Popular stock trading app Webull has acquired Mexican investment platform Flink, giving it entry into the Mexican market.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Although Webull has roots in China, it is based in the United States and competes with Robinhood in the country as a low-fee online trading platform that also offers cash management. It recently moved its global headquarters from New York to St. Petersburg, Florida.
Founded in 2017, headquartered in Mexico City Flink has raised $70 million in funding, including a $57 million Series B announced in August 2021. Backers include Accel, Lightspeed Venture Partners, ALLVP, Clocktower, and Mantis Venture Capital (founded by the Chainsmokers). The startup gives Mexican consumers a way to invest in fractional shares of US-listed companies without fees.
As part of the transaction, Webull is also picking up Mexican brokerage Vifaru Casa de Bolsa, which Flink has agreed to buy in May 2022.
At the time of Flink’s latest raise, CEO and co-founder Sergio Jiménez Amozurrutia told TechCrunch that he felt it was unfair that in his country of more than 120 million people, only one tiny fraction of the population was able to invest in the capital markets.
Flink launched its app in 2018 with a wallet service, a digital and physical global debit card backed by Mastercard, and in 2020 began offering the ability to buy and sell fractional shares from 30 pesos, commission-free, for NYSE-listed stocks . As of August 2021, it had 1.6 million users. It is not known how many he has today.
In a written statement, Ruben Guerrero, Webull’s head of Latin America, described the Mexican market as one with “a young and vibrant population that has strong and untapped demand for technology-based wealth creation solutions.”
He added: “We believe Flink’s early success is a testament to this demand and that Webull’s approach to using technology to provide low-cost access to global markets for investors in all economies is a perfect fit for Mexico. We look forward to building on Flink’s success by offering its clients a broader set of investment products, user-friendly technology and world-class support.”
Flink clients will continue to access US equity trading through the Flink platform. In the coming months, Webull plans to integrate its own technology into the platform and launch local Mexican investment and cash management products.
The Webull trading platform was launched in the United States in 2018 through an affiliate of Webull that is an SEC-registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA. Today, it has over 8 million open accounts worldwide. With the addition of Mexico, Webull now operates in nine markets, including the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Japan and the UK
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