Ualá: M&A to reinvent banking
Ualá: M&A to reinvent banking
Ualá has certainly made an impact in the world of digital banking, hoping to be profitable in 2023 globally amongst other disruptors in LATAM by prioritizing gaining customers’ trust by providing free prepaid cards, providing financial education to customers, expanding and upgrading their product offerings and geographical expansion, in this competitive market. It is important for the digital banking world to know about this important player in Argentina and globally.
It was founded in 2017 in Argentina by Pierpoalo Barbieri, a veteran banker, with the sole vision to create a better bank for everyone.
Ualá built a financial ecosystem through an app in 2017 for underbanked and achieved unicorn status in 2021.
Ualá is a sole proprietorship providing financial services through an app linked to a free international Mastercard. It is built with the aim of improving financial inclusion in Latin America by offering users an innovative, integrated, branchless, and low-cost experience.
Initially, it served in Argentina for young people and minors from the age of 13 (who can acquire their card with the authorization of their parents/ guardians). Services gradually expanded to small merchants and entrepreneurs who want to include the modality of virtual payment. Ualá has a marketplace to expand its offering to retail and business customers.
From the beginning a 100% digital company, Ualá customers receive instant notifications, and insights on their spending, and can easily lock or freeze a card. The Marketplace also offers them the ability to integrate other services to further enhance their user experience. Users manage all their finances from the app, easily, free of charge, and with customer support.
Ualá’s unique strategy and constant growth.
Ualá followed a mixed strategy, it onboarded customers through a single prepaid product to carry out a wide variety of financial transactions - transferring money, paying bills, charging balance on prepaid cell phones and transportation cards, and much more.
Partnerships with other FinTech, expanding geographically to Mexico in 2020 and to Colombia in 2022, and wisely investing in M&A have been crucial for Ualá to reach some of the biggest markets in LATAM for constant growth.
Ualá’s acquisitions aims to scale up operations, wider offering and create new revenue streams for a more sustainable future of the company.
Its customer-centric approach boosts not only the confidence in existing investors, but also helps to attract new ones. Ualá continued to raise funds despite the Covid-19 pandemic and more than doubled its funding in Series D and valued at $2.45B to reach unicorn status in 2021.
Maintaining focus on the development of its services as well as its M&A strategy and gaining approval for the acquisition of Wilobank strengthen Ualá’s ecosystem and market position, making it well-positioned to reach breakpoint in 2023 in Argentina.
C-Innovation Research
The team at C-Innovation has also sifted through Uala’s blog entries, press releases, and media commentary from reputable sources such as The Argentinian Central Bank, Forbes, Business Insider, and the Financial Times.
This report is aimed at FinTech businesses, enthusiasts, and corporate banks looking for actionable takeaways which address Ualá’s growth strategies, including its acquisitions and geographical expansion, and the inclusion of partner FinTechs through the Ualá’s Marketplace.
We review Ualá's product development, partnerships, and funding, frequently drawing parallels between its market competitors.
To learn more about Ualá and its journey, download the full report or subscribe to get access to our list of FinTech deep-dives. For additional information on our report’s contents, please visit our website for the blog post on Ualá.
Summary of Ualá’s Report Contents
Background
Breaking milestones
Company Overview
Ualá’s Approach
Executive Team
Shareholders and Investors
Cloud and Data IT infrastructure partnerships
Platform
Community growth
Criticism
Growth Strategy
Market Entry Strategy
Early results comparison
Argentinian Digital Banking Market Overview
Customer Growth
Approach to marketing
Product Stack
Client Profile
Funding, growth and Valuation
Geographical expansion
M&A Strategy
Business Model
Business model overview
Diversification of Products
Value Proposition - Personal
Value Proposition - Business
Promotions
Financial Metrics
Overview
Main figures – Colombian market
Competitors
The competitive landscape
Valuation compared to direct competitors
M&A Environment
New customers YoY by digital brands
Market share - Argentina
Features compared
Future Prospects
Key Take-Aways
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