- Business
- VEF AB (publ) (Ticker: VEFFF) is a Sweden-based investment company listed on Nasdaq Stockholm that focuses on growth-stage private fintech companies across emerging markets including Brazil, Mexico, India, Pakistan and select European markets; it takes minority stakes typically of 10-20% with board representation in the majority of its portfolio holdings. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off from VNV Global, the firm is headquartered in Stockholm with additional offices in Hamilton, Bermuda; London, United Kingdom; and Dublin, Ireland. VEF targets scalable opportunities across financial services sub-sectors such as payments including online, mobile and remittances; credit encompassing consumer, SME, secured and unsecured lending; personal finance managers and mobile wallets; investments including wealth management, roboadvisors and digital brokers; and embedded fintech like accounting SaaS, HR & payroll management and BNPL; its current portfolio of 14 companies features leading names like Creditas, Brazil's dominant digital secured lending platform offering auto equity, home equity, payroll lending, insurance and ancillary services; Konfío, Mexico's top SME digital financial services provider with working capital loans, corporate credit cards, payment acquiring and ERP SaaS; Juspay, India's premier payments orchestration platform powering over USD 450 billion annualized TPV for major merchants like Amazon and Flipkart with UPI infrastructure, tokenization and global expansion; Solfácil, a Brazilian renewable energy platform for solar financing; Rupeek, India's gold-backed digital lending leader; Abhi, a Pakistan/UAE neobank with earned wage access and SME financing; Nibo, Brazil's leading SME accounting SaaS; Finja, Pakistan's digital SME/employee lending platform; TransferGo, a Europe-focused migrant remittance service; Minu, Mexico's salary-on-demand leader; Mahaana, Pakistan's inaugural digital wealth manager; and a retained stake in BlackBuck, India's largest online trucking platform. Recent developments include the November 2024 IPO of BlackBuck on India's National Stock Exchange, where VEF partially exited 40% of its stake for USD 2 million gross proceeds while retaining a 0.5% holding now valued at USD 4.6 million; the January 2025 full exit from Gringo, a Brazilian driver super-app, sold to Sem Parar for USD 15.2 million net proceeds matching invested capital amid BRL depreciation; and the April 2025 partial exit from Juspay via its USD 60 million Series D led by Kedaara Capital, realizing USD 14.8 million gross proceeds at a 4.0x cash-on-cash return and 37% IRR on the sold portion while retaining 7.8% ownership; portfolio companies like Konfío, Solfácil, Abhi, TransferGo and Minu raised significant funding rounds in 2024, and Abhi partnered with TPL to acquire FINCA Microfinance Bank in early 2025 to expand product offerings.