Bold
Bold is a Colombian fintech providing vertically integrated payments, banking, and credit products to 600,000+ micro and SMB merchants through proprietary datáfono hardware, payment gateways, and the regulated Bold CF digital banking platform.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2019
- HeadquartersBogotá, Colombia
- Headcount1,001–5,000
- GTM typeB2B and B2C
- OfferingServices
What Bold does
Bold is a Colombian fintech founded in 2019 that operates a vertically integrated payments and banking platform primarily serving micro, small, and medium-sized merchants in Colombia. The product stack combines proprietary point-of-sale hardware (datáfonos: Neo, Plus, Smart, Smart Pro), online payment gateway services (Pasarela, Link de pago, Botón de pagos, QR Bold, SonoQR), and embedded banking services (Cuenta Digital, Bolsillos, CDT, Tarjeta débito/crédito, Cupo credit line). Banking and credit products are operated through a regulated financial entity, Bold CF Compañía de Financiamiento S.A., supervised by the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia, while Bold.Co S.A.S. operates as its digital correspondent. Distribution is omnichannel: self-serve mobile/web onboarding, inside-sales via WhatsApp for higher-volume merchants (>20M COP/month), retail distribution of hardware through Homecenter, Panamericana, Mercadolibre, and Olímpica, plus developer-facing APIs (API Link de pagos, API Pagos en línea) for platform integration.
The business model blends five revenue streams: one-time hardware sales (datáfonos at COP $79,000-$399,000), transaction processing fees on 6.5M+ monthly card-present and card-not-present transactions, net interest margin on customer deposits (Bolsillos at 9% E.A., CDT up to 12% E.A.), interest income from the working-capital Cupo Bold credit line launched in March 2025, and POS/SaaS subscription fees covering inventory and electronic invoicing. As of early 2026, Bold reported serving 600,000+ businesses, processing 6.5M+ transactions and over 1 trillion COP in annual gross merchant sales volume, supported by 1,001-5,000 employees. The company has raised approximately $150 million in cumulative disclosed funding across rounds led by Tiger Global Management (Series B, February 2022) and General Atlantic (Series C February 2024 and a $40M follow-on in Q4 2025), with participation from IFC, InQLab, Amador Holdings, Cóndor Inverlink, and others. Stated use of proceeds across rounds emphasizes product development, merchant-base expansion, and Latin American geographic expansion beyond Colombia.
Recent strategic activity includes two acquisitions (Tuily in December 2024 and VendeMás in September 2025), an SME product expansion announced in November 2024, and multiple product launches in 2025 including SonoQR (voice-confirmed QR payments), Tienda en línea (hosted online storefront), and the Cupo Bold revolving credit facility. Bold is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, and the company operates under co-founder/CEO José Fernando Velez, with co-founders Enríque Ramírez (CFO), Jorge Ulloa (CPTO), and Ana María Sandoval (COO) listed in the leadership team.
Bold firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Bold
- Legal name
- Bold.Co S.A.S.
- Website
- https://bold.co
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2019
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1,001–5,000 employees
- Short description
- Bold is a Colombian fintech providing vertically integrated payments, banking, and credit products to 600,000+ micro and SMB merchants through proprietary datáfono hardware, payment gateways, and the regulated Bold CF digital banking platform.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Where Bold is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Bogotá
- HQ country
- Colombia
- HQ region
- Latin America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Bold business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B and B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Hardware sales (datáfonos): One-time unit sales of proprietary POS hardware at fixed price points: Neo $79,000 COP; Plus $149,000 COP; Smart $299,000 COP; Smart Pro $399,000 COP (with SIM +$60,000). Hardware is also distributed through retail partners (Homecenter, Panamericana, Mercadolibre, Olimpica) and own e-commerce (checkout.tienda.bold.co).
- Payment processing / transaction fees: Interchange and processing fees on card-present (datáfono) and card-not-present (link/button/API/QR) transactions across 6.5M+ monthly transactions processing >1B COP in merchant sales volume.
- Embedded banking spread & interest income (Cuenta Digital, Bolsillos, CDT): Float and net interest margin on merchant and consumer deposits held in Bold's digital accounts. Bolsillos yield 9% E.A. and CDT up to 12% E.A., paid to customers; Bold retains the spread versus its funding cost. Bold CF is a regulated financing company (Compañía de Financiamiento) supervised by Superintendencia Financiera.
