Latin America – or LATAM – is globally renowned for its rich cultural diversity, deeply rooted traditions, and a very complex history of oppression and conquest. As a region, it is plentiful in resources; however, political turmoil and corruption have hindered economic development and growth in many of the included countries. That being said, some incredible leaders in LATAM are working hard to build a stronger economy and modernize their industries in hopes of creating a more prosperous future. Who is Federico Carrizo? originates from Argentina – not to be confused with the famous football player by the same name, from the same country. At the young age of 19, he started working as a software developer, making video games for mobile phones. In fact, Federico co-created the first game to go viral in Argentina. It ranked number one on Google Play Argentina for two entire months and saw more than 2M downloads. Federico Carrizo Since then, he has had the opportunity to work for a wide range of tech companies, including giants like Google and Globant. He joined Google after winning The Google Developer Bus – a programming competition and the very first reality show for developers in LATAM. His winning team developed a commercial solution based on Google Street View that facilitated commercial transactions through Google Wallet. It was then that Federico recognized the advances in technology and the growing adoption of digital payments. He saw an industry with great potential and decided to pivot his career in that direction. Carrizo started in the world of fintech with Walt Disney World Parks And Resorts, where he led a team of nine engineers to redesign the company’s e-commerce platform – an impressive first project considering the website’s annual revenue of $1.7B. From there, he went on to contribute to the digital transformation of the largest credit card issuer in Argentina, spearheading a squad working on the development of a digital wallet, Naranja X. They worked diligently and managed to launch the product within just a few months, positioning Naranja X digital wallet as one of the most prominent in the country. Federico had made quite a name for himself rather quickly and was recruited by Ualá, one of the biggest fintech companies in LATAM. He was first brought on to scale the development team up to more than 50 engineers. After that, his work became centered on promoting modern technologies and best practices within Ualá’s architecture and infrastructure. His time with the company helped significantly to finally bring the region’s financial services into the 21st century. Treinta and the importance of cutting-edge fintech solutions In May of 2021, Federico left Ualá to join the team at – one of the fastest-growing startups in Latin America. He explains that “the mission is [very] ambitious: to give LATAM merchants and entrepreneurs modern digital tools to improve the way that they operate their businesses and control their finances.” Treinta Treinta was part of the world-renowned YCombinator accelerator program and raised a whopping $60M during two biggest investment rounds (Seed and A) of LATAM history. The company’s free mobile app enables micro-entrepreneurs to easily transition to digital solutions in order to optimize their management and efficiency. More than 5M registered users can effortlessly record transactions by assigning products from their inventory and see how their business metrics evolve in real-time. Carrizo was responsible for building the engineering team of over 80 specialists and now leads that group, tasked with the development of all of the company’s products. In the last year alone, transactions worth more than $10M were registered through the Treinta platform. The LATAM financial services market is valued at around $1.2T, around 30% of the region’s total GDP. There is clearly huge potential, and growth is unlikely to slow down any time soon. While fintech was initially centered around the technologies utilized by major, well-established financial institutions (i.e., banks and trading firms), this is no longer the case. The shift towards consumer-oriented services and tools has pulled in sectors such as education, fundraising, retail banking, investment management, and – most recently – cryptocurrencies. As a result, we have seen a significant expansion of financial inclusion. The implementation of these technologies has allowed to dramatically cut down n the overall operation costs. In conclusion The reality is that fintech tools, such as Treinta, have the potential to bring developing nations onto an equal playing field with leaders like the US. Federico Carrizo and other Latin leaders are proving that talent and innovation are already there, making the future of LATAM exciting and hopeful. In closing, Carrizo shares: “I consider myself an expert in the development of highly scalable platforms and modern infrastructures for financial services. I [am working towards] a future where digital tools can end financial informality, and imagine the total adoption of digital payments and tools for personal finances.”

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