^{Image of Kosuke Mori, CEO of Saison International}

Japanese financial services group Credit Saison has entered Brazil and Mexico with $200m to finance Latin American startups.

The firm set aside $100m each for newly-formed subsidiaries Credit Saison Brazil and Credit Saison Mexico, which will provide equity and debt financing for entrepreneurs, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises. Equity investments will be made either directly through Saison Capital or local VC funds.

Saison Capital, the corporate venture capital arm of Credit Saison formed in 2019, invests up to $30m per year in pre-seed to series B-stage companies globally, initially emphasising Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and India. Its targets include financial, ecommerce and Web3 technology developers.

Credit Saison Brazil’s São Paulo office includes country manager Kenichi Ito, senior vice president and investment lead Alvaro Landi and vice president Ziheng Li. Operations in Mexico are led by country manager Carlos Rius and supported by VP Fernando González and investments VP Félix Sánchez.

“The choice of Mexico and Brazil within the countries of the region was due to the potential of both markets and the maturity of the fintech system in each country,” said Kosuke Mori (pictured), chief executive of Saison International.

“The LatAm region holds the greatest growth potential for us as a group outside of Asia, and forms the important next chapter for us as a global group.”