially everyone — claiming a ~99% approval rate — through a paperless, mobile-first flow, and earned from interest and interchange as users built their first credit records. The card launched in January 2020.
Capital and customers followed: US$125M equity plus US$75M debt in September 2021, a US$50M extension at a US$1.2B valuation in July 2022 (making Stori a unicorn and Mexico's first unicorn co-founded by a woman), a SOFIPO license and Stori Cuenta+ deposits in October 2023, and US$212M more in August 2024 as customers passed 3M.
By January 2026 Stori reported 3.7M customers and 80% revenue growth, had reached breakeven, and had won Colombian regulatory authorization to open a financing company, with an IPO expected during 2026.
What has to be true
- The market was structurally underserved: only about a third of Mexican adults had formal credit access, so the demand was proven before the product scaled.
- Underwriting was the moat: an alternative-data model trained on thin-file borrowers let Stori approve nearly everyone and price risk better than banks could.
- Product design doubled as marketing: a 99% approval-rate promise spread the card through word of mouth to people banks had told no.
- Revenue followed the product: interest and interchange on a card that customers keep because it is their first credit line.
What can be applied
Build the product around the people the market rejects: an approval-rate-first card aimed at the credit-invisible made inclusion the growth engine — 1.4M to 3.7M customers while banks kept saying no.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Stori is live and scaling in Mexico with 3.7M customers, 80% revenue growth, breakeven and more than US$400M raised across equity and debt since 2018. Colombia's financial regulator authorized the constitution of Stori Colombia in late 2025, with an initial capital of COP 60 billion and plans to invest US$100M in the country in its first years; the company is expected to pursue an IPO in 2026. Product lines have expanded from the flagship credit card to high-yield deposit accounts and personal loans.
Sources
- Mexican fintech Stori reaches unicorn status with $50M raise
- Stori, el unicornio mexicano, recibe inversión de US$212 millones para avanzar en su liderazgo en el sector financiero del país
- El "unicornio" mexicano que aterriza en Colombia: SuperFinanciera autoriza constitución de Stori
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