In a region where investing often feels out of reach, tyba by Credicorp Capital makes it accessible for Colombians, Peruvians, and Chileans, no matter their income or experience level. Since their founding in 2019, tyba has significantly expanded its product offerings, driving rapid growth across their markets in Latin America (LATAM). Recently, we had the opportunity to speak with tyba’s CEO, Felipe García, about the company’s origins, growth plans, and its partnership with Alpaca.
tyba’s Vision and Growth
Founded in Colombia by Deputy CEO, Valdemaro Mendoza, tyba is a digital investment app that provides an approachable, user-friendly platform to simplify investing in international securities. With a goal to “democratize investing opportunities”, tyba is empowering Colombians to achieve their financial goals by investing in US markets.
This approach is groundbreaking in the largely unpenetrated Colombian market where, according to García, “less than 2% of the population invest in equities.” It also addresses the concerns of those who may have felt intimidated by traditional brokerages, which feeds into the core values of tyba: that investing is a right for everyone and should not be limited by their passport.
Through their parent company, Credicorp Capital, tyba provides the security and reassurance of a local presence combined with the resources and support of an enterprise operation, all while providing access to global investment opportunities. Leveraging Credicorp Capital’s licenses and regulatory protocols, tyba has quickly digitized processes for mutual funds, foreign exchange (FX), voluntary pension, stocks, and fixed income. tyba has also developed tools like tyba Pocket, allowing LATAM investors to invest easily and protect against inflation.
Increasing Adoption Through Education and Experience
While being strictly regulated, tyba has taken a proactive approach to increasing adoption among the local markets. According to García, some of the ways the fintech is addressing these issues include:
- Educational Resources: While restricted in providing specific investment advice, they offer dedicated materials through educatyba and its social media to help clients learn about investing and the importance of asset diversification.
- Mobile-First Experiences: Recognizing the prevalence of mobile usage in Latin America, tyba offers a seamless mobile investing experience through its app.
- Trust and Transparency: Beyond the regulatory protection, tyba emphasizes building trust with clients. This is crucial in a market where investors may be unsure of how much money to allocate to US markets versus keeping it in local institutions. They also aim for transparency in fees and processes, making it clear how their platform works and how client money is handled.
- Financial Inclusion: tyba is actively working to break down barriers for global investment access and continually encouraging more people to become involved. This has social and economic implications – both empowering individuals and contributing to the overall development of the Latin American market.
Through these key customer offerings, tyba is helping to address the low rates of financial literacy and foreign investing in LATAM. As a result, individuals now have access to affordable investment resources to build and grow their personal wealth.
Working with Alpaca: Removing Barriers and Growing AUM
Alpaca's Broker API has positioned tyba to be at the forefront of investment innovation in Latin America, offering a modern, end-to-end API platform. Through this partnership, tyba serves as a bridge between Latin American investors and the global markets, offering a “white” regulatory-compliant channel for investing in US equities. This now significantly reduces the cost of investing in US equities– enabling clients to start with as little as $1 USD, removing the significant fees typically associated with traditional SWIFT transfers.
In fact, in less than one year, over 80,000 orders have been processed through tyba, demonstrating the appetite from Latin American investors who are eager to buy US securities. With this single dollar mentality, they are able to buy fractional shares, making even high-priced stocks accessible.
Powered by Alpaca’s Broker API, tyba has provided the ability for over 10,000 Colombians and Peruvians to invest and grow their money. It even became the fastest product on the platform to reach $1 million USD in AUM.
As of Q4 2024, García says the product has reached $7 million in AUM, showing signs of accelerated growth as more traders onboard with increased confidence to invest in US securities. Strong user engagement is also evident, with many clients logging in repeatedly and 66% of application logins coming from clients using the trading feature. As tyba continues to create new offerings for both retail and high-value clients, their growth potential in the region is significant.
Through partnering with Alpaca, tyba has begun to serve a broader segment of the population, including those previously excluded from traditional investment channels due to high minimums and fees. Alpaca has been able to help tyba scale its operations effectively, so they can handle growing their client base and associated transactions with ease.
García also mentioned how they’re developing a hybrid customer service model that combines digital access with personalized advice, recognizing the importance of human interaction for some investors, especially those with larger portfolios.
Results Today and Future Goals
tyba’s mission to democratize investing across LATAM is clearly in full swing. Its partnership with Alpaca showcases how innovative firms can rapidly launch products that transform financial services and processes, making it easier than ever to invest in US securities.
As tyba expands its market share, García emphasizes that their focus remains on digitalizing products tailored to their local markets while also driving new product expansion.
About Alpaca
Alpaca is a clearing/custody broker-dealer and developer-first API brokerage platform that’s raised over $170m in funding. Alpaca offers stock trading, real-time market data, and end-to-end brokerage infrastructure through modern APIs. Alpaca is backed by top investors in the industry globally, including Portage Ventures, Spark Capital, Tribe Capital, Social Leverage, Horizons Ventures, Unbound, SBI Group, Eldridge, Positive Sum, Elefund, and Y Combinator. Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
See How We Can Partner Together
Alpaca Securities LLC and Credicorp Capital LLC dba Tyba (“tyba”) are not affiliated and neither are responsible for the liabilities of the other.
The testimonials, statements, and opinions presented on the website are applicable to the specific individuals. It is important to note that individual circumstances may vary, and may not be representative of the experience of others. There are no guarantees of future performance or success. The testimonials are voluntarily provided and are not paid, nor were they provided with free products, services or any other benefit in exchange for said statements.
Fractional share trading allows a customer to buy and sell fractional share quantities and dollar amounts of certain securities. Fractional share trading presents unique risks and is subject to particular limitations that you should be aware of before engaging in such activity. See Alpaca Customer Agreement at https://alpaca.markets/disclosures for more details.
Please note that this article is for general informational purposes only and is believed to be accurate as of the posting date but may be subject to change.
All investments involve risk and the past performance of a security, or financial product does not guarantee future results or returns. There is no guarantee that any investment strategy will achieve its objectives. Keep in mind that while diversification may help spread risk, it does not assure a profit, or protect against loss. There is always the potential of losing money when you invest in securities, or other financial products. Investors should consider their investment objectives and risks carefully before investing.
Securities brokerage services are provided by Alpaca Securities LLC ("Alpaca Securities"), member FINRA/SIPC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AlpacaDB, Inc. Technology and services are offered by AlpacaDB, Inc.
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