LAVCA | The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America
  • About
    • About LAVCA
    • Board, Team, & Advisors
    • Media
    • Contact
  • Members
    • Membership Benefits
    • Current Members
    • Member Access
  • Education & Programs
    • About
    • LAVCA Week
    • Calendar & Past Programs
    • LAVCA Education
  • Research & Directories
    • LAVCA Research
    • Industry data
    • LP Survey
    • Directories
  • ESG & Impact
    • Deal Book
    • LAVCA ESG Deal Awards
    • Impact Report
    • ESG Guidelines
  • Articles
    • Featured Articles
    • Industry News
  • VC
  • Member Login
  • Member Access

LAVCA | The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America

A non-profit member organization

  • About
    • About LAVCA
    • Board, Team, & Advisors
    • Media
    • Contact
  • Members
    • Membership Benefits
    • Current Members
    • Member Access
  • Education & Programs
    • About
    • LAVCA Week
    • Calendar & Past Programs
    • LAVCA Education
  • Research & Directories
    • LAVCA Research
    • Industry data
    • LP Survey
    • Directories
  • ESG & Impact
    • Deal Book
    • LAVCA ESG Deal Awards
    • Impact Report
    • ESG Guidelines
  • Articles
    • Featured Articles
    • Industry News
  • VC

BlueKite Raises $1.5 Million To Help U.S. Immigrants Pay Bills Abroad

January 10, 2013

(TechCrunch) BlueKite, a Miami-based platform for cross-border bill payments, is today announcing $1.5 million in new funding, led by PeopleFund, which contributed $1.3 million of the total raise. The remaining amount was provided directly by BlueKite’s founders.

The startup, officially founded in April 2012, is developing a web-based payments platform that allows users in the U.S. to pay the bills for their families abroad, including things like electricity, water, gas, internet, cable, mobile, and phone bills. The transactions are made possible through integration of BlueKite’s proprietary payments platform with the accounting systems of the service providers worldwide, ofering immediate access to real-time balance information.

Already, the system has been integrated with dozens of services in Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador, and is now expanding elsewhere in Latin America. It will also arrive in Spain in Q1 2013, as the first test in Europe. In the U.S., the system is regulated and has received its license from Florida’s banking regulator, and is currently applying in other states, including Illinois, New York, New Jersey, California, and others. It will go live in Texas this quarter, too, as it has received regulatory approval there.

The process for receiving approval is not simple, so Florida has served as a battleground for dealing with the regulatory and legal issues surrounding the set up of these cross-border payments. In Florida, the service has only be up-and-running for three weeks so far, but has already processed around 1,000 payments, averaging around $18.00 each, or around $20,000 in total transactions.

Because it’s serving the under-banked and unbanked population, BlueKite isn’t currently available as a consumer-facing product, although the company is considering releasing a web front end or mobile interface to its service in the future. It already has the API built for that, too. But for now, the company is targeting mom-and-pop shop cash stores, including Save Mart, Cash First (Naples) Agente, Atlantida, TipTopCashing, and others in Tampa and Miami.

BlueKite was created by Bobby Aitkenhead (CEO), and two of PeopleFund’s co-founders Jose Vargas and Matias de Tezanos, who were involved with the startup before PeopleFund really took off. The fund, for those unfamiliar, emerged out of the founders independent investments over the years. Combined, PeopleFund’s founders have built and sold companies including Hoteles.com (to IAC), MailCreations.com (to Livedoor), ClickDiario (to Fox), and Brokersweb (to Vantage Media). (More details on the fund’s history are here.) It has investments in startups like PlaySpace, Getaround, LionWorks, and more.

Aitkenhead, whose background in finance includes time spent working at Citibank, said the team came together to focus on cross-border payments because they saw an under-served niche. “The unbanked and under-banked segment of the United States, and basically of the world, visit cash stores and money service stores to service their transactional needs,” he says. The consumer receives their check, then visits a store to cash it, pay bills, buy airtime minutes, and send money inside or outside the U.S., as need be.

“At these locations, we’re distributing a web-based platform where now a customer can come in and say ‘I want to pay a bill in Mexico, and it’s the electric bill,’” Aitkenhead explains. “The clerk enters that into the web-based platform and is able to see the outstanding balance in real-time.”

BlueKit’s business model is interesting, because it’s fully prepaid. That is, the affiliated stores have a positive balance with BlueKite – they basically buy inventory from BlueKite. And BlueKite has a positive balance with the utilities served. “The utility already has our money,” says Aitkenhead, “so there’s no credit risk or money transfer risk.” The consumer pays the cash store a flat $4.95 fee to make the payment, which is split 60/40 between BlueKite and the cash store. The company also negotiates fees with utilities for helping them with collections.

