Business Model of Bold

Category	Details
How Bold Started	Founded in May 2019 by José Vélez, Ana Sandoval, Sergio Vergara, Jorge Ulloa, and Enrique Ramirez in Bogotá, Colombia. Launched to address massive financial exclusion where 80% of transactions remained cash-based, preventing SMEs from accessing digital payment infrastructure.
Present Condition	Serves over 500,000 merchants across Colombia with 1,000+ employees. Raised $105M total funding across Series A, B, and C rounds. Achieved 39.52% revenue growth in 2024. Received regulatory approval as financial institution, enabling expanded product offerings beyond payments.
Future of Company & Industry	Expanding into Mexico, Chile, and Peru markets. Developing AI-driven fraud detection, integrated lending products leveraging transaction data, and comprehensive business management tools. Latin American fintech market projected to reach $150B by 2027 as digital payment adoption accelerates.
Opportunities for Young Entrepreneurs	Build complementary services (accounting integration, inventory management, customer loyalty programs). Create localized payment solutions for underserved sectors. Develop financial literacy platforms for SMEs. Partner with Bold’s ecosystem to reach established merchant base.
Market Share Of Bold	Leading independent merchant acquirer in Colombia. Processes millions of monthly transactions. Competes with traditional banks and international players like Square, Stripe, and Mercado Pago in Latin American SME payment processing segment.
MOAT (Competitive Advantage)	Zero monthly POS fees (competitors charge $15-30/month). Regulatory license as financial institution enables direct banking services. Deep SME relationships with 500K+ merchants. Integrated ecosystem combining payments, working capital, and business tools. First-mover advantage in Colombian micro-merchant segment.
How Bold Makes Money	Transaction fees on card payments (percentage of each transaction). Working capital lending interest. Premium service fees for advanced features. Payment gateway fees for e-commerce transactions. No monthly subscription fees—purely transaction-based revenue model aligned with merchant success.