Kapital targets underserved Colombian SMEs
Fernando Sandoval, co-founder of Kapital, on tropicalizing Brex for LatAm
Choosing Colombia first shows that Kapital expands where the market is still structurally empty, not where fintech is loudest. In practice, that means entering countries where small businesses still juggle bank accounts, invoices, collections, and supplier payments across manual workflows, while banks focus on large corporates and consumer fintechs focus on cards. Colombia fit that pattern, and it let Kapital bring its full bank plus software plus credit stack into a market with less direct SMB competition than Brazil.
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Kapital had already learned in Mexico that the winning wedge was not a corporate card alone, but a dashboard tied to the operating account that shows receivables, payables, balances, and vendor payments in one place. That same unmet workflow made Colombia attractive because the pain was broad and daily, not niche.
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The contrast with Brazil matters. Management describes Brazil as a market with much heavier fintech competition, to the point that entry would likely require an acquisition rather than a ground up launch. Colombia therefore offered a faster path to distribution, product adoption, and brand position with less customer acquisition pressure.
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This also fits Kapital's economics. In LatAm, lower interchange makes a Brex style card only model weaker, so Kapital monetizes through subscription software, lending, payments, and treasury. A market with underserved SMEs gives more room to sell the whole bundle, not just one financial product.
Going forward, this points to a repeatable expansion playbook. Kapital is likely to keep prioritizing large LatAm markets where SME financial workflows are still fragmented and incumbents under serve the segment, while treating crowded markets like Brazil as M&A entries. If that continues, geographic expansion should look less like launching a single card product and more like transplanting a full SME operating system country by country.