For millions of Latino immigrants in the US, sending money home to family already happens inside WhatsApp, which they open every single day anyway. One Miami startup just bet $200 million that the same familiar chat window can become a lot more than a way to wire cash abroad.
Félix, a Miami-based fintech that lets users send international remittances by texting or voice-messaging a chatbot on WhatsApp, announced on September 1 that it raised $200 million in a Series C funding round. The funding is split between $87 million in equity led by Andreessen Horowitz and a $113 million credit facility from General Catalyst’s Customer Value Fund.
The round, which also drew participation from QED Investors, Castle Island Ventures, and other backers, values the five-year-old company at roughly $1.4 billion. Félix says it plans to use the money to move beyond remittances. In particular, the startup plans on building out savings accounts, credit, and other financial products for a population that traditional banks have historically struggled, or declined, to serve well.
Félix’s core idea is that the biggest obstacle to financial inclusion often isn’t lack of demand, but friction that plagues available services. Many immigrants already communicate with family, employers, and each other through WhatsApp, so instead of asking someone to download a new banking app, create a password, and learn an unfamiliar interface, Félix meets them where they already are.
A user types or sends a voice note saying how much money to send and to whom, and only enters payment details at the very last step. Behind the scenes, the company settles transfers using Circle’s USDC stablecoin, a digital token pegged to the US dollar, which the company says makes cross-border transfers faster and cheaper than older systems like traditional bank wires.
For an underbanked population, the fresh fundraise might bring significant benefits. Félix plans to use part of its new debt facility to introduce savings and loan products. It is also pursuing artificial intelligence tools the company calls a “Cognitive Financial Companion.” This should help understand what a customer needs in plain, ordinary language and point them toward the right product. In practice, that could mean helping someone without a credit history start building one, or making it easier to set aside savings, all without leaving a conversation thread they already trust.
Reportedly, Félix has processed more than $8 billion for over six million people across eleven Latin American markets since it was founded in 2020 by Manuel Godoy and Bernardo García.
