Stone Pagamentos Co-Founder, Eduardo Pontes, acquires a minority stake in Tutuka
Pontes and Tutuka looking to grow payments in Latin America and beyond
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Oct. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ – Tutuka announced today that the Co-Founder of one of Latin America’s biggest fintechs, Stone Pagamentos, has acquired a minority stake in Tutuka.
Tutuka is well known for its unique processor plus model which enables fintechs, mobile wallets, apps and banks across emerging markets to easily issue Mastercard and Visa payment products such as physical or virtual cards that are linked to the values in their customers’ wallets or accounts.
Pontes co-founded Stone Pagamentos in Brazil, which rapidly become one of the country’s largest acquirers and IPO’d on NASDAQ in 2018 with a valuation of US$8.8b.
The Latin American fintech market is growing at a rapid rate, with research conducted in 2018 by the Inter-American Development Bank and Finnovista showing a 66% growth of fintech startups from 2017 to 2018. With Tutuka’s deep experience in emerging markets and the ability to make payments happen quickly, easily and securely, the company is well-equipped to maximize the opportunities for growth in the region.
Tutuka has clients in over 19 countries across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and now Latin America.
Pontes’ experience, coupled with Tutuka’s capabilities as a payments enabler, will support Tutuka’s expansion into Latin America and help to drive financial inclusion in the region.
About Tutuka
Tutuka (www.tutuka.com) is a third-party payments enabler that makes payments happen by enabling our clients’ customers to pay with Mastercard and Visa cards and products. Tutuka enables fintechs, mobile wallets, apps and banks across Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Latin America to issue virtual and physical cards and other Mastercard and Visa payment products. Tutuka’s processor plus model allows our clients to easily, cost-effectively and quickly link into card schemes without the complexity and slow timelines normally associated with processors.
About Eduardo Pontes
Eduardo Pontes (https://investors.stone.co/advisory-board/eduardo-pontes) co-founded Stone Pagamentos (https://www.stone.com.br) which IPO’d on NASDAQ in 2018. Eduardo Pontes is now principal of Arpex Capital.