- Credit / Cupo Bold interest income: Working-capital credit line ('Cupo Bold') for merchants, repayable at the rhythm of their sales — interest and fees on drawn balances generate recurring credit yield.
- POS / SaaS subscription: Subscription/usage-based fees for the integrated POS system covering sales tracking, inventory management, and electronic invoicing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Datáfono Neo (paired with phone, entry-level) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Datáfono Plus (portable, no phone needed) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Datáfono Smart (touchscreen, SIM included) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | Datáfono Smart Pro (touchscreen + printer, full-featured) |
| Unit Pricing | Pay-as-you-go | SIM card add-on |
| Freemium | Pay-as-you-go | Cuenta Digital (consumer/merchant deposit account) |
| Subscription | Pay-as-you-go | Bolsillos (interest-bearing savings pockets) |
| One time/ perpetual license | Pay-as-you-go | CDT (short-term certificate of deposit) |
| Other | Monthly | Tarjeta de crédito (Bold credit card for businesses) |
| Usage-based | Pay-as-you-go | Cupo Bold (working-capital credit line) |
Go-to-market motion5 records
Distribution channels7 records
Marketing channels6 records
Bold product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Bold is a vertically integrated Colombian fintech that provides merchants with low-cost POS hardware (datáfonos), online payment acceptance (payment gateway, payment links, buttons, QR, APIs), and an embedded digital banking stack (free Cuenta Digital, interest-bearing Bolsillos savings, CDT, working-capital Cupo Bold credit line). All offerings are operated through a single mobile/web app and serve both SMB merchants (Bold para negocios) and individual consumers (Bold para personas) in Colombia.
Product overview
Bold operates as a vertically integrated fintech platform with two main business units — Bold (payments/merchant acquiring) and Bold CF (a regulated financial services company, Compañía de Financiamiento). The offering is best described as a platform-plus-modules architecture: a core payments infrastructure (datáfonos hardware, Pasarela de pagos gateway, Link de pago, Botón de pagos, QR Bold, and SonoQR) on top of which a suite of banking and merchant services modules is layered, including Cuenta Digital, Bolsillos, CDT, Tarjeta débito, Tarjeta crédito, Créditos (Cupo), Facturación electrónica, POS, and Tienda en línea. Developer-facing APIs (API Link de pagos, API Pagos en línea) extend the payment rails for partner integration. All products are served through a single mobile app and merchant panel at panel.bold.co.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Bold CF: Bold's regulated Colombian financial services line (Cuenta Bold, Tarjeta de crédito, QR Bold, Bolsillos, CDT) operated via Bold CF Compañía de Financiamiento S.A., with Bold.Co S.A.S. acting as digital correspondent.
- Bold Pagos
- SonoQR
- Boldbot
Products and services
- Datáfonos (Card Reader Terminals)
Companies that use Bold
Customer profileNamed customers1 record
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Bold technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
AI capability4 records
Feature5 records
Bold partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Six partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.
- Homecenter Sodimac CoronacoreLists Bold datáfonos as an authorized retail channel — physical retail distribution point in Colombia for Bold POS hardware.
- PanamericanaminorAuthorized retail seller of Bold datáfonos in Colombia.
- OlímpicaminorAuthorized retail seller of Bold datáfonos in Colombia.
- Bold CF Compañía de Financiamiento S.A. (regulated affiliate)flagshipBold.Co S.A.S. operates as a 'corresponsal digital' (digital correspondent) of Bold CF Compañía de Financiamiento S.A. — Bold CF is the regulated entity supervised by Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia that holds deposits, issues CDTs, and extends credit used by the Bold platform.
- PG Abogados Asociados S.A.S.minorAppointed Defensor del Consumidor Financiero for Bold CF, providing mandatory consumer-complaint mediation services for Bold's regulated financial products (Cuenta Digital, CDT, Créditos).
- Apple App Store / Google Play / Huawei AppGallerycoreBold's mobile app is distributed through all three major app stores — direct app-install distribution channel for end users.
Scale indicators12 records
Recent moves1 record
Expansion highlights6 records
Bold competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Clip: Clip is a Mexican SMB-focused payments company offering proprietary card readers and a digital account for micro and small merchants — a close functional analogue to Bold's datáfono + Cuenta Digital stack and a likely model for Bold's LatAm expansion beyond Colombia.
