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Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) is a technology company.
Sommos provides a white-label SaaS platform digitizing informal collaborative savings associations, like 'Juntas' or 'PasanaQ' systems. This technology equips financial institutions and retailers with tools to create and manage structured savings groups, incorporate microcredit features, and facilitate preferential interest options. The platform formalizes traditional community-based financial practices for scalability.
Co-founded by Diego Rojas Arancibia and Yara Lewensztain, Sommos originated from the insight that informal savings methods represent a powerful resource for financial inclusion. The founders recognized these systems' cultural significance, aiming to bridge traditional community practices with formal financial services. Their vision sought to leverage social capital for broader economic access.
The company serves banks and retailers engaging underserved populations through familiar, trustworthy financial products. Sommos envisions collaborative finance integrated into the mainstream, significantly expanding financial service access across Latin America. Its long-term objective is to transform financial landscapes by empowering individuals via technology honoring communal financial traditions.
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) has raised $370K across 1 funding round.
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) has raised $370K in total across 1 funding round.
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) has raised $370K in total across 1 funding round.
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ)'s investors include AngelList, Pareto Holdings, Alvin Tse, Gaurav Munjal, Kunal Shah.
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) is a fintech company founded in 2021 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, that builds a mobile app digitizing informal rotating savings groups—known as "ROSCA," "tanda," or "Pasanaku"—to connect unbanked and underbanked populations in Latin America with formal banks and retailers.[1][2][5] It serves low-income individuals who rely on informal savings (e.g., 70% in Peru build homes solely through savings, 20% join rotating groups) and partners with banks and businesses to make this "invisible" financial activity visible, enabling financial inclusion without high-interest microcredit.[1][2] The app solves financial exclusion in a region where 70% are unbanked/underbanked despite profitable banks (14% ROE), offering users financial and commercial benefits while helping institutions reach underserved markets.[2][3]
Operations began in Bolivia two years ago, expanding to Peru and Colombia, with plans for five countries this year; it has raised funding from Techstars Global and others, showing early growth momentum through strategic partnerships and user-focused strategies like focus groups.[1][2]
Sommos emerged from the founders' recognition of Latin America's reliance on informal savings amid distrust of formal finance. Co-founder and CEO Diego Rojas Arancibia drew inspiration from U.S. financing accessibility during his time there, contrasting it with regional gaps; he's pursuing an MPP/MBA.[1][4] Jhonny Ventiades Guillen, CTO, brings software engineering experience from multinational roles in India, Egypt, and Bolivia.[2] Yara Lewensztain Zelaya, COO, transitioned from employee to co-founder after three months; a Bolivian with degrees in business administration, commercial engineering, and a master's in international business from Spain, she previously co-founded a marketplace startup that raised $20K but closed during the pandemic, fueling her entrepreneurship passion.[1][2]
The idea crystallized around digitizing traditional ROSCA systems present in 77 countries, making group savings formal and bank-visible. Initially PasanaQ, it launched as the first such app in Latin America, with early traction via bank partnerships and field research.[1][5]
Sommos rides the fintech inclusion wave in Latin America, where informal finance dominates amid low banking penetration, amplified by post-pandemic digital adoption and profitable banking sectors seeking new revenue.[1][2] Timing aligns with rising demand for embedded finance and open banking, as 70% self-fund big purchases via savings—untapped data that Sommos formalizes, influencing ecosystems by onboarding millions to formal rails.[1][2] Market forces like high microcredit rates and regulatory pushes for inclusion favor it, positioning Sommos to reshape fintech from exclusionary to collaborative, potentially inspiring similar digitizations globally.[1][5]
Sommos is poised for accelerated expansion to five countries, deepening bank integrations and scaling user acquisition via its ROSCA digitization edge.[1] Trends like AI-driven credit scoring from savings data and regulatory fintech support will propel growth, evolving its influence from niche innovator to regional inclusion leader—ultimately transforming how LatAm's unbanked join the formal economy, echoing its origins in cultural finance traditions.[1][2]
Sommos (formerly PasanaQ) has raised $370K across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $370K Seed in April 2023.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 1, 2023 | $370K Seed | AngelList, Pareto Holdings, Alvin Tse, Gaurav Munjal, Kunal Shah |