The archive · Money & Fintech · Strategic decision · 2022–2026
Welli bets point-of-care credit pays for Colombia's uncovered medicine; 2k a month
Colombian fintech Welli bets patients finance uncovered procedures at the clinic: 2,000+ procedures/month, 1,500 partner doctors, $25M equity + $75M debt
Welli
What the business is
Colombian medical-credit fintech: patients apply in the clinic via QR code, get a credit decision in under 30 seconds, choose 3-36 month terms of COP 300,000-25M, and Welli pays the provider directly within 48 hours.
Starting capital：US$2.4M seed (Ánimo, Costanoa, Crestone); US$3.8M extension; US$25M equity Series A (June 2025, Costanoa-led); US$75M structured debt from Community Investment Management (Oct 2025).
How it started
Founded in Bogotá in 2022 by Felipe Gómez and Felipe Jaramillo, both laid off in Shopee Colombia's job cuts and both new fathers. Inspired by US healthcare-financing models and their own experience in the sector, they saw that Colombian patients still faced procedures — dentistry, fertility, aesthetics, veterinary care — covered by neither the public system nor prepaid plans, and that roughly one-third of patients delayed or cancelled care for lack of financing.
What happened
Welli started in dentistry, where doctors already knew financing models, then expanded to fertility, plastic surgery and veterinary care; 65% of loans now go to middle-and-low-income women (strata 2-3). Funding progressed from a US$2.4M seed (Ánimo, Costanoa, Crestone) and US$3.8M extension, through small local bank lines (Bancolombia, Bancoomeva, Iris) and US$4M from FPF, to a US$25M Series A in June 2025 and a US$75M structured-debt facility from Community Investment Management in October 2025. By mid-2025 the company had 40 employees, 1,500+ partner doctors, 2,000+ procedures financed per month, COP 50 billion in cumulative loans and an average loan of COP 4 million.
How it ended up
Still running and scaling: 1,500+ partner clinics, 2,000+ procedures financed monthly, and expansion planned into Mexico and Peru, where out-of-pocket health spending exceeds 40% versus about 18% in Colombia.
Background
Welli is a Colombian medical-credit fintech founded in 2022 by Felipe Gómez and Felipe Jaramillo, both laid off in Shopee Colombia's cuts. The bet: Colombian patients would finance medical procedures their insurance does not cover with point-of-care credit, sold through the doctor rather than through consumer marketing.
The wedge was the clinic itself. A doctor scans a QR code to start the application, the patient gets a credit decision in under 30 seconds, chooses a 3-36 month term for COP 300,000-25M, and Welli pays the provider directly within 48 hours. Welli began in dentistry, where financing models were already familiar, then expanded to fertility, plastic surgery and veterinary care; 65% of loans now go to middle-and-low-income women in strata 2-3.
Results by mid-2025: 1,500+ partner doctors, 2,000+ procedures financed per month, COP 50 billion in cumulative loans and an average loan of COP 4 million, with partner clinics reporting up to 40% more procedures. Funding went from a US$2.4M seed (Ánimo, Costanoa, Crestone) to a US$25M Series A in June 2025 and a US$75M structured-debt facility from Community Investment Management in October 2025.
As of 2026 Welli is scaling toward Mexico and Peru, where out-of-pocket health spending exceeds 40% versus about 18% in Colombia, with the stated ambition of becoming the region's 'bank of health'.
What has to be true
- Demand was proven before the product existed: about one-third of Colombian patients delayed or cancelled care for lack of financing.
- Doctors were a cheap, high-trust distribution channel: the QR-in-clinic flow turned physicians into the sales force with no paid acquisition.
- Paying providers directly within 48 hours aligned incentives — clinics gained procedures, doctors got paid, and funds were less likely to be diverted.
- Fast bureau-based underwriting plus structured-debt funding made a consumer credit business bankable from a cold start.
What can be applied
Route credit through the trusted moment: selling at the clinic and paying the provider first made doctors the growth channel — up to 40% more procedures — instead of marketing to patients cold.
Aftermath
As of September 2026 Welli is live and scaling: 1,500+ partner clinics, 2,000+ procedures financed per month, COP 50 billion in cumulative loans, and more than US$100M raised across seed, Series A (US$25M, June 2025) and structured debt (US$75M from CIM, October 2025). The company is preparing entry into Mexico and Peru, targeting markets where out-of-pocket health spending exceeds 40% of total health expenditure, and continues to expand its product set beyond loans toward the stated goal of becoming the region's bank of health.
Sources
- Welli raises $25M to expand medical-credit platform
- Esta fintech financia más de 2.000 procedimientos médicos al mes y ya ha levantado más de US$25 millones
- La fintech colombiana Welli levantó US$75 millones en deuda estructurada
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