Homebrew leads Z1’s effort to bring digital banking to Latin America’s teens

Z1, a digital lender based in Sao Paulo has completed a funding round in which it raised US$2.5m. The firm has a unique and specific goal to reach teens in Latin America and encourage financial literacy within that section of the region’s population.  

US-based company Homebrew led the funding round, with the participation of other firms including Venture Capital firm, Mantis, Goodwater, Clocktower Ventures, Soma Capital, Gaingels, and Rebel Fund. Some of these investors have a track record of targeting fintech firms with value propositions similar to Z1’s.

Z1 took part in Y Combinator’s Winter ‘21 batch, which was held during the first quarter of 2021, raising $125,000 in funding from the startup accelerator. This followed a US$700,000 seed round led by Maya Capital at the end of the first quarter of 2020.

With teenagers and young adults as its core targets, Z1 launched with the vision to empower young people as early as possible, encouraging financial independence with services available via its app and linked prepaid cards.