Bogotá, Colombia, May 18, 2022 – Vehicles represent a key asset for millions of households in Latin America, but few understand how to leverage financial solutions to minimize costs around them, and even fewer are aware that it’s possible to use them as a tool to access affordable loans.
Despite being a young company and unlike most fintech startups, R5 has already generated annual profits after tax. This achievement is a luxury that few high-growth startups achieve in their first three years of operation. This, together with its rapid growth rate, attracted the attention of investors who decided to inject $7 million in a round that was led by Global Founders Capital. Other investors that participated in the round include Magma Partners, Carao Ventures, Accion Venture Lab and Endeavor Catalyst.
According to Fernando Sucre, CEO of R5, this investment will allow the company to continue expanding their team, while increasing their loans to up to five times those achieved in 2021.
R5 also fits into the insurtech category as they are pioneers in bringing the SOAT (Colombia´s compulsory vehicle insurance) into the digital world, while also offering drivers exclusive discounts on the purchase of this policy.
“We are very proud of the growth rates achieved throughout the past three years. We’ve already reached over 1 million customers in Colombia, saving them more than 20 billion pesos on their SOAT. As to our loans vertical, we plan to close 2022 with 5x the disbursement volumes achieved in 2021,” said Fernando Sucre.
R5 uses artificial intelligence in order to offer Latin Americans fast and low-cost financial products, such as their personal loan product that allows clients to access preferential interest rates by using their vehicles as collateral, even if they’ve been denied by traditional banks. Customers are able to use these loans to invest in their business, consolidate debt, refinance their car or even remodel their homes.
“We stand out as an insurance and loan company that designs fast, affordable, and fair financial products leveraged by technology. This is why every product we create aims to improve at least one of the five financial dimensions: increase income, reduce expenses, increase assets, reduce liabilities and protect people from unexpected events,” he added.
Fintech and insurtech companies leverage technology to solve a particular customer problem, usually by providing easier and/or faster access than traditional players. R5 stands out by also offering a better price than incumbents thanks to the synergies it creates between insurance and loans.