The archive · Money & Fintech · Product decision · 2022–2025
Takenos bets cross-border LatAm workers want a dollar wallet; US$5M seed
Argentina's Takenos built a stablecoin wallet for people paid in dollars and living in pesos; US$5M seed co-led by Variant and Lattice, US$500M+ processed.
Takenos
What the business is
Digital wallet letting Latin Americans receive, hold, spend and send money across currencies using stablecoins, with Mastercard and Visa cards.
Starting capital：US$5M seed (Variant & Lattice co-led, Oct 2025), after a US$500K pre-seed
How it started
Founded in 2022 in Buenos Aires by Lucas Posada, Joaquín Herrera, Francisco Goulu and Simón Bouché. They saw Latin Americans working for US companies stuck between currencies — paid in dollars, living in pesos — with no cheap way to receive, save and send money across borders.
What happened
Takenos built a wallet around stablecoins, with Mastercard and Visa cards, Fireblocks custody and Bridge and Rain payment rails. Users spread across 20+ countries and volume passed US$500M. In October 2025 it raised a US$5M seed co-led by Variant and Lattice — their first investments in a Latin American startup — with North Island Ventures, Nascent, Gumi Cryptos Capital and angels including MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright. Investors cited World Bank projections of US$156B in remittances to Latin America in 2025.
How it ended up
Still running: consolidating Bolivia, preparing new markets, with tier-one crypto VC backing.
Background
Takenos is an Argentine digital wallet for stablecoin payments, founded in Buenos Aires in 2022 by Lucas Posada, Joaquín Herrera, Francisco Goulu and Simón Bouché. The founders' bet was that Latin Americans earning in dollars while living in pesos — remote workers, freelancers and emigrants — wanted one app to receive, hold, spend and send money across currencies without paying bank-level fees or losing value to devaluation.
The product is a wallet built on stablecoins with Mastercard and Visa cards, Fireblocks custody and Bridge and Rain payment rails. By October 2025 Takenos said users in more than 20 countries had driven over US$500M in transaction volume, and it closed a US$5M seed round co-led by US crypto funds Variant and Lattice — their first investment in a Latin American startup — with participation from North Island Ventures, Nascent, Gumi Cryptos Capital and angels including MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright.
The pitch to investors rested on scale of the problem: World Bank projections cited by the company put Latin American remittances at US$156B in 2025, while cross-border transfers in the region commonly cost around US$6 per US$100 sent. With the new capital Takenos planned to consolidate in Bolivia, expand across the Andean region and deepen integrations, arguing that a wallet built from Latin America could serve the region's dollar economy better than foreign neobanks.
What has to be true
- Latin America is expected to receive US$156B in remittances in 2025, and cross-border transfers often cost ~US$6 per US$100 — a real wedge.
- Millions of LatAm workers are paid in dollars but live in pesos, with no cheap way to receive, save and send money.
- Stablecoin rails plus card issuance let a small team build a dollar wallet without US banking licenses.
- Variant and Lattice betting their first LatAm investment on Takenos validated the thesis that crypto wallets can win emerging-market consumers.
What can be applied
When users live in two currencies, the product is the bridge: Takenos won with a wallet built for the migrant corridor — and that traction brought tier-one crypto investors in.
Aftermath
As of October 2025 Takenos was still running, with users in 20+ countries and US$500M+ in processed volume, and was focusing on consolidation in Bolivia as part of an Andean expansion. It had not disclosed revenue or profitability. The US$5M seed co-led by Variant and Lattice was earmarked for team expansion, product development and infrastructure, and the company said it would explore new integrations and local partnerships as it pushed from Argentina into the wider region.
Sources
- Takenos raises $5M seed round co-led by Variant and Lattice
- Startup argentina recibió inversión millonaria de fondos de Silicon Valley: cuáles son sus próximos pasos
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