Baubap

Founded in 2018 by Roberto Salcedo Nieto and Luis Antonio Villarreal Castilla, Baubap is a financial technology company operating in Mexico with a clear mission to enhance financial inclusion. The company's genesis is rooted in the founders' personal experiences and observations of the challenges small businesses and low-income individuals face in accessing traditional credit. Salcedo, who serves as CEO, brings extensive banking experience from roles at HSBC and INVEX Banco, complemented by an MBA from UNAM and a Global Leadership diploma from Cambridge. This background provided him with firsthand insight into the procedural barriers that exclude many from the formal financial system.

Baubap operates as a mobile-first micro-lending platform, providing personal loans to individuals who are often overlooked by conventional banks, such as those with no credit history or who work in the informal economy. The entire loan process is managed through its Android application, eliminating the need for physical documentation and enabling 24/7 access to financing. The company's core technology is a proprietary AI and machine learning model developed in-house since 2019. This system analyzes alternative data points from a user's mobile device to assess creditworthiness and fraud risk, allowing for instant loan decisions without consulting traditional credit bureaus.

The business generates revenue primarily through interest charged on its micro-loans. The loan amounts range from MX$500 to MX$5,000, designed to address immediate liquidity needs for a client base where about half earn less than MX$8,000 monthly. To encourage responsible financial behavior, Baubap has instituted programs like 'Va de Vuelta', which refunds a portion of the interest for timely payments, and 'Invita y Gana', a referral program that serves as a customer acquisition channel. Having disbursed over 8 million loans, the firm has achieved significant traction, underscored by a $120 million debt financing round in February 2024 to expand its credit lines. Baubap is registered with Mexico's financial services commission, CONDUSEF, and actively promotes financial education through various content initiatives.

Keywords: micro-lending, financial inclusion, fintech Mexico, AI credit scoring, personal loans, mobile lending, alternative data, unbanked, underbanked, digital banking, Latin America finance, loan application, debt financing, financial education, consumer lending, risk management, mobile payments, credit access, informal economy, emerging markets