Kanastra’s tech solution simplifies debt facilities for originators and investors by bringing together and automating services needed to set up, run and invest in debt facilities

Brazil-based Kanastra, a capital markets infrastructure fintech, has announced a $13m seed round investment.  

The fresh funding will be used to further scale its technology and pursue its goal of consolidating all the services required to operate private credit funds and securitisations on a single platform.  

The round was co-led by Valor Capital and Quona Capital, alongside QED Investors, Actyus, Collaborative, Crestone, Grão, Endeavor, Clocktower, Latitud and Norte. Other Latin American companies also participated. 

Founded in 2022, Kanastra’s tech solution simplifies debt facilities for originators and investors by bringing together and automating services needed to set up, run and invest in debt facilities, such as, fund administration and debt issuance.  

Kanastra was founded by Gustavo Mapeli, formerly of SoftBank and Boston Consulting Group, and Manuel Netto, formerly of ZX Ventures, after they grew frustrated trying to find suitable service providers and infrastructure for their private investment asset facilities while leading Kardinal, an asset management firm in Brazil.  

Mapeli said: “We encountered all sorts of issues in the industry, from low-quality service with poor communication to non-existent technology, which results in daily errors and limited visibility into fund data.  

“In addition, setting up a debt facility in Brazil involves seeking various mandatory service providers—such as the fund administrator, the custodian, the bookkeeper—in a process that generally takes months.”   

Jonathan Whittle, co-founder and managing partner at Quona Capital, believes the fintech can solve these issues. He said: “This is an enormous market with very real pain points, and we believe that Kanastra has the right approach to address this opportunity.” 

There is huge potential as Brazil’s private asset market has grown 12-fold over the past 12 years, the company notes. “The market has reached critical mass and is poised to continue its robust growth for many years to come,” Netto predicts.  

Commenting on its investment, Carlos Costa, a partner at Valor Capital, said: “We are genuinely impressed with their capacity to deliver in terms of technology, product and growth.” 

Image: Kanstra  

Josh Poyser
Josh Poyser is an editor at FinTech Intel. He has written about fintech for several years and appeared at FinTech Connect 2023 on the 'Unlocking Success: The Art of Fintech PR' panel.