Tribal Raises $40 Million in a New Debt Round

Tribal, a B2B payment and financing platform for emerging markets, raised a new debt round of $40 million.

The debt round is financed by Partners for Growth (PFG) and Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to help Tribal expand its financing and payment services for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to new countries in Latin America. 

"This is one of the first hybrid debt rounds combining both fiat and stablecoins. It's a sign of crypto crossing over into mainstream use and adoption," said Amr Shady, CEO of Tribal.

The debt round closes at a moment of major development and momentum for Tribal, which has experienced more than 50x growth in LatAm since early 2021, serving customers in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Brazil. 

"This round will help Tribal fund receivables from our growing customer base in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Peru. The team at PFG has been great to work with and we're excited to expand our partnership. We're also thrilled to work closely with our equity investor, SDF, and to use Stellar USDC to fund the growth of SMBs in emerging markets," said Duane Good, COO of Tribal.

Armineh Baghoomian, co-head of FinTech investments for PFG noted, "The rapid adoption and impressive scale of the Tribal platform speak to the solutions Tribal is building to solve significant unmet needs for SMBs across emerging markets globally. This strong performance is a credit to the innovative products that the world-class team at Tribal is delivering. We look forward to continuing to support Tribal as they expand.”  

The San Francisco-based company closed a combined Series A and debt round of $34.3 million last April. As part of that investment, Tribal received $3 million from SDF to facilitate the development of blockchain products and to support integration onto the Stellar network. 

"Integrating USDC into the Tribal ecosystem will provide SMBs with cheaper, easier, and faster access to capital," said Mohamed Elkasstawi, chief strategy officer of Tribal who is spearheading the company's blockchain strategy. 

According to Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of SDF, "World Bank data shows SMBs in emerging markets create 7 out of 10 jobs, yet the lack of access to financing is regularly cited as a major barrier to SMB growth. Tribal's rapid expansion is another indicator of how much SMBs in emerging market economies want and need additional financial services options. We're excited to help support Tribal as they serve even more small business owners, improve financial inclusion, and drive economic growth across Latin America and beyond.”