Goldman Sachs Group has extended a $150 million credit line to the Mexican startup Clara, which lends to corporations and helps manage their spending, the latest Latin American fintech to receive support from the New York-based banking giant.
The financing, which starts at $50 million with the option to upsize to $150 million, will help the Mexican unicorn boost its lending operations, accelerate its expansion throughout Latin America and invest in its technology, Clara CEO and co-founder Gerry Giacoman said in an interview with Bloomberg News. Clara is working on expanding into Peru and Chile next.
"This new credit line will allow us to more than double our coverage in Mexico, while focusing additional resources in our product and geographic expansion," Giacoman said.
Goldman has extended credit lines to several startups in the region as recently as this year, defying expectations across the industry that money for unicorns is drying up. The bank provided $160 million of support to Mexico's Konfio, lent $233 million to MercadoLibre last month, and was involved in Nubank's $650 million credit line earlier this year.
Partnering with Goldman Sachs is a solid step for Clara as it seeks to keep growing, Giacoman said. "It's a partner that can grow with Clara for a long time as our client portfolio continues to expand," he said.
Clara reached unicorn status, or a $1 billion valuation, in December, only seven months after its first funding round. The startup operates in both Mexico and Brazil and recently expanded to Colombia. It says it works with over 5,000 companies and aims to double that number by the end of the year.
Clara also said it hired RappiBank's Andre Henrique Santoro as chief risk officer and former American Express vice president Tina Reich as an advisor.
Clara plans to explore additional financing both through investment rounds and debt, but not in the immediate future, Giacoman said.
