BTG and Capitânia Back CashU with US$22.5 Million to Expand SME Credit Through AI

CashU, a B2B lending startup focused on improving access to credit for small and medium-sized enterprises, has secured USD US$22.5 million (R$120 million) for its Credit Rights Investment Fund (FIDC), strengthening its position in the Brazilian fintech ecosystem.

CashU secures new investment for its FIDC

The USD US$22.5 million (R$120 million) round marked the entry of BTG Asset Management and Capitânia Investimentos as new investors in CashU’s FIDC. Itaú BBA and Credit Saison, which had participated in the previous R$100 million issuance, also returned to the fund.

The FIDC is CashU’s main credit origination vehicle and, even before the new capital injection, had already reached approximately R$500 million in annualized credit granted to SMEs.

Intra-chain credit analysis as a competitive advantage

CashU differentiates itself through its intra-chain credit analysis model, which evaluates SME risk based on their behavior within B2B supply chains rather than relying solely on traditional financial statements.

In practice, the fintech grants credit at the moment of purchase, using data such as transaction recurrence, volume, product mix, and supplier relationship history to dynamically define credit limits, terms, and interest rates, all supported by artificial intelligence.

“We were able to grow the portfolio while maintaining very robust performance metrics, which shows that combining intra-chain data with proprietary credit models allows for scaling without sacrificing quality,” said Thiago Saldanha, CEO and co-founder of CashU, in an interview with NeoFeed.

From academic research to scalable credit infrastructure

Saldanha explains that CashU was born from his experience with traditional credit operations and his search for a more inclusive credit model for SMEs, which were still largely dependent on banks.

The company was founded in 2019, when he met Yuri Fonseca during an MBA program at Columbia University. Fonseca, who holds PhDs from Columbia and Stanford, leads CashU’s Data Science area and designed the company’s credit origination model.

“The whole issue was built on the premise that if we brought machine learning to the data within the supply chain, we could deliver performance ten times better than the market average,” said Fonseca. “Our advantage lies in understanding how the behavior of SMEs changes over time and in relation to their peers within the same chain.”

FIDC as a bridge to capital markets

According to Saldanha, scaling the FIDC was never CashU’s final objective. The company initially sold credit intelligence, but soon realized it needed to prove its effectiveness using real capital, historical performance, and regulated structures.

“It was necessary to demonstrate, with real money and transparency, that our credit intelligence works in a regulated environment and at scale,” said the CEO. “The FIDC is an instrument to generate historical data, prove the thesis, and pave the way for larger partnerships, where our credit intelligence can be used in dedicated structures.”

Returning to the original vision: empowering large B2B players

CashU’s original goal, when it raised its first investment in 2021, was to turn large companies into fintech credit providers for their own B2B supply chains. While this vision initially remained on paper, the growing scale of the FIDC has now positioned the company to accelerate this strategy.

According to Fonseca, the current FIDC, now receiving an additional R$120 million, served as a “red carpet” for major players to understand the product.

“We want to grow much more in proprietary structures that meet the specific needs of each retailer, bank, or large player involved in this intra-chain market,” he said.

In these structures, CashU acts as the operator of the FIDC, responsible for credit analysis and decision-making, while a large corporate partner serves as the anchor investor.

Customized credit vehicles and risk-sharing

CashU also plans to assume part of the credit risk using capital from its investors.

“We can structure the vehicle for this anchor investor and bring in capital from our investors who already invest in our main FIDC, or even provide our financial expertise to an already structured vehicle,” said Saldanha.

These customized structures are not yet operational but are expected to begin in the coming months. According to the CEO, several partnerships are already under development.