According to Statista, fintech in Latin America (LatAm) suffered in 2023, with less than $2billion invested in fintech ventures – a drastic drop from 2021’s value of $6billion. Nonetheless, in the face of this hardship, fintechs have still continued to emerge and find success in the region, and across 2024, investment levels surged back up over $2billion again. With the future of fintech looking optimistic in 2025, Em Conversa looks to explore how the LatAm region can prosper once more.
Companies from across the globe have identified the potential of the Latin America fintech sector, and are looking for new ways to enter the market. Building on an acquisition from 2024, in which it acquired VMTecnologia, Nayax, the global commerce enablement and payments platform has now also acquired UPPay, a digital payment and telemetry provider for automated self-service coffee machines in Brazil.
To get a better understanding of how this acquisition will impact Nayax’s mission in LatAm, we spoke to the company’s chief strategy officer, Aaron Greenberg.
Can you tell me more about the company and your role within it?
My name is Aaron Greenberg, and I’m the chief strategy officer of Nayax. Nayax is an Israeli fintech company specialising in cashless payment solutions, primarily serving the vending and other automated self-service markets. Founded in 2005, Nayax offers a platform that integrates contactless payments, telemetry, remote management, and analytics into a single service for its merchants, which are mostly small businesses.
Nayax’s technology enables operators to manage payments remotely, monitor sales data, and improve operational efficiency through real-time analytics. Our products typically support multiple payment methods, including credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, and QR codes, making them convenient for consumers and cost-effective for operators.
Nayax operates now in over 120 countries with 11 global offices and 1100 employees. The company went public on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in May 2021, and dual listed on the Nasdaq in September 2022.
What are some payments trends we’re seeing in Brazil?
We are seeing a move towards automated self-service machines, and particularly the adoption of cashless solutions. In a country of more than 200 million people, we believe that there will continue to be a large market opportunity for cashless payment solutions in all types of automated self-service machines such as vending, laundry, micro markets, amusement, and EV charging.
What is Nayax doing to improve the payments sector in Brazil and LatAm?
We purchased in 2024 a company locally in Curitiba called VMTecnologia, which provides similar solutions to the automated self-service industry. Since then, we have been bringing our technology and know-how of the automated self-service payments industry to Brazil and the broader market in Latin America, investing significant resources in the region. We believe that automated self-service is a very niche industry that requires expert know-how in payment integrations, but also advanced telemetry solutions.
As the only truly global company in this vertical of payments, we believe we are best positioned to make a positive impact in the region and bring a great platform to merchants.
How does the Brazilian payments sector compare to that of the rest of the world?
There are a lot of similarities, with the key difference being the integration of PIX in Brazil. We believe that it is still very early in penetration for automated self-service cashless payments, which is going to be a key driver of growth for us in Latin America over the coming years.
What are some unique challenges associated with the Brazil in the payments space?
Brazil presents several unique challenges in the payments space, including complex regulatory frameworks and a diverse landscape of local payment methods such as PIX. However, Nayax has extensive global experience addressing similar challenges worldwide, making us well-equipped to effectively scale our operations and navigate these complexities in Brazil.
Plans for the future (roadmap and growth plan)
Looking ahead, Latin America remains a key growth region for Nayax. We’re committed to expanding our local capabilities, enhancing customer relationships, and capitalising on the momentum we’ve established through our strategic acquisitions of VMTecnologia and UPPay in Brazil.
Our goal is to continue leveraging our technology and product suite, specialising in the automated self-service space, to solidify our leadership position across the continent. We are growing very fast in the Brazil market, and are continuing to add other countries in Latin America.
