Brazil’s banking system is concentrated in the hands of a few large institutions. Brazilian fintech Franq raised $12.4 million to loosen that grip.
The Florianópolis-based company gives the country’s independent financial advisors access to 150 offerings from more than 50 banks and lenders, including Itaú, Santander, and Bradesco, rather than being limited to a single institution’s lineup.
“What we are enabling is for this banker to be not the bank manager, but the client’s manager,” said Franq’s Paulo Silva.
Investors in the Series B round included Valor Capital Group, which backs technology companies operating across the US and Latin America; Quona Capital, a financial inclusion investor active in emerging markets; and Globo Ventures, the venture arm of Brazilian media conglomerate Globo. The fresh capital will support Franq’s expansion into insurance, investment and business lending products.
Financial inclusion
Silva, who previously worked at Banco do Brasil, Citi, HSBC and Santander, developed Franq after noticing two problems: banking professionals in Brazil had few career paths outside large institutions, while consumers and small businesses struggled to access financial products tailored to their needs.
“The structure should serve the customer, not the other way around,” Silva said in a LinkedIn post.
Franq‘s model was made possible by Brazil’s open banking reforms. In 2021, the country’s central bank required financial institutions to share customer data with authorized third parties, giving independent advisors access to the information needed to compare and offer competing products.
The platform now serves more than 120,000 individuals and 35,000 small businesses. Franq originated $423 million in transactions in 2025.
