It’s Tuesday, and today we’re covering Guama, a Colombian fintech startup. Founded by Maria Paula Pinzón, Alfredo Prieto, and Víctor Julio, the company just raised a $1.5 million seed round led by Salkantay Ventures with participation from Story Ventures, Hustle Fund, and Techstars.
The Context
The company we’ll look at today sits at the intersection of two defining features of the Colombian market: low credit penetration and the recent development of Open Banking.
Let’s start with the first.
Why is Consumer Credit Penetration Low?
Colombia has made big strides in financial inclusion. Between 2008 and 2012, the share of adults with any financial product rose from 55.5% to 67.2%. By 2024, it had reached 96.3%. This growth came from more banking agents, simpler account-opening rules, new types of electronic deposits, digital wallets like Daviplata with 18.5 million users, and broader deregulation.
As a result, the majority of Colombians hold savings accounts, with an average of 2.2 accounts per adult.
Credit is another matter. Only 35.5% of adults use a credit product. Household debt is at about 25% of GDP, while in most developed countries it’s comfortably above 30%. And credit cards make up just 18.5% of consumer credit, far lower than Mexico (38.4%) or even the U.S. (26%).
So what we have here is both low credit penetration and an unusual credit structure. I’d say there are four main reasons for that:
Informal labour. Informal is still the dominant form of employment in the country. 42% in urban and 80% in rural areas are employed informally. Without documented income most banks simply won’t lend.
A Catch-22 situation. Most Colombians don’t have a credit history. The absence of a credit history contributes to 80% of rejections for credit cards, but one cannot build a credit history without first accessing a credit card.
Interest rate ceiling. There’s a ceiling on how much interest lenders can charge. That means that when the default risk is rising, lenders aren’t able to charge higher interest to cover the risk, which leads to them not issuing credit to those potential customers who look riskier.
Libranza. The most popular form of consumer credit is called libranza, which is a payroll-deducted loan, meaning that the lender deducts the interest directly from the paycheck. This loan type represents 38.3% of the market. As you might expect, this loan type requires you to have a formal job.
Open Finance Launch
Seeing the transformation the financial system is going through — technological change, global momentum, and the success of open finance abroad — the Colombian government rolled out its own open finance framework in 2022. The idea is simple: if permitted by the user, banks can share their financial information with third parties. For now, this data sharing isn’t mandatory, but a proposed decree aims to make it so.
This shift changes the game for both lenders and borrowers.
For lenders, it’s a two-pronged growth lever. First, verifying a customer’s income becomes easier by looking at purchasing behavior and savings patterns. That makes underwriting more precise, faster, and cheaper, which in turn drives down customer acquisition costs (CAC). Second, the addressable market expands dramatically, potentially doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling. That not only reduces CAC further but also unlocks a major revenue opportunity.
For borrowers, millions of people who previously couldn’t access credit suddenly can. That boosts purchasing power, and ultimately supports the broader economy.
Now, we have yet to see the lending market expansion. But in countries that adopted open finance earlier, the link is clear. In India, the Account Aggregator framework (intermediaries that share financial data) is seeing triple-digit loan growth. In Brazil, Open Finance has also delivered results: Banco do Brasil reported a $131 million increase in additional credit limits for retail customers, directly tied to richer data and more opportunities to issue credit.
The Product
Guama is a credit card issued not on prior credit history but on real-world transactions. The virtual card (with an option to request a physical one) works like any other credit card: it’s accepted everywhere Visa is accepted, supports Apple Pay and Google Pay, and charges zero interest on single-installment payments.
As you’ve probably guessed, the company leverages open finance to gather customer data and applies a proprietary evaluation model to decide whether someone is creditworthy. The model looks at income, recurring payments (like Spotify subscriptions or rent), and other signals that help answer two questions:
How much does a prospective customer spend, and therefore how much payment flow can they generate?
How much does a prospective customer save, and therefore how much default risk do they pose?
To apply, you only need to connect your bank account to Guama and verify your identity. Approval takes a maximum of two days.
The most unusual part of the product is the loyalty program called Guama Pro. With “Pro” in the name, you might expect it to be a paid product. But it’s not.
Instead, it’s a rewards program based on timely payments. Pay your installment on time, and you earn points. The more points you accumulate, the higher your tier, and the more rewards you unlock. If you fall behind on payments, the benefits are lost, and you’ll have to start over.
As you level up, you gain:
Larger credit line increases and preferential rates.
Higher limits on cash transfers (a bigger share of your credit line can be moved to a bank account).
Cashback from partner stores.
Since launching in 2024, Guama has received 75,000 applications and now has 6,000 customers who have made 150,000 purchases. Notably, 60% of Guama’s users had no prior credit history. Over the next 18 months, the company plans to reach 100,000 users.
The Business Model
Guama is clearly counter-positioned against traditional financial institutions:
It doesn’t rely on credit history, instead taking a more holistic approach to evaluate clients and their creditworthiness.
It focuses on doing one thing well — providing credit cards to those without access.
It avoids hidden fees or other unsavory tricks to squeeze extra money from customers.
The main revenue sources, however, are the same as any credit card. The company charges 24.9% annual effective interest; about $2.30 monthly if the customer uses the card that month; a flat fee of about $0.60; and an additional 2% on cash advances. The physical card isn’t free, costing around $5, and adding the card to Apple Pay or Google Pay comes with a ~$2 fee.
The Bear Case
As long-time readers know, I don’t usually talk about competition in the bear case, but here it feels necessary. Banks already have client data, and through open finance they can access even more if needed. That gives them a massive head start. The same goes for digital wallets. You can argue that banks will still be conservative and limit credit access. But if that’s the case, Guama also won’t be pulling in the safest, lowest-risk clients.
Another risk is defaults. We don’t yet know what kind of clientele Guama will attract: will it be people with informal income but steady cash flow? Or will it lean toward high-risk, low-reward customers who miss payments and churn quickly?
The Bull Case
I think it’s fairly simple. Three things need to align for Guama to hit:
Open finance becomes mandatory.
The product proves strong enough that customers actually like it.
The company can bring in quality leads at a sustainable CAC.
If those conditions line up, Guama’s transparent fees and rewards program will make the product sticky, increasing LTV. And since the company plans to move into products like mortgages, starting with a credit card is a solid way to build long-term customer relationships.
The Takeaway
My calculations show that between 2010 and 2025, 36.4% of VC capital in Latin America went to fintech startups; in Africa, it was 30.9%. No other region reaches 25%. I understand the region’s complex banking and financial history, but I still wonder why the concentration is so high.
