Quipu

What Quipu does

Quipu Corporation S.A.S. is a Colombian AI fintech founded in 2021 by CEO Mercedes Bidart, headquartered in Bogotá (with operating presence in Medellín), that operates an AI-powered alternative credit scoring and digital lending platform targeted at informal workers and microbusiness owners ("camelladores") — street vendors, moto-taxi drivers, food sellers, shop owners, mechanics, and Venezuelan migrants with PPT documentation — who are excluded from traditional credit due to lack of formal credit history, bank documentation, or acceptable collateral. Core products include Quipu Crédito (a ladder credit product starting at $500,000 COP and scaling up to $10,000,000 COP based on payment behavior), Supercrédito Quipu (larger loans of $1.4M–$2.8M COP for established entrepreneurs with 6+ months of operations), QuipuScore (a standalone alternative credit scoring application and white-label API), plus BNPL supplier financing and a B2B marketplace module.

The underlying technology evaluates borrowers using non-traditional signals that conventional bureaus cannot access: photos and videos of business activity, SMS metadata from short codes (6-digit numbers) reflecting debt and purchase patterns, Instagram profile analytics (posts, carousels, comments, likes, follower metrics, sales history) for business verification, mobile device metadata via CredoLab (calendar events, contacts, app usage, time-on-app) for fraud prevention and risk profiling, and digital behavioral signals. Quipu describes its AI capabilities across predictive analytics, anomaly/fraud detection, recommendation engines, and process automation, ingesting text, image, video, structured, and multimodal inputs. Pricing economics are credit-regulated: interest rates capped below Colombia's monthly tasa de usura at 57.98% E.A. (3.884% monthly) for standard credits and 38.27% E.A. (2.337% monthly) for Supercrédito, with a 25% fianza plus VAT bundled into the financed amount and digital electronic signature compliant with Colombian Law 527 of 1999.

Quipu monetizes through interest income on direct loans, BNPL financing spread, and API/scoring licensing to financial institutions; it is not a supervised financial intermediary and operates under the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio. Distribution is fully digital via iOS and Android apps, a WhatsApp bot, and embedded partnerships with Nequi (20M+ users), Claro Pay, Bancolombia, Daviplata, Wompi, and Bancóldex. Cumulative disclosed scale: 40,000+ active borrowers, ~49,000 loans facilitated, 300,000+ credit scores generated, and $7M+ in loans originated, with reported reduction in user reliance on informal lenders from 38% to 28%. The company has raised a $300,000 bridge round (Impacta VC, February 2026) and a $50,000 Aurora Tech Award grant (May 2026), and was selected for the World Economic Forum's AI Minds third cohort in June 2026 as the only Latin American organization selected.

Name

Quipu

Legal name

QUIPU CORPORATION S.A.S.

Website

https://quipu.com.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Quipu is a Colombian AI fintech founded in 2021 that operates an alternative credit scoring and digital lending platform for informal workers and microbusinesses excluded from traditional finance, using behavioral and digital signals to provide digital loans starting at $500,000 COP.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Bogotá

HQ country

Colombia

HQ region

Latin America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Interest Income on Loans: Quipu earns interest income on the loans it originates directly to informal workers and microbusinesses. Interest rates are capped below the legal maximum (tasa de usura), with effective annual rates of 57.98% for standard credits and 38.27% for Supercrédito products. The company charges a 25% fianza (security deposit) plus VAT included in the financed amount.
2. API/Scoring Licensing to Financial Institutions: Revenue from licensing the alternative credit scoring API to financial institutions and banks in Latin America, enabling them to assess informal workers using Quipu's methodology. This is a B2B revenue stream supporting geographic expansion.
3. Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Financing: Quipu offers BNPL financing for the purchase of supplies, ingredients, materials, or machinery through a network of allied suppliers. Revenue generated from financing the purchase price minus cost of goods.
4. QuipuScore White-Label / Scoring Services: Credit scoring services delivered through the QuipuScore application, with the score shared with financial institutions and commercial entities for their own evaluation processes, and third-party credit offers delivered based on the score.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels9 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Quipu operates an AI-powered alternative credit scoring and digital lending platform targeting informal workers and microbusiness owners in Colombia. The platform evaluates non-traditional data signals—photos, videos, SMS metadata, social media activity, and mobile device metadata—to assess creditworthiness and originate loans ranging from $500,000 COP to $10 million COP under a 'crédito escalera' (ladder credit) model. The company is expanding its alternative scoring capabilities into a B2B API offered to financial institutions across Latin America.

