Moving capital across borders in Latin America has long been a exercise in frustration for entrepreneurs and corporations alike. Despite the rapid digitization of local economies, the act of sending a payment from Buenos Aires to Lima or Bogotá often involves a convoluted web of correspondent banks, predatory exchange rates, and settlement delays that can stretch for days.
To address this structural bottleneck, the Argentine startup Depay levanta US$4 millones para pagos internacionales en LATAM through a Seed funding round led by North Island Ventures. The capital injection is earmarked for the expansion of its real-time cross-border payment infrastructure, with a strategic roadmap that extends beyond Latin America into markets across Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Unlike the proliferation of consumer-facing digital wallets, Depay does not operate as a direct app for the conclude-user. Instead, it functions as a B2B infrastructure provider—essentially the “plumbing” that sits behind fintech platforms, digital wallets, and cryptocurrency exchanges. By integrating Depay’s layer, these platforms can offer their users near-instant international transfers without the friction typically associated with traditional banking rails.
The company’s approach targets a specific inefficiency: the “last mile” of international payments. While countries have developed highly efficient internal systems—such as PIX in Brazil, Nequi in Colombia, and immediate transfers in Argentina—these systems are fragmented. They do not “speak” to one another, forcing transactions to revert to old, slow, and expensive global banking standards when they cross a border.
Bridging the gap with hybrid blockchain technology
The technical core of Depay’s solution is a hybrid blockchain architecture. From a software engineering perspective, the challenge isn’t just moving the value, but ensuring the transaction is compliant with local regulations while remaining fast. Depay solves this by combining local interoperable payment rails with a blockchain layer that handles the settlement and currency conversion in seconds.
In a practical scenario, this allows a customer in Argentina to scan a QR code at a merchant in Brazil. The customer pays in Argentine pesos, and the merchant receives Brazilian reais in real-time. The blockchain layer facilitates this swap programmatically, removing the need for intermediate US dollar conversions or the intervention of a central bank, which typically adds cost and time to the process.
By utilizing a hybrid model, Depay maintains a balance between regulatory compliance and technical efficiency. Local rails ensure that the “on-ramp” and “off-ramp” of the money follow national laws, while the blockchain ensures the transfer is traceable, programmable, and free from the intermediaries that usually inflate transaction fees.
Market traction and the scale of the opportunity
The Seed round comes at a time when Depay has already demonstrated significant operational momentum. The company reports that its network has processed more than US$ 400 million in transactions and has reached an estimated 300 million users through the various B2B platforms that integrate its infrastructure.
Currently, the startup is operational in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru. However, the company is already moving to broaden its footprint, with active agreements in progress to launch services with banks in Paraguay and further expansions within the Brazilian market.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Total Volume Processed | US$ 400M+ |
| User Reach (via partners) | 300 Million |
| Active Markets | Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Peru |
| Expansion Targets | Paraguay, Asia, Africa, Europe |
This traction is particularly notable for a Seed-stage company. For investors like North Island Ventures, the appeal lies in the “network effect” of Depay’s business model. As an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider, Depay monetizes by charging a percentage per transaction. As more digital wallets and banks join the network, the value of every existing node increases, creating a scalable revenue stream with relatively low marginal costs.
The broader shift toward real-time global payments
The timing of this investment aligns with a global shift toward instant payment systems. The market for QR-based payments is projected to reach US$ 66.9 billion by 2034, growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7% starting in 2024. Latin America has become a primary laboratory for this innovation due to high mobile penetration and a persistent need for greater financial inclusion.
For founders scaling businesses across multiple LATAM countries, the lack of seamless payment infrastructure is often one of the primary barriers to growth. It impacts everything from profit margins to the speed at which a company can enter a modern market. The emergence of native infrastructure layers like Depay suggests a maturing ecosystem where the focus is shifting from simply building “another wallet” to solving the underlying systemic failures of the financial grid.
The founding team—Joaquín Fagalde (CEO), Marcelo Sánchez (CTO), Federico Testoni (COO), and Sebastián Kennel (CBO)—developed this thesis while working on cryptocurrency projects within large corporations. They recognized that the real value of blockchain wasn’t necessarily in the tokens themselves, but in the ability to create a programmable, transparent ledger that could replace the archaic correspondent banking system.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or legal advice.
As Depay begins to deploy its new capital, the next critical milestone will be the successful integration of its services into the Paraguayan banking system and the initial pilot programs in non-LATAM markets. These expansions will test whether the hybrid blockchain model can be replicated across different regulatory environments outside of the Americas.
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