BlueKite currently has seven employees in Miami and fourteen in Guatemala City. It plans to reach 300 stores in Florida and enter Texas by the end of Q1 2013.

BlueKite Raises $1.5 Million To Help U.S. Immigrants Pay Bills Abroad was last modified: January 16th, 2013 by Editor
0
Facebook Twitter Google +

Sign up for LAVCA’s bi-weekly Latin American Private Capital Update and the LatAm Venture Bulletin, produced specifically for venture investors, entrepreneurs, and technology startups in the early stage ecosystem.






Which LAVCA Newsletter would you like to receive?

VC Partner Events

    Tweets

    • This week's top deals in the #LatAm #VentureCapital space include Mexico's @nowports and Brazil’s Dock both crossi… https://t.co/HtYef1OrO2

      27-May-2022

      Reply Retweet Favorite
    • "As of Q1 20221, VC now represents 50% of all private capital invested in Latin America, reaffirming the resilience… https://t.co/SLIWpyKAcT

      26-May-2022

      Reply Retweet Favorite
    • "Latin America had its fourth-largest quarter in startup investments to date, according to LAVCA." Our Director o… https://t.co/sj5G90Fvvn

      26-May-2022

      Reply Retweet Favorite
    • LAVCA's Director of Venture Capital @crdelavega_ gives the opening presentation on the current environment of #VC… https://t.co/b9WtDnppay

      26-May-2022

      Reply Retweet Favorite
    • We are excited to welcome a new member to our team, Marcelo A. Pizzato Dantas, Director of Programs and Partnership… https://t.co/5HEv1k8pWC

      24-May-2022

      Reply Retweet Favorite

    Submit VC News

    Have private equity or venture capital related news that you would like to share? Submit your press releases and news to [email protected].

    VC Industry News

    • Vinci Partners Acquires USD20m Stake in Brazilian Credit Provider DMCard

      February 21, 2022
    • 8VC Leads ~USD35.4m Round for Brazilian Insurtech 180 Seguros (em português)

      February 2, 2022
    • Glade Brook Capital Leads USD125m Series C for Chilean Insurtech Betterfly

      February 2, 2022
    • SP Ventures and Acre.VC Lead USD10m Series A for Brazilian Carbon Trading Marketplace Moss (em português)

      January 31, 2022
    • Brazilian Healthtech Nilo Saúde Raises USD10m Series A from Canary, MAYA, SoftBank, GFC and Tau Ventures

      January 28, 2022
    • Valor Capital Group Leads ~USD16m Series A for Brazilian Agtech Agrolend (em português)

      January 23, 2022
    • DILA Capital and Kayyak Ventures Lead USD15m Series A for Mexican Financing Platform Fairplay

      January 18, 2022
    • Astella Investimentos Leads ~USD4.6m Seed Round for Brazilian Blockchain Trading Platform Gavea (em português)

      January 12, 2022
    • SoftBank Leads USD48m Series B for Colombian E-commerce Laika

      January 12, 2022
    • KASZEK Leads USD13.2m Round for Mexican Fantasy Sports Platform Draftea

      January 7, 2022
    • IDC Ventures Leads ~USD5m Series A for Brazilian Microcredit Platform SuperSim (em português)

      January 6, 2022
    • Mexican Verification Platform MetaMap Raises USD70m Series B

      January 5, 2022
    • DRADS Capital Leads USD7m Pre-Series A for Chilean Foodtech The Live Green Co. (en español)

      January 3, 2022
    • SoftBank Leads USD127m Round for Brazilian Healthcare Provider Alice

      December 21, 2021
    • DILA Capital and ALIVE Ventures Lead USD14m Series A for Edtech Slang

      December 20, 2021
    • Astella Investimentos and SoftBank Lead ~USD3m Seed Round for Brazilian Automation Platform BotCity (em português)

      December 20, 2021
    • GIC Leads USD80m Round for Colombian POS Lending Platform ADDI (em português)

      December 20, 2021
    • Yara Growth Ventures Leads USD30m Series C for Argentine Agtech Agrofy (em português)

      December 16, 2021
    • Tiger Global Leads USD60m Series B for Mexican Freight Platform Nowports

      December 16, 2021
    • SoftBank Leads ~USD120m Round for Brazilian Fintech OpenCo (em português)

      December 15, 2021
    • DN Capital Leads ~USD22.2m Series A+ for Brazilian Healthtech Sami

