Quipu
Developed in partnership with Mercy Corps Ventures
Colombian fintech Quipu and Mercy Corps Ventures piloted DeFi lending to facilitate direct to provider loans for small businesses.
Website: https://quipu.com.co/
HQ: Bogotá, Colombia
Active Markets: South America
Problem Addressed
Despite being one of the strongest drivers of employment and economic growth in the region, Latin American MSMEs experience limited access to credit or permanent blacklisting, often turning to informal and predatory lenders.
Project Description
Mercy Corps Ventures partnered with Quipu – a Colombian fintech leveraging AI to credit score and provide loans to informal micro-businesses – to test the use of a DeFi protocol for direct lending to MSME borrowers. Qualifying for loans did not require collateral. Quipu’s AI algorithm instead determines loan issuance based on threshold set credit scoring. The pilot featured a partnership with P2P payments marketplace El Dorado in order to facilitate the delivery of loans in fiat currency.
Using token rewards as part of the pilot allowed Quipu to incentivize timely loan repayment, and new borrower referrals.
Business Data
Status: Pilot ongoing
Constituency Served: MSMEs
Networks: Polygon
Known Investors: Mercy Corps Ventures
Additional References: Pilot Launch Article
Progress to date
More than 60% of Quipu’s borrowers are women. The company has partnered with several large suppliers to help facilitate the purchasing of business supplies for these entrepreneurs. Quipu was selected as one of Fast Company’s 10 most innovative companies in Latin America in 2022. Quipu received the Ignite award for Product of greatest financial innovation with impact from the Latin American Impact Investment Forum in 2024.
Business Model
Quipu generates revenue through loan interest payments.
Traction
Since launching in 2022, Quipu has grown to over 5,000 customers, 90% of which are blacklisted by credit bureaus.