Why We Invested: Monato
Building the Payment Rails of the Future
Embedded finance is one of the most important macro trends shaping fintech today. By integrating payments, lending, insurance, and other financial services directly into their products, companies are turning finance into an invisible but essential part of the customer experience. This shift improves convenience for end users, from “buy now, pay later” options at checkout to instant payouts for gig workers and cash networks. It also creates powerful business advantages, opening new revenue streams, strengthening margins, and enhancing customer loyalty by making financial interactions seamless, contextual, and value adding.
Financial infrastructure in Mexico is heavily regulated, fragmented, expensive, and outdated. For most companies, embedding payments, transfers, or credit into their products means navigating complex regulations, negotiating with multiple providers, and spending months on integration. As a result, only the largest players can afford to offer digital financial services at scale.
Automating Payments, Transfers, and Credit Through a Single Platform
Monato is transforming the current landscape by giving companies the ability to seamlessly offer their clients payments, real-time transfers, and credit through a single, fully compliant platform. From retail chains to software providers and lenders, Monato enables businesses to make financial services a core part of their value proposition—and a powerful tool to boost customer retention.
The impact is already visible. Thanks to Monato, a small shop owner within a large distribution network can now receive payments, send money, and pay invoices in real time. This strengthens their cash flow, improves day-to-day operations, and gives the parent company full visibility and control over financial flows. Monato goes beyond digital payments by empowering large organizations to fully digitize their financial value chain and deliver seamless solutions to their customers.
Adoption is growing quickly. Monato is already processing millions of transactions per month and has signed partnerships across multiple sectors. The Company started with payments and is now rolling out real-time transfers and embedded credit. Each new product adds more value for clients while strengthening Monato’s infrastructure advantage.
In other parts of the world, embedded finance has already reshaped how businesses operate—from digital wallets in Southeast Asia to financial APIs in the United States. Mexico has entered a similar phase: real-time payments are gaining traction, digital adoption continues to accelerate, and new regulatory pathways are making it easier for companies to offer financial products directly to their users. With businesses seeking to integrate payments, credit, and treasury management into their workflows, Monato stands out as one of the few platforms with the vision and infrastructure to meet that demand.
An Experienced Founder and a World Class Team
Monato is led by Iñigo Rumayor, a second-time founder with deep experience in Mexico’s fintech ecosystem. After building Arcus—a payments platform backed by IGNIA and later acquired by Mastercard—he not only mastered navigating Mexico’s regulatory landscape and financial infrastructure but also learned the importance of surrounding himself with top talent. Today, Iñigo is leveraging a decade of experience across banking, payments, and regulation to assemble a world-class team that combines vision, execution, and network, bringing top talent from companies like RappiCard, Citi, Wise, and Arcus. He knows where the blockers are—and more importantly, he’s building the right team to overcome them and scale Monato into a category-defining company.
Backing the future of payments in Mexico
At IGNIA, we back companies solving foundational challenges. Monato is building the financial infrastructure set to power the next wave of innovation in Latin America. We’re excited to participate in their US$13 MM round led by Monashees and Fintech Collective, alongside Angel Ventures, Polymath Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, Kuiper, NOA Capital, and a group of angel investors.
Congratulations to Iñigo and the entire Monato team—we’re thrilled to support you as you scale, innovate, and redefine Mexico’s digital payments landscape.