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Listo Brings In $8.5M To Provide Financial Services To LatAm Community

Consumer financial services startup has raised $8.5 million in a Series A round.

Palo Alto-based led the round, which also included participation from , Kingston, NY-based , and other existing investors. The infusion brings Listo鈥檚 total capital raised since inception to $11.3 million, according to 附近上门 data.

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San Jose, Calif.-based Listo is working to become a go-to financial services provider to the Latin American community in the U.S. It was founded in 2014 by , , and . Ulloa and Lasala were previously executives of (formerly Progreso Financiero), a Redwood City-based provider of affordable loans to people with little or no credit.

The funding is in line with LEAP鈥檚 thesis of investing in companies in the fintech space. The firm was formed last August by Goldman Sachs alumni Roman Leal and Pablo Perez III specifically to invest in LatinX-led companies based in Mexico and the U.S. Last year, it made four seed investments (in Listo, , , and ), but the latest funding in Listo marks its first Series A round investment.

Listo currently has offices in San Jose, Huntington Park, and Santa Ana. The company鈥檚 strategy is to put stores in areas where there is a dense population of Latinos or Spanish-speaking communities. With the latest funding, Listo intends to expand to up to 10 storefronts in strategic locations over the next 12 months, according to LEAP Managing Partner Leal.

鈥淲e are convinced that this is a large, untapped market opportunity and Listo is well poised to become the market leader given management鈥檚 relevant experience and the company鈥檚 ongoing traction,鈥 Leal said.

Listo鈥檚 founders are learning from their experience with Oportun, which has lent more than $4 billion to more than a million customers since in its inception in 2005, according to its .

鈥淥portun served a very similar demographic but they took a while to expand outside California,鈥 Leal said. 鈥淭his management team wants a national footprint as soon as possible with a focus on states outside of California as well.鈥

Listo is also working to digitize all its financial offerings. It currently offers credit, auto, and life insurance.

鈥淭heir thought process is that the physical store becomes the introduction to their services and then customers can do everything else online,鈥 Leal eplained.

The startup also plans to expand its tech team so that it can roll out additional mobile products, such as remittances.

As part of the financing, Leal and Continental Advisors Partner will be joining the Listo board.

In a written statement, Adriana Narvaez of Mexico Ventures noted that Listo aims to become a trusted financial services provider 鈥渢o the untapped U.S. Latino communities around the United States, many of which are not adequately served by the banks and traditional financial establishments.鈥

鈥淗aving an investment that makes economic sense and provides U.S. Mexicans access to credit and insurance is important to us,鈥 Narvaez added.

Investors are increasingly putting dollars in companies focused on the Latin American market, and that trend doesn鈥檛 appear to be slowing down anytime soon.

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