Brazil recorded a historic peak in the opening of small businesses in 2024, surpassing 4.15 million new companies registered, including individual micro-entrepreneurs (MEI), microenterprises (ME), and small businesses (EPP), according to a survey conducted by Sebrae based on data from the Federal Revenue Service.To assist financial management, these new entrepreneurs now have a free platform that uses Artificial Intelligence and WhatsApp to automate payments from clients and suppliers. Recently launched, the fintech Jota is a financial assistant that allows users to manage their daily transactions through audio messages, text, and images in an AI-based chat conversation, all via WhatsApp.
In addition to assisting small business managers, including informal workers, the developers' proposal is also to benefit individuals who have WhatsApp accounts to carry out daily transactions.
In practice, Jota enables instant payments (Pix) and boleto payments through audio, images, and text messages to one or multiple contacts, via an automatic favorites list, as well as receiving or requesting payments via PIX QR Code in just seconds, with no fees for the user. These functionalities are executed simply by conversing and asking whatever you want about your business, and entrepreneurs can receive valuable insights such as financial calculations, daily revenue reports, and contextualized recommendations based on individual needs.
Since Jota operates within WhatsApp, its tools ensure intuitive usability and eliminate the need for traditional banking apps. Opening personal and business accounts for free takes less than 3 minutes and can also be done via chat.
The platform was founded by businessman Davi Holanda, who has led projects in both pillars of financial operations: in acquiring, as a former executive at PagSeguro, where he led more than 15 products and contributed to the IPO on the NYSE; and in the banking sector, as founder and CEO of Bankly, developing a Banking as a Service (BaaS) that was acquired by Banco Votorantim in 2023.
Market opportunity
According to a survey conducted by CEAPE (Center for Support of Small Enterprises), 61% of Brazilian entrepreneurs in these profiles use notebooks to record their business income and expenses. Another 14.5% of respondents stated that they use spreadsheets for this purpose, while 9.1% said they "keep everything in their head." 7.9% responded that they do not use any of the tools mentioned in the survey, and only 7% have support from an accounting firm.
In this scenario, considering that millions of entrepreneurs and individuals do not even have time to track their financial lives in notebooks or spreadsheets, nor the means to invest in expensive software, and often do not receive adequate attention from traditional banking institutions, the revolutionary potential of Jota has generated great interest in the market.
“We see a clear opportunity to create a platform that simplifies financial management and operations for entrepreneurs, whether individuals or legal entities, and we are committed to helping them save time and money by developing solutions for daily operations, financial automation and payment journeys, increasing profitability,” shared Davi Holanda, co-founder and CEO.
The fintech also announced the completion of its $8.9 million Seed round, led by MAYA Capital, with participation from HOF Capital, BigBets, Alter Global, Bogari Capital, Norte Ventures, and angel investors such as Bebeto Nogueira, founder of Segura and Scout at a16z, Fersen and Mateus Lambranho, Mauro D’Ancona, founder of 180 Seguros, Bernardo Lustosa, partner at ClearSale, Dennis Wang, and Pedro Fiuza. The investment will support your amplification for a broader ecosystem, accelerate brand growth, and increase your customer base in Brazil.
"With this new round of investment, we are committed to strengthening our technology, growth, and marketing teams to build a brand recognized throughout Brazil, a product that truly benefits entrepreneurs and drives the expansion of the customer base. Additionally, we will initiate an essential agenda of receivables and payments, addressing a critical need of entrepreneurs — and we are just getting started," emphasizes the entrepreneur.
According to Holanda, the feedback has been extremely positive, with clients saving 10 hours of work per month by performing hundreds of transfers in a practical and efficient manner. One of them commented: "Jota changed my financial life, it's that kind of thing you didn't know you needed." Since I'm always in a rush, it makes my life much easier. I just need to send a message on WhatsApp or send an audio, and Jota executes the Pix in seconds. In one month, I saved over R$ 500 in fees.
Monica Saggioro, Co-Founder of MAYA Capital, commented: “Jota solves a critical challenge (financial mismanagement) in the multi-billion dollar SME market. This represents a huge opportunity, and Jota is perfectly positioned to seize it. The caliber, experience and vision of the team is simply inspiring and sets the company apart. Our mission to support the best technical talent building startups to unprecedented success in Latin America could not be better represented than by Jota.”
The fintech's vision is to simplify all aspects of financial management for Brazilian entrepreneurs who currently face a lot of complexity with the products and applications available on the market — and it seems that they are starting off on the right foot.
