Covalto becomes the first Mexican FinTech on the US stock market

Mexican digital banking platform Covalto plans to go public via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), a move that would make it the first Mexican FinTech to trade on US markets.

The company’s deal to list on Nasdaq puts it at an implied $547 million pro-forma enterprise value, Reuters reported on Thursday (Aug 18). Covalto, formerly known as Credijusto, said the deal could generate as much as $177 million in capital before expenses.

The listing comes with $60 million in financing, half of which has already been announced, according to the report. The rest will come from LIV Capital, mother of LIVB, which is a SPAC. Covalto could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday.

Last year, Covalto – then still called Credijusto – bought Banco Finterra, a bank focused on financial offers for small companies and the agricultural industry.

Read more: Mexican FinTech Credijusto acquires bank to serve X-Border SMEs

The company said at the time that it was the first Mexican FinTech to acquire a regulated bank, transforming itself into Latin America’s only neobank focused on working with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Co-CEO David Poritz said at the time that the acquisition would provide a “digital cross-border experience” for the companies participating in US-Mexico trade, “an opportunity that we see as a key driver of growth for Credijusto.”

Also in 2021, the company entered into talks with another SPAC to merge the companies and list them on the New York Stock Exchange.

See more: Mexican SME FinTech Credijusto may list on the NYSE this year

Founded in 2015, Credijusto was attractive to the company due to its prominence among Latin American SMEs.

The company had built out a “multi-product offering” that combines “cutting-edge software design, innovative applications of data science and advanced internal processes,” according to an announcement at the time.