Fintech UY3 seeks R$ 3 billion to accelerate its growth in the private payroll loan market. – NeoFeed

Data released by the Central Bank showed that private payroll-deducted loans reached a balance of R$ 101.6 billion in March, representing an annual growth of 142.4% in this type of loan.

This surge was driven by the Worker’s Credit program, launched by the federal government exactly one year prior. This program is also influencing the strategies of UY3, a credit-as-a-service fintech company currently raising R$3 billion to finance operations along these lines.

“The more diversified our operations, the better, but the Workers’ Credit program is where we are putting the most effort,” Querandy Acosta, co-founder and director of UY3, tells NeoFeed . “I believe that these R$ 3 billion will be taken up quickly, in about six months.”

In this step, the company’s goal is to end 2026 with a monthly origination level of R$ 1 billion per month in this area. Currently, the company accounts for a volume of approximately R$ 300 million per month in these operations.

To keep this wheel turning – and accelerating – the R$3 billion fundraising is being done through Investment Funds in Credit Rights ( FIDCs ), with different partners. Among them is XP, which structured two issuances of R$400 million, already completed.

As part of its model, in all these vehicles, UY3, which provides the credit infrastructure and funding for these operations to fintechs, financial institutions, retailers, and segments such as dealership networks and franchises, holds the junior shares of the FIDCs (Investment Funds in Credit Rights).

“We connect these partners with Faria Lima and take the risk along with them,” says Acosta. “Because many times these companies don’t have the financial resources or access to the capital market.”

At the forefront of the offering, central to these issuances, he emphasizes that the Worker’s Credit program still needs adjustments, as is typical of initiatives of this scale. This initially led many banks to put the brakes on this offering.

“But as these institutions test and learn, they open the tap wider. And when they feel comfortable, they go all in,” says Acosta. “I think that, in six months, this will be crazy and this competition will be beneficial, because it will encourage a drop in rates.”

Operating within the program since its inception, UY3 entered the market in 2021, when Acosta and his brothers Tabaré and Caracé – the trio has Uruguayan ancestry, hence the startup’s name – left Grupo Plata, the family company that operated as a securitization firm, to create the fintech focused on the clan’s DNA in credit.

“Many of our competitors went into Banking as a Service, but we understood that this was a commodity,” says Acosta. “BaaS is like a bicycle; it doesn’t have as much technology, but it runs well. Credit as a Service, on the other hand, is like a motorcycle, with more value, but it needs fuel – and funding – to run.”

Speaking of funding , so far UY3 has raised R$ 50 million from NVA Capital , a management firm created by Marcelo Maisonnave, Pedro Englert, Eduardo Glitz and Victor Knewitz, former partners at XP, and from Vectis Partners . In addition, it has raised another R$ 200 million from Vinci Compass funds.

Using these resources, the startup has consolidated a portfolio that, in addition to Employee Credit, operates in modalities such as FGTS (Brazilian employee severance fund) advance payments, public sector payroll loans, buy now pay later , and car equity.

With this package, the company closed 2025 with more than R$ 6 billion processed on its platform. For 2026, the projection is to exceed the volume of R$ 11 billion.

As part of this journey, Acosta says that UY3 already has a defined and active strategy to debut in the M&A arena. They are targeting credit fintechs operating in ecosystems such as vehicles and healthcare. And the appetite, by all indications, is considerable.

“The time has come to make this inorganic move,” he says. “Today, we already have one hundred companies mapped out. And, from now on, these agreements will start popping up.”