Clara Becomes the Fastest Latin American Unicorn and Makes Its Arrival in Brazil Official

• The Latin American startup makes its regional expansion official and lands in Brazil, becoming the first corporate credit card operating in the region's most important economies
• As in Mexico, the startup will operate under a Mastercard principal member license, issuing its own cards
• In addition, the company closed a US$70 million Series B investment round led by technology investment firm Coatue. ICONIQ Growth, Box Group, Exponent and Gaingels also participate in the round, joining existing investors DST, monashees, General Catalyst, Avid Ventures, Global Founders Capital, Picus Capital, SOMA Capital and Alter Global, among others
• With this new investment, Clara reaches a market value of US$1 billion, becoming the Latin American startup that fastest obtained unicorn status.

São Paulo, December 2021 - Clara, the most complete business spend management solution, officially announced its arrival in Brazil backed by a Series B financing round equivalent to US$70 million, approximately R$390 million, led by Coatue - the investment fund behind technology giants Bytedance (TikTok), Cloudwalk, Deel and Bitso - as well as Series A investors such as ICONIQ Growth and Box Group, joining existing investors such as DST, monashees, General Catalyst, Avid Ventures, Alter Global, Global Founders Capital and others.

With this new capital increase and only eight months after starting operations in Mexico, the company reached a valuation of US$1 billion, becoming the first Latin startup to reach unicorn status in less than one year of operation. As part of the investment, Michael Gilroy of Coatue is the first external member of Clara's board of directors.

Alongside this investment, Clara announces its official launch in Brazil, with an initial list of more than 100 customers, including the Brazilian operations of its Mexican customers. The startup is the first in Brazil focused on corporate cards. Leading the operations, Layon Costa, an executive with extensive professional experience and stints at companies such as Google, Dow Chemical, Rappi and QuintoAndar, is the General Manager in Brazil, leading a team that already has more than 40 people in the country.

Clara's CEO and co-founder, Gerry Giacomán Colyer, says that his main goal is to offer the best business spend solution, with a solid infrastructure that is adaptable to different local regulations and contributes to the growth and competitiveness of all companies in Latin America. Regarding the investments, Gerry adds that “despite not actively seeking additional financing, some investors showed great interest and enthusiasm for the infrastructure we built. They were also impressed by the caliber of the customers in our portfolio, which includes not only the fastest-growing companies in the region but also some of the most traditional corporations.”

For the co-founder, the launch in Brazil is a big step: “We are very happy that in the same year we started operations in Mexico we can make our arrival in Brazil official. This is an achievement we planned since we started the company.”

As in Mexico, Clara's solution is the first Mastercard corporate card program in Brazil, through a license that allows the company to be a principal member and issue its own cards, which are accepted anywhere in the world. Clara currently processes transactions of more than US$15 million annually and its customer portfolio includes some of the companies operating in Latin America, among them Kavak, Cornershop, Casai and Creditas, among thousands of other constantly growing companies.

Founding CEO and Chief Product Officer Diego García highlights that “being able to operate with our own Mastercard license in more than one country in such a short time is the result of all the product decisions we have made thinking about our customers since Clara started operations last year. With the new funding, we want to continue building the best team of engineers, designers and product leaders to keep innovating.”

Recognized by LinkedIn as one of the 10 best startups to work for in Mexico, Clara arrives in Brazil to conquer market space by offering a business spend management platform with complete solutions to facilitate expense management between business owners and employees. After its launch in the country, the startup aims to win customers throughout the national territory, as it did in Mexico, and continue expanding to other Latin American countries.

“In October of this year, Clara and Mastercard formed a strategic alliance to serve the company's customers in Mexico. On arriving in our country, we continue with the commitment to expand our relationship and keep improving its customers' experience,” says Mastercard Brazil's general manager, Estanislau Bassols.