Product overview

Quipu is a Colombian fintech company founded in 2021 that operates an AI-powered alternative credit scoring and lending platform for informal workers and entrepreneurs. The core product ecosystem includes Quipu Crédito (main credit product with ladder system from $500,000 to $10 million), Supercrédito Quipu (larger business loans from $1.4 to $2.8 million), and QuipuScore (standalone credit scoring API). Additional offerings include BNPL (Compra Ahora, Paga Después) for supplier financing, a Marketplace for business-to-business commerce, and White Label platform solutions for commercial partners. The company is not a bank or financial institution and is not supervised by the Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• QuipuScore: Alternative credit scoring platform that uses AI and signals from daily activity to assess creditworthiness of informal workers.
• Supercrédito Quipu
• Crédito Escalera Quipu

Products and services

• Crédito Quipu
• Supercrédito Quipu
• QuipuScore
• Credit Scoring API (B2B White-Label)
• White Label Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 49,000 loans facilitated with measurable reduction in informal lending dependency from 38% to 28% among users
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability9 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• NequicoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNequi is a digital wallet with over 20 million users (banco bac de Medellín). Quipu integrates with Nequi for credit disbursement and collection. The partnership serves as a key distribution and payment channel, with Nequi also referring customers to Quipu.
• Claro (Claro Pay)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorPartnership with Claro (major Colombian telecommunications company) to offer credit products to informal workers through Claro Pay platform. Provides large-scale distribution reach for Quipu's lending products.
• BancóldexminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBancóldex is Colombia's development bank for microenterprises. Partnership established to provide financing solutions to informal businesses excluded from traditional banking.
• ProMujerminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerProMujer is a nonprofit organization supporting women entrepreneurs in Latin America. Partnership targets financial inclusion for women-led informal businesses.
• BancolombiacoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBancolombia is Colombia's largest bank. Quipu uses Bancolombia's correspondent banking network (corresponsales bancarios) for credit disbursements and collections. Also supports Bancolombia direct transfers, Nequi integration, and PSE payments.
• Alcaldía de BogotáminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with the Mayor's Office of Bogotá for financial inclusion programs targeting informal workers and entrepreneurs in the city.
• Colombia FintechminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerColombia's fintech industry association. Quipu is a member of Colombia Fintech and is regulated as a platform supervised by the Superintendencia de Industria y Comercio.
• WompicoreTechnology or IntegrationWompi is a Colombian payments platform (owned by Bancolombia) providing payment aggregation for Quipu loan repayments via PSE, Nequi, Bancolombia, and other methods.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Konfío: Mexican SMB lending platform using AI-driven risk models for small businesses. Comparable business segment (microbusiness formal lending) and AI underwriting approach.
• Addi: Colombian fintech offering BNPL and credit to consumers and microbusinesses, with similar financial inclusion mission and distribution through Colombian retail networks. Closest direct comparable in the same geography.
• Stori: Mexican credit card fintech for underbanked consumers using alternative underwriting. Similar customer segment (informal/credit-invisible) and core lending product.
• Branch International: Alternative credit scoring and instant lending platform for emerging markets using mobile device data. Mirrors Quipu's reliance on mobile metadata via CredoLab for credit decisions.
• Tala: Global alternative credit scoring and lending platform using mobile data and AI for underbanked consumers in emerging markets. Same underlying data-driven alternative credit scoring approach.
• Kueski: Mexican BNPL and personal credit platform serving underbanked consumers using alternative data and AI. Comparable product mix (BNPL + cash loans + alternative scoring) for similar informal customer base.

Others

• CredoLab: Singapore-based fintech providing mobile metadata analytics for credit risk scoring. Quipu is a customer/integrator of CredoLab technology — relevant as a technology peer and upstream partner.

Broad incumbents

• Banco Compartamos: Mexico-based microfinance institution serving informal workers and microbusinesses. Traditional incumbent in the same informal/microbusiness lending segment that Quipu targets digitally.
• Nubank: Major LatAm neobank with operations in Colombia offering credit cards and personal loans to underbanked consumers. Direct distribution and capital scale threat but broader product portfolio.
• Creditas: Brazilian consumer and SMB lending fintech using alternative data and collateral-based underwriting. Larger scale LatAm fintech lender with overlapping mission and similar AI-driven credit approach.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/quipulatam
• Facebookfacebook.com/Quipulatam
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/quipulatam
• Instagraminstagram.com/quipulatam
• TikToktiktok.com/@quipulatam

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Quipu