Dvdendo, the leading bilingual, micro-investing platform to service the Latino market, is proud to announce the successful completion of its Series A round of financing. DILA Capital, a Mexico based Venture Capital fund, led the investment round with participation from existing investor Ideas & Capital along with other private investors. This new funding will be used to help the company expand its sales and marketing efforts to continue serving the US Hispanic market, roll out the investment platform in Latin America and launch its unique and proprietary financial education platform in the fall of 2018.
"Since spearheading Dvdendo's previous round of funding last year, we have witnessed firsthand the company's rapid growth and consolidation of its operations, and we are excited to participate in this new round of financing, alongside new partners, that will certainly propel the company even further," said Ricardo Elizondo, Managing Partner, Ideas & Capital.
Dvdendo launched in 2017 with the mission to promote and foster the habit of investing among Hispanics, enabling them to save for the future and take charge of their finances through better financial planning. In its first year, the company has gained more than 95,000 users, which speaks to the Hispanic market's financial optimism and undeniable potential. While Hispanics have a long standing history of investing less for the future, due to a combination of factors including lack of access to investment products and lower levels of financial literacy, a recent Simmons studyestimates that close to 1.3 million Hispanics plan to make their first financial investment ever over the next twelve months. This means, Hispanics will represent a third of all new investors in the market in the next year alone.
"We are very excited to partner with Dvdendo to service a fast-growing and unattended U.S. Hispanic market, while also promoting financial inclusion for Latinos throughout the Americas. The Dvdendo team has done an amazing job at executing their strategy and vision, and we are impressed with what they have accomplished to date. We believe this new capital will enable the company to further invest in their team and continue their rapid growth," said Eduardo Clave, Managing Partner, DILA Capital.
With the current socio-economic situation affecting many Latin American countries, which have been experiencing record high devaluation of their local currencies, many Latin Americans have traditionally resorted to opening bank accounts in the US while only a select few have investing alternatives available to them. As the world's second-fastest-growing mobile market, Latin America presents a ripe opportunity for Dvdendo, as the region has been widely neglected when it comes to investing and financial planning. Dvdendo can help the population gain access to better investment products while cultivating good financial habits in a way that comes naturally to them -- through their mobile devices.
"In the past year, we experienced overwhelming growth as Hispanics living in the U.S., who have been traditionally underserved, have taken an interest in investing and, today, they can access an investment solution that allows them to take control of their financial planning in their own language, in an easy and automated way," said Gabriel Montoya, CEO of Dvdendo. "We're thrilled to have secured this investment to pursue new opportunities and engage and empower more people, while also dedicating our efforts to bringing our investment platform to Latin America, fostering financial education and building better attitudes towards personal finances across the Americas."
