Avenia

Last week I had the absolute privilege to guest lecture at Harvard Business School, in DJ DiDonna Global Venturing class, alongside Alexandre Lazarow (one of our first investors). We talked about stablecoins, building in emerging markets, and “camel startups” — companies built to prioritize cash flow from day one. What stuck with me wasn’t the content, but the questions. A lot of them came down to: how do you actually build when things aren’t ideal? Because outside of Silicon Valley, they rarely are. A few reflections from building Avenia: - Profitability changes how you make decisions (and what you say no to). - In regulated markets, discipline compounds into a real moat. - The best signal is still real usage — not narratives, not hype. We didn’t set out to build a “camel.” We set out to build something that wouldn’t die — and then earn the right to grow. Everything else followed from that. Huge thanks to DJ and Alex for having us — and to the students for the questions (much better than anything we had prepared!)

Last day at this address. Avenia stumbles. Learns. Grows. Like compound interest — slowly, then all at once. 3rd office. 30 people. 1 ambition: to be bigger than Nubank. Clients & prospects — new house, even bigger hunger. Can't wait to have you over s2

Launching financial products is becoming easier and easier, and unlocking global money movement efficiency is the stepping stone for that. If you need BRL to other currencies rails, we're here to help.

‘SWIFT KILLER’. A fintech que emite a stablecoin BRLA reforça seu caixa para cumprir as novas exigências regulatórias do BC e se consolidar como uma plataforma de banking 2.0 para estrangeiros com negócios na América Latina. Leia no #BrazilJournal: https://lnkd.in/dPgBYrVg

🚀 Excited to share why we at Quona Capital are leading the Series A of Avenia! We believe stablecoins are becoming a core global financial rail, and that the next decade of financial infrastructure will be built on programmable, always-on, and globally interoperable money movement. Avenia is helping make that future real. The platform is building institutional-grade, compliant stablecoin infrastructure that enables: 🌍 Global accounts (BRL, USD, EUR) ⚡ Near-instant cross-border payments 🧩 API-driven distribution for PSPs, fintechs, banks, and enterprises 🏦 Locally denominated stablecoins, including BRLA, now a category leader 🧠 A multi-product, programmable finance stack designed to compose and scale new financial products on top of stablecoin rails As regulation tightens and volumes concentrate, we believe a small number of trusted infrastructure providers will emerge as systemically important players. Avenia is already operating at that bar, with 7× revenue growth YoY in 2025 and positive cash flow. By lowering the cost, speed, and operational barriers to cross-border payments, Avenia’s infrastructure also enables fintechs and platforms to reach smaller businesses and consumers who have historically been poorly served by legacy systems. FX is just the entry point. Avenia is laying the foundation for a broader programmable finance stack, spanning savings, merchant acquiring, card issuing, credit infrastructure, and more. A critical part of this vision is tokenized local currencies. As tokenization expands across real-world assets, settlement must also move on-chain. Following the success of USD-denominated stablecoins, we believe other currencies will play a central role. BRLA, Avenia’s BRL-denominated stablecoin, has already achieved leading market share and is becoming core infrastructure for on-chain finance in Brazil. What ultimately convinced us wasn’t just the vision, but the execution: best-in-class technology, regulatory rigor, deep operational resilience, and an infrastructure-first mindset that treats reliability, controls, and edge cases as the product, exactly what regulated money movement demands at scale. We’re excited to partner with the Avenia team as they build what we believe can become foundational infrastructure for cross-border finance in LatAm and beyond. 👉 Full “Why We Invested”: https://lnkd.in/gdRPCRCf Michel Zaidler Jonathan Whittle Monica Brand Engel ganesh rengaswamy Fernanda Rezende Alejandro Isaac Safdie Rafa de la Guia Matheus Moura Leandro Noel Luiz Castello Branco Hector Fardin Lucas Giorgio

The future of money is happening now! We are thrilled to announce that Avenia has raised $17M in Series A funding, co-led by Quona Capital and big_bets. Fair warning: this might be the longest thank-you note you'll see today. But when this many smart people trust you with their capital, mindshare and reputation, you owe them at least a thank you. So here goes: To our seed investors who doubled down on us: alexandre mello, luiz guilherme manzano, bruno betenson, and the big_bets team Alexandre Lazarow and the Fluent Ventures team To our new partners joining this journey: Michel Zaidler, Jonathan Whittle, Alejandro Isaac Safdie, and the Quona team Gabriel Alves, Romero Rodrigues, Victor Toledo Soares Cintra, and the Headline team Harrison Emmett-Lee and the Tomorrow Capital team Vinícius F. and the Endeavor team Henry Woram and the Palm Drive Capital team Antonio Echavarria, Daniel Bertoli, and the Kazea Capital team Thiago Soares Zaidan Maluf, Alexander Guimarães, and the Patria Investments team And all the angel investors who believed in our vision A special thank you to Tatiana Guazzelli, Vanessa Jacob Heck, Cristina Sardenberg da Rocha Azevedo, and the Pinheiro Neto Advogados team – our long-standing partners who have been with us since day one. We're also deeply grateful to Guilherme Potenza at Bronstein, Zilberberg, Chueiri & Potenza Advogados, and Guilherme Stuart and João Lucas Abreu Scanapieco at RGS Partners for their invaluable support throughout this round. This funding will fuel our expansion to new countries and accelerate the development of new products that make blockchain-based finance as simple and cost-effective as they should be. The future of money is here. Let's build it together.

Gold-backed crypto isn’t about replacing Bitcoin. It’s about redefining trust in digital assets. In a recent Valor Econômico piece I contributed to, the message is clear: tokenized gold sits at the intersection of tradition and innovation. Tokenized gold brings liquidity, access and programmability to one of the most trusted stores of value in history. At Avenia, we see this as part of a broader shift: real-world assets moving on-chain. Link in the comments.

Stablecoins are no longer an experiment — they’re becoming core payment infrastructure. In my latest article for EXAME, I share perspectives from building Avenia on how stablecoins are reshaping global payments and what to expect by 2026. Link in the comments #Stablecoins #Payments #Fintech #FutureOfMoney

Most companies wait for regulation. Avenia steps into the room. Today, our COO — Leandro Noel, Avenia’s law-engineer — is live at the Banco Central do Brasil, joining the discussion on the new Regulatory Minimum Capital rules (Joint Resolution 14 + BCB 517) that will redefine the future of PSAVs. While others wait for rules to “drop,” we’re inside the room — understanding, anticipating, and helping shape what comes next. Backed by our long-standing partnership with Pinheiro Neto Advogados. Rebuilding Latin America’s financial infrastructure doesn’t happen on Twitter. It happens in the regulatory trenches. Seamless. Stable. Compliant. That’s Avenia.

AVENIA CONTRATA COMPLIANCE 🚀 A Avenia está construindo a próxima geração da infraestrutura financeira da América Latina, unindo câmbio, cripto e pagamentos. Procuramos alguém de Compliance que queira crescer rápido e ter impacto real na operação. 📌 Highlights da vaga: • Atuação em KYC/KYB, AML/CFT e due diligence • Participação em políticas, controles e auditorias • Contato direto com operação, produto e tecnologia • Ambiente de fintech global, cross-border e blockchain ⭐ Diferenciais: • Inglês avançado • Experiência prévia em compliance/KYC/AML • Familiaridade com Circular 3.978, Lei 9.613/98, FATF/GAFI e PSAVs (Lei 14.478/22) 🏢 Modelo: Híbrido — São Paulo 🩺 Benefício: Plano de saúde Amil Premium 👉 Descrição completa e inscrição: https://lnkd.in/d6beb_Y2