Inter&Co Acquires YellowFi to Add Real Estate Investing to Ecosystem
Inter&Co has acquired YellowFi to expand the ecosystem of products it offers in the United States.
The transaction adds YellowFi’s mortgage originator and fund manager to Inter Group’s super app that provides financial and digital commerce services in Brazil and the U.S., Inter&Co said in a Tuesday (Feb. 7) press release.
“This bolt-on transaction illustrates Inter’s approach to inorganic growth and the expansion of products offered to our growing base of clients,” Inter&Co CEO João Vitor Menin said in the release. “We are adding complementary capabilities that are capital-light and that can be easily plugged into our ecosystem, as well as acquiring talent and product expertise.”
With YellowFi, real estate investing is made more accessible. YellowFi’s managed fund, Brickell Bay Mortgage Opportunity Fund LP, invests in U.S. residential mortgage loans and has done so since 2018, according to the press release.
YellowFi Partner Cassio Segura, a former CEO of Banco de Brasil Americas (BB Americas), has joined Inter’s executive team and will oversee the business, the release said.
“YellowFi helps accelerate Inter’s goal of expanding the suite of solutions offered to clients that want to save, transact and invest in the United States by enabling them to invest in the U.S. real estate sector through YellowFi’s managed fund,” Inter&Co said in the release.
Ideally, the super app should be an agnostic platform that offers something for everyone, young and old, regardless of income or age, Menin told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster in an interview posted in June.
Along the way, the super app builds both banking services for the broader base of customers and more specialized offerings that may appeal to higher net-worth individuals, Menin said at the time.
“Down the road, you’re going to say [of the super app], ‘I am going to use Inter shopping, and later I’m going to insure my card … and later on, use the data and cellphone plan … and then invest across the investment platform,’” Menin said.
PYMNTS research has found that 96 million people in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany are drawn to the idea of a super app through which they can conduct their online activities.
The generations that grew up on smartphones are especially interested in a super app, according to “Super Apps for the Super Connected,” a PYMNTS and PayPal collaboration.