- SumUp: SumUp is a global SMB POS and payment-acceptance provider operating across Latin America with low-cost card readers and integrated online acceptance — competing head-to-head with Bold on datáfono pricing, processing rates, and merchant onboarding for cash-heavy SMBs.
- Mercado Pago: Mercado Pago is Mercado Libre's fintech arm offering payments, POS, credit, and digital accounts across Latin America — directly competing with Bold for SMB merchant acquiring, online checkout, and embedded credit/deposits in Colombia and the broader region.
- Daviplata: Daviplata is Davivienda's mobile wallet offering digital accounts, payments, and QR acceptance across Colombia — competing with Bold Personas on free digital accounts and with Bold's QR/SonoQR product on merchant payment acceptance.
- Nequi: Nequi is Bancolombia's digital wallet and account platform serving Colombian consumers and merchants with payments, transfers, and digital banking — directly overlapping with Bold Personas' Cuenta Digital, Bolsillos, and QR payment acceptance in the Colombian market.
- Kushki: Kushki is a LatAm payment infrastructure company providing online checkout, payment links, and APIs across multiple countries including Colombia — overlapping with Bold's Pasarela, Link de pago, Botón de pagos, and API products in the same merchant and developer segments.
Broad incumbents
- Block (Square): Block's Square is the global SMB POS and payments platform with proprietary hardware and software, integrated banking, and merchant lending — a benchmark for the vertically integrated payments + banking + credit model Bold is building in Colombia at a much smaller scale.
- dLocal: dLocal is a LatAm-focused cross-border payments platform enabling global merchants to accept payments in emerging markets — comparable to Bold as a high-growth LatAm fintech with Colombia exposure, but focused on enterprise/cross-border flows rather than SMB acquiring.
- PayU: PayU (Prosus/Naspers) is a global payment gateway with deep LatAm presence including Colombia, serving merchants with online processing, payment links, and developer APIs — a broader incumbent competitor to Bold's gateway and online payments products rather than a datáfono rival.
Regional players
- Stone Co. Stone Co. is a Brazilian SMB payments and banking platform offering proprietary POS terminals, acquiring, software, and credit — a regional LatAm peer illustrating the scaled SMB-payments-plus-embedded-finance model Bold aspires to replicate in Colombia and beyond.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Bold social profiles
Digital presenceBold compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance2 records
Bold financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Bold leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles5 records
Bold subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries1 record
Bold funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds6 records
Investors16 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Bold M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A2 records
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Bold
What does Bold do?
Bold is a vertically integrated Colombian fintech that provides merchants with low-cost POS hardware (datáfonos), online payment acceptance (payment gateway, payment links, buttons, QR, APIs), and an embedded digital banking stack (free Cuenta Digital, interest-bearing Bolsillos savings, CDT, working-capital Cupo Bold credit line). All offerings are operated through a single mobile/web app and serve both SMB merchants (Bold para negocios) and individual consumers (Bold para personas) in Colombia.
Is Bold a public or private company?
Bold is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Bold founded?
Bold was founded in 2019. It employs 1,001 to 5,000 people.
Where is Bold based?
Bold is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia, in the Latin America region.
How does Bold make money?
Five revenue lines are on record. Hardware sales (datáfonos) is the primary driver. The others are payment processing / transaction fees, embedded banking spread & interest income (Cuenta Digital, Bolsillos, CDT), credit / Cupo Bold interest income and POS / SaaS subscription.
Who are Bold's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Clip, SumUp, Mercado Pago, Daviplata, Nequi and Kushki. Broad incumbents are Block (Square), dLocal and PayU. Stone Co. is listed as a regional player.
Does Bold have an API?
Yes. Bold offers developer-facing payment APIs to integrate online payment capabilities into merchant websites, platforms, and applications. Specifically, Bold provides 'API Link de pagos' for generating programmatic payment links and 'API Pagos en línea' for full online payment processing integration. These are public/partner-facing REST-style APIs surfaced via the Pagos en línea section of bold.co. No explicit mention of authentication method, rate limits, versioning, or sandbox availability was found in the source data; documentation URL was not provided.