Latitud Podcast

#52 - Pioneering open banking in LatAm: Benjamin Gleason, Guiabolso

• Latitud • Season 2 • Episode 52

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0:00 | 56:59

Nine years ago, the terms fintech and open banking barely even existed in Latin America.

But Benjamin Gleason was already working on building Guiabolso, a personal finance platform that helped improve the lives of millions of Brazilians and transform the country's financial landscape.

The early days back in 2012 were rough, but Ben says product-market fit became clear when the app ranked higher than Tinder in the list of most downloaded apps in Brazil. Fast forward to today and Guiabolso has proven to be a great success story, having been acquired by financial marketplace PicPay just two weeks ago.


In this episode, Ben shares:

  • The struggles faced in the early days
  • Why and how they pivoted very close to launch day
  • Challenges overcoming regulatory barriers
  • And details behind the sale of Guiabolso to PicPay

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Building good sh*t in Latin America?