      December 14, 2021
    • Riverwood Capital Leads ~USD52m Series B for Brazilian Fiscal Management Platform Arquivei (em português)

      December 14, 2021
    • KASZEK Leads USD2.7m Seed Round for Peruvian Edtech Crack the Code

      December 13, 2021
    • GIC Leads ~USD32m Series C for Brazilian Delivery Platform Shopper (em português)

      December 13, 2021
    • Tiger Global Leads USD20.5m Round for Mexican Freight Platform Nuvocargo

      December 10, 2021
    • Advent International and SoftBank Lead USD60m Series B+ in E-Commerce Aggregator Merama

      December 9, 2021
    • Volpe Capital Leads ~USD5m Series A for Brazilian Corporate Governance Platform Atlas Governance

      December 8, 2021
    • Lachy Groom Leads USD14.8m Series A for Brazilian Fintech Stark Bank (em português)

      December 8, 2021
    • Prosus Ventures Leads USD60m Series B for Colombian Edtech Platzi

      December 6, 2021
    • KASZEK Leads USD10m Series A for Brazilian Workspace Marketplace Beer or Coffee (em português)

      November 30, 2021
    • Galapagos Capital Invests ~USD20m in Brazilian Cosmetics MedBeauty (em português)

      November 18, 2021
    • Oak HC Leads USD27m Series A for Mexican Payment Platform Aplazo

      November 15, 2021
    • Colombian E-commerce Fulfillment Platform Melonn Raises USD4.5 Seed Round

      November 3, 2021
    • DNA Capital, Temasek and Fit Participações Lead ~USD20m Round for Brazilian Healthtech Memed

      November 1, 2021
    • Astella Investimentos Leads ~USD5m Round for Brazilian Proptech Homelend (em português)

      October 28, 2021
    • KASZEK Leads USD8m Round for Brazilian Car Documentation Platform Gringo

      October 27, 2021
    • SoftBank Leads USD75m Series C for Brazilian BPO Platform Pipefy

      October 26, 2021
    • Mexican Delivery Platform Skydropx Raised USD20m Seres A from Cometa, Base10 Partners, 645 Ventures

      October 26, 2021
    • Brazilian Car Insurtech Justos Raises ~USD35.8m Series A from SoftBank, KASZEK and Others

      October 25, 2021
    • Andreessen Horowitz and Base Partners Lead USD15m Series A for Colombian Foodtech Foodology

      October 22, 2021
    • Unbox Capital Leads USD30m Series B for Brazilian Marketing Platform Rock Content (em português)

      October 22, 2021
    • L Catterton Leads Investment in Mexican DTC Eyewear Brand Ben & Frank

      October 21, 2021
    • Anthos Capital Leads USD18m Series A for Venezuelan Delivery Platform Yummy

      October 21, 2021
    • Flourish Ventures and GFC Lead USD10m Series A for Brazilian Wholesale Marketplace Merce do Bairro

      October 21, 2021
    • Tiger Global Leads USD35m Series A for Argentine Fintech Pomelo

      October 21, 2021
    • Brazilian Wholesale Marketplace Inventa Raises ~USD6m Seed Round (em português)

      October 20, 2021
    • QED Investors and KASZEK Lead USD40m Series C for Brazilian Fintech Hash

      October 20, 2021
    • SoftBank, Amazon and Accel Lead USD108m Series B for Brazilian Fintech Pismo (en español)

      October 19, 2021
    • SP Ventures and Astella Investimentos Lead USD17m Series A for Brazilian Fintech Traive (em português)

      October 18, 2021
    • Tencent and SoftBank Lead USD200m Series F for Brazilian Trucking Marketplace CargoX (em português)

      October 15, 2021
    • Valor Capital Group Leads USD22m Series A for Mexican Edtech Aprende Institute

      October 11, 2021
    • Square Capital and Hard Yaka Invest USD15m in Colombian Digital Payments Platform Movii (en español)

      October 6, 2021
    • Atlantico Leads USD6m Series A for Brazilian Wholesale Marketplace ZAX

      October 5, 2021

    About LAVCA

     

    LAVCA is the Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America, a not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to supporting the growth of private capital in Latin America and the Caribbean through research, education, networking and advocacy.

    LAVCA Office

        New York City:
        589 8th Ave, 18th Floor
        New York, NY 10018

    Explore LAVCA.org

    • About LAVCA
    • Board, Team, & Advisors
    • Media
    • Contact Us
    • Membership Benefits
    • Members Only Access
    • Education and Programs
    • Research
    • Policy
    • LAVCA VC
    • Contact Us

    @2020 - LAVCA. All Rights Reserved.


    Back To Top