A UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) study indicates that while small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America employ over 70% of the workforce, they contribute only 25% to the region's GDP. These businesses face inefficiencies in their operations, as they invest significant time and money in manual tasks, including financial processes, rather than concentrating on their primary goal of business growth.
Latin America is poised for a tech revolution. With AI technology, the region can jumpstart productivity and overcome its historical lag. This is especially true in business financial management, where outdated platforms from decades ago require extensive manual labor and lack essential insights for informed decision-making.
Enter Zumma.
Zumma is developing a CFO stack tailored for businesses by integrating tools they already use, like WhatsApp. Zumma envisions a future where business in LATAM benefits from an AI-based CFO assistant, enabling them to concentrate on their primary goal: growing their business.
Solving “Pain Points”
Zumma, launched in 2023 out of Mexico City, aims to make managing money easier for everyone. Leveraging proprietary algorithms, Zumma provides personal financial advice tailored to each business’s unique situation. The company discovered that businesses in Latin America face significant challenges in managing their finances, especially their expenses, and is dedicated to addressing these issues.
How Zumma Works?
Zumma offers a user-friendly platform designed to simplify finance management and business expense invoicing, all accessible through WhatsApp. The core feature of Zumma is “Zummi”, a financial assistant powered by artificial intelligence, which helps users manage their finances efficiently and accurately.
Zumma's platform allows users to manage their finances and automatically invoice their business expenses facilitated through WhatsApp, providing convenience and accessibility for users.
Automatic Expense Billing
Zummi handles the billing of your expenses using AI technology. Here's how it works:
- Send a Photo: Simply take a photo of your expense receipt and send it via WhatsApp to Zummi.
- Select Details: Choose the use of CFDI (Digital Tax Receipt) and the payment method you want to assign to your expense.
- Receive Invoice: Within minutes, Zummi processes the information and sends you the corresponding invoice.
This process eliminates the need for manual data entry and ensures accurate financial records.
DEMO LINK
The Inspiration Behind Zumma
Marinella, one of Zumma's co-founders, shares an inspiring journey that led to the creation of Zumma. Originally from Venezuela and raised in Florida, she studied industrial and systems engineering at the University of Florida before launching her career on Wall Street with Goldman Sachs. Marinella's experience at Goldman Sachs, particularly her involvement in starting the consumer bank Marcus, ignited her passion for making financial services accessible to the masses. Reflecting on her motivation,
I realized that even though my family was composed of mostly entrepreneurs and small business owners, they had no idea what to do with their finances. - Marinella Piñate, Co Founder of Zumma
Forming Zumma’s Founding Team
Marinella’s time in New York exposed her to the potential of digital financial platforms and inspired her to bring similar innovations to Latin America. "I saw that the ecosystem here was, let's say, 10 years behind the US, but there was a lot of opportunity for leapfrogging," Marinella explained. While in pursuit of her MBA at MIT Sloan Business School, she conducted extensive research on the financial landscape in Latin America and sought out like-minded individuals to join her mission.
Through a series of chance events, Marinella met her 1st co-founder, Daniela, another aspiring fintech entrepreneur, through primary market research interviews. "We met and we realized we have two options. We compete or we do it together. We decided to choose the latter.”
This marked the beginning of Zumma.
The founding team quickly expanded to include Fernanda, a financial influencer and advisor, and Carlos, their technical co-founder and AI engineer. Marinella recounted the challenges they faced in growing their team during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in finding a technical co-founder. Despite being at MIT, she struggled to find someone interested in developing a financial platform for Latin America. However, they ultimately succeeded, and the team's diverse skills and shared vision solidified Zumma's foundation
Founders
Daniela Lascurain, Fernanda de la Colina, Marinella Piñate, Carlos Chinchilla
Funding
2023, $500k (Pre-Seed) including Techstars, Outside VC, GG Capital and 77 - by SBXi.
Future Plans and Growth
The Zumma team sees a future where all businesses in LATAM have access to an AI based CFO assistant. Zumma aims to build the financial platform for Latin America, like Intuit is in the US. Marinella sees a huge opportunity here, especially since businesses of all sizes in the region need better financial tools.
Zumma's plan includes implementing AI for more processes, like reconciliation, accounting and bookkeeping, to help businesses run smoothly. Marinella imagines a future where Zumma helps businesses succeed by making finances easier.
We're making financial products to make people's lives better. We're doing well, and we're excited about the future. With AI and listening to our users, we're ready to help even more businesses and people. - Marinella Pinate
Market Opportunity
According to CAF, SMEs represent over 90% of existing businesses in the region. In Mexico alone, there are approximately 7 million businesses. In 2023, these businesses generated 10.3 billion invoices electronically (327 invoices per second).
Furthermore, the number of smartphone users in Mexico is projected to reach 96 million by 2025 with a 90% WhatsApp penetration among smartphone users in Mexico. This penetration facilitates the adoption of digital financial services, making Zumma's platform easily accessible to businesses (Statista).
Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
"Starting a business is very hard, harder than dealing with a bad boss. Because here, your employees, your clients, your investors—they all become your bosses. You have to be extremely careful about what you say and how you act. When things go right, everyone celebrates, but when things go wrong, it's your responsibility.
If you're going to start this journey, do it for the right reasons. Don't do it for money, fame, or respect. Do it because you're passionate about what you're doing. It's one of the most challenging, but rewarding experiences you can have. If you're not passionate, you'll give up when things get tough. Persistence is key. You have to be prepared to endure a harder life."
Marinella Piñate
