The Venture Codex

Participated · Seed · Jun 2022

Norma offers an integrated platform combining banking, accounting, and business services to help freelancers, sole‑traders, and micro‑SMBs manage finances and operations. The company moved from closed beta to a public launch in Turkey and has recorded more than 2,000 small‑business pre‑registrations. Norma is actively onboarding early members and acquiring new customers, aiming to onboard thousands of small businesses before year end and to collect feedback for new features. The founder, Hakan Gonca, emphasizes Norma’s role in increasing visibility for small businesses within the banking system and improving their financial efficiency. Norma plans to expand its product scope, build partnerships with globally recognized brands, and become a multi‑regional player. Financially, the company has completed two fundraising rounds to date to support its growth and product development.

Participated · Series B · May 2022

Xepelin offers an end-to-end digital platform that gives SMEs fast access to working capital, invoice financing and other embedded financial products. Since its founding, the company has served more than 70,000 businesses and currently generates roughly US$100 million in annual revenue. Management is focusing on Mexico, where it is pursuing a Sofipo license to broaden its product set and position itself as the “Nubank for SMEs” by 2026. Xepelin employs about 500 people and recently strengthened its tech leadership by hiring former Fintual CTO Martín Ugarte as vice-president of engineering. The company was previously valued at about US$720 million after its 2022 Series B, but that figure has reset to around US$400 million in the latest round. Historically, Xepelin has combined equity and significant debt facilities, including a US$30 million equity plus US$200 million credit Series A in 2021 and a US$140 million debt line from Goldman Sachs. Founders include Sebastián Kreis, Nicolás de Camino, Diego Contreras, Felipe Puntarelli, Carlos Veloso and Guillermo Molina. The firm remains one of Chile’s most heavily funded tech startups and aims to scale regionally toward unicorn status.

Led · Seed · Feb 2022

NayaPay is a Pakistan-based fintech that combines messaging and payments in a single super-app, allowing users to send and receive money, split bills, and make payments from smartphones. It has issued virtual and physical Visa cards linked to the NayaPay wallet, enabling POS payments and allowing businesses to accept payments. The platform targets underbanked cohorts—especially students, freelancers and women—with the goal of banking millions of adults who currently lack access to formal banking. NayaPay holds an E-Money Institution license from the State Bank of Pakistan and aims to increase digital payments in a cash-heavy economy where only 1% of roughly $4 trillion in payments are electronic. The company plans to expand its product offering to include lending and investment services, such as money market funds and stock trading, as it scales. Management targets 5 million users over the next five years and plans to build payment acceptance and financial-management tools for businesses.