Addi closes $86M Series D led by Citius and BTG Pactual
Colombian buy-now-pay-later fintech Addi has closed an $86 million Series D funding round led by Citius and co-led by BTG Pactual, with participation from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC and returning investor Monashees. The round marks BTG Pactual's first growth capital investment in Colombian technology and the first deployment from its partners' growth pool in three years, according to Addi CEO Santiago Suárez.
Citius, an Addi shareholder, approached the company to expand its stake and will join Addi's board. Suárez characterized the raise as opportunistic rather than necessary, given the company's profitability and growth trajectory. He expects this to be the last funding round for some time.
Founded in 2018 by Santiago Suárez, Daniel Vallejo, and Elmer Ortega, Addi now serves 5.5 million customers and partners with 76,000 merchants across 75,000 points of sale in 1,034 municipalities. The company reported net profit after taxes in 2025 and pre-tax profit in the first quarter of 2026, marking its eighth consecutive profitable quarter.
Addi will deploy the capital to accelerate customer acquisition through marketing and to invest in technology and artificial intelligence. Credit operations will continue to be funded through debt facilities.
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Why Addi's AI-first scaling strategy signals urgent fintech talent demand
Addi's funding announcement reveals a workforce strategy with significant implications for fintech recruitment in Latin America. The company plans to maintain its current headcount of approximately 490 employees while expecting to more than double both transaction volumes and revenue. Between 2023 and late 2025, Addi scaled revenues 17-fold while personnel costs grew only twofold.
AI implementation drove this productivity gain. Suárez stated that AI has significantly improved engineering productivity, allowing the company to scale faster without increasing headcount. The $86 million raised would have required $200 million to $300 million three years ago to achieve equivalent impact, given AI's multiplier effect on engineering and product teams.
Colombian fintechs competing for market share will need to prioritize AI engineering talent capable of building productivity-enhancing tools. Companies that implement similar AI-driven efficiency gains will have a structural cost advantage in a market where Addi expects to deploy 11 trillion Colombian pesos in credit this year, more than double the 5.2 trillion pesos placed in 2025.
For employers, Addi's approach suggests compensation strategies must shift toward retaining high-impact engineering and AI specialists who deliver outsized productivity returns. The company's ability to maintain profitability while scaling aggressively, with a 90-day delinquency rate of 1.1 percent compared to the Colombian banking system's 3.9 percent, demonstrates the operational advantages of AI-enhanced risk modeling and underwriting.
Colombian fintech hiring acceleration as Addi invests in engineering and AI
Addi's capital deployment plans point to intensified competition for specialized technical talent in Colombia. The company will direct Series D proceeds toward technology development and its artificial intelligence roadmap while holding headcount flat. This suggests the fintech will compete for senior engineers, machine learning specialists, and AI product managers who can deliver disproportionate value.
Recent regulatory approval to operate as a financing company will require compliance, risk, and product expertise. An alliance with Credibanco extending Addi's acceptance to point-of-sale terminals nationwide will demand integration and merchant operations capabilities.
For organizations seeking to hire in Colombia, Addi's trajectory illustrates the premium placed on engineering efficiency. The company has raised more than $140 million in equity and secured over $680 million in debt commitments from institutions including Goldman Sachs, BBVA, Citigroup, and JPMorgan. In April 2026, it closed a $150 million structured warehouse facility from JPMorgan and Fasanara Capital, the first such financing JPMorgan has structured for a Colombian company in more than five decades.
Suárez indicated the company has no immediate timeline for an initial public offering, noting that investors operate with 10-, 15-, and 20-year liquidity horizons. The focus remains on growth, monetization, customer service, and eventual international expansion. This long-term orientation suggests Addi will continue building technical capabilities and competing for engineering talent in Colombia's fintech sector for years to come, with AI productivity as the central lever for sustainable scaling.