Kapital combining banking lending and payroll
Fernando Sandoval, co-founder of Kapital, on tropicalizing Brex for LatAm
Kapital is strongest where U.S. fintech categories are weakest as standalone products, because in LatAm the operating account, invoice data, and working capital loan naturally belong in one screen. In practice, that means a business can see receivables, pay vendors, run payroll, draw credit, and hold treasury balances without stitching together separate tools, which makes cross sell easier and makes lending and software reinforce each other.
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The core wedge is not the card. It is credit tied to day to day cash flow. Kapital pulls in e invoice data, shows who the business owes and who owes the business, then lets the operator choose invoices to pay or finance inside the banking workflow. That is closer to combining Mercury, Bill.com, and a lender than to copying Brex alone.
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The economics also push Kapital toward an all in one. In LatAm, card interchange is roughly 0.8% to 0.9% for credit and central bank rates are much higher, so a pure Ramp or Brex style card model is less attractive. Kapital instead mixes lending income with paid software, wires, payment fees, and deposits, which makes broader product attach economically rational.
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The comparison with Mercury and Ramp shows the market gap clearly. Mercury is primarily deposit yield driven around startup banking, while Ramp expands from cards into bill pay, procurement, travel, and treasury. Kapital started from SMB banking and embedded ERP style workflows, then added cards, payables, treasury, and payroll related functions into one product for a region with fewer specialized finance software vendors.
The next step is to turn financial control into full back office control. As Kapital adds HR, payroll, contractor payments, and more treasury products on top of its deposit base and payment volume, it can become the default operating system for LatAm SMB finance, not just their bank, and widen the lead created by entering a less fragmented market early.