Mario Padilla on Fintech Between Iberia and LatAm

Lucas first met Mario at South Summit in Madrid, where the conversation quickly moved to financial services across Spain, Latin America, and the US.

Mario is an Investment Associate at Actyus, an alternative investment and venture capital manager backed by Andbank. At Actyus, he invests in fintech, insurtech and proptech companies from late seed to Series F, with a focus on Europe, Latin America and the US. The portfolio includes companies such as Creditas, Gringo, Spotahome, Kanastra, Simetrik, Vixtra, J&T, Urbanitae and others. 

What makes Mario’s perspective interesting is the way he looks at financial services across markets that are connected, but not the same. In Europe, many fintech opportunities are about optimisation: better interfaces, lower fees, faster processes. In Latin America, the starting point is often more fundamental. Access to credit, insurance, SME finance, payments, and moving money are not just convenience problems. In many cases, they are structural pain points.

That changes what matters in a company. The product still matters, but distribution, monetisation, trust, and the founder’s understanding of the problem become much harder to separate from the opportunity itself. Where the pain is deeper, the company has less room to be superficial. 

Spain sits in the middle of that conversation. It is a very banked and institutional market, but it also has cultural, commercial and financial links to Latin America that most of Europe does not. Madrid has become more active as a startup and investor hub, while Miami continues to play a central role between the US and LatAm. The result is a corridor where capital, founders, and financial services ideas increasingly move across regions.

We sat down to talk about what LatAm teaches Europe about fintech, why Spain is becoming more relevant as a bridge between markets, what makes founders credible in regulated categories, and where AI could change the role of intermediaries in lending, insurance and financial infrastructure.

Q&A

1.⁠ ⁠You invest across Europe, Latin America, and the US. What does LatAm teach you about financial services that European investors sometimes overlook?

LatAm teaches you that fintech is not always about making things more convenient. Sometimes it is about making things possible in the first place.

In Europe, most opportunities are optimisation. Better UX, lower fees, faster processes. In LatAm, the starting point is often more basic. Access to credit, payments that actually work, insurance that reaches people, SME finance, or just moving money without it being painful. 

That changes how you look at companies. You care less about how nice the product is and more about distribution, monetisation and whether the founder really understands the problem.

The takeaway is simple. Where pain is deeper, the opportunity is bigger. LatAm is not just a growth market, it is a place where the problems are more real.

2.⁠ ⁠Spain often sits between Europe and Latin America culturally, commercially, and financially. Does that create an advantage when looking at fintech opportunities?

It does, but not for the obvious reasons.

I was speaking recently with a Chilean investor about this, and we ended up reflecting on how many external cultures have influenced Latin America over time. But the Spanish one is still the one that really stayed. The way business is done, relationships, trust, and how decisions are made.

That matters more than language. 

Spain is a very banked, institutional market, with strong financial players. At the same time, culturally and commercially, it understands LatAm in a way most of Europe does not.

You see it clearly in Madrid. Over the last few years, it has grown a lot as a hub. There are more founders, more investors, more activity. And the interesting part is that it does not sit in isolation. It connects naturally with Miami, which plays the US–LatAm role. So you start to see a triangle forming. Madrid connects Europe and LatAm, Miami connects the US and LatAm, and there is an increasing flow between Madrid and Miami as well.

That makes the whole corridor more relevant.

Spain is not just a bridge. It is becoming a place where both sides actually meet and operate. The corridor already exists. The opportunity is to make much more use of it.

3.⁠ ⁠Beyond the business plan, what tells you the most about a founder?

Normally you look at many things. Team, product, market. 

But the common denominator that rarely fails is opportunity cost.

If someone leaves a very good job, a clear career path, something that was already working, to start from zero, that tells you a lot. They are making a real bet.

And that aligns incentives in a very natural way. You want large outcomes. They need large outcomes because they have actually given something up to be there.

That tends to translate into focus. Less optionality, more execution. More urgency to make things work. 

It does not guarantee success, but it is one of the cleanest signals you can get.

4.⁠ ⁠A lot of fintech narratives have moved away from consumer neobanks. Where are you seeing the next set of financial services opportunities?

The next wave is less about apps and more about where the product lives.

Financial services are starting to separate from the interface. It does not have to be a bank app. It can sit inside WhatsApp, inside a workflow, inside whatever tool the user already uses. 

If you combine that with AI, the interaction changes. Instead of browsing products, you just ask for things. A loan, a policy, a payment, and it gets handled.

That starts to look less like a marketplace and more like agents talking to agents in the background. Asking, comparing, and executing, often directly with providers.

This is especially interesting in lending and insurance, where a lot of value today sits in intermediation.

5.⁠ ⁠What makes a founder credible in categories like credit, insurance, real estate, or financial infrastructure?

You look for a mix of understanding and judgement.

Understanding of the category helps. Knowing how risk works, how products are priced, and how distribution happens. But that alone is not enough.

What matters more is how the founder thinks. How decisions are made. Whether they move fast but still control downside. Whether they understand that in financial services, things can break quickly if you get them wrong.

The good ones tend to be ambitious, but also quite grounded. They know they are not just building software.

You do not need everything figured out early on, but you do want to see that they understand what they are getting into.

6.⁠ ⁠When does being regulated become a moat, and when does it become a trap?

Regulation is a moat when it reinforces something that is already working.

It creates trust, access, and barriers to entry. That is very valuable in categories like credit, insurance, or payments.

But it becomes a trap when it is the main story.

Licences take time, cost money, and add complexity. If the product is not working or there is no clear distribution, regulation does not fix that.

So the question is simple. Is regulation strengthening the business, or are you using it as a substitute for one?

7.⁠ ⁠If we sit down again in a year, what would you want to have changed your mind on about fintech across Iberia and LatAm?

This one depends on the week.

Some weeks I think AI is going to reshape a big part of financial services quite fast. Other weeks I am more sceptical. This week, I am probably on the more optimistic side.

What I would like to see is real changes in business models, especially around intermediation.

Today, in areas like insurance or lending, a lot of value sits in being the middle layer. It is easy to imagine that changing. Instead of users navigating products, you could have agents interacting directly. Requesting a mortgage, comparing policies, and executing with providers in the background.

Less visible, less manual, more embedded.

If that happens, pure intermediaries could struggle, and companies that control infrastructure, data, or licences could become stronger.

So what I would look for is real use cases. Not demos, not hype. Products where AI actually changes how these services are accessed and delivered, and improves the economics in a meaningful way.

That is where it gets interesting.