Existing backers Raiz Investimentos, IFC, and LTS also put money in the round. Open Co was created earlier in 2021 by the merger of Geru, an eight-year-old online lender, and Rebel, a four-year-old startup using AI and bank account data to underwrite risk and assess clients’ financial health. Its aim is to ‘finance consumption for Brazilians in a healthy way’. It plans to do this in a few ways, but for starters, by not charging 300% interest rates.
Open Co provides clients with access to credit and access to tools that are designed to improve their financial lives. The process is digital, with no bureaucracy involved; the company claims to be fast, and the rates are reportedly lower than those of traditional banks. An estimated 52% of the population use credit to pay for basic expenses, creating an unsecured consumer credit market of about USD 200 billion, of which about 70% is in revolving credit. As a result, 62 million Brazilians have overdue accounts or missed payments.
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