Argentine Crypto Fintech Lemon Secures $20 Million Series B for Latin American Expansion

Executive Summary

Lemon, an Argentinian crypto fintech company, completed a $20 million Series B funding round. The investment was co-led by US funds F-Prime and ParaFi, with additional participation from a consortium of investors. This capital injection is earmarked for a significant expansion across Latin America, specifically targeting new operations in Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. The company's strategic objective is to double its existing user base from 5 million to 10 million within the next 12 months. This Series B round follows a previously successful Series A funding between 2021 and 2022, bringing the total capital raised by the company since its inception to $66 million.

The Event in Detail

The $20 million Series B funding round for Lemon saw lead investments from F-Prime and ParaFi. Notable participants included DRW Venture Capital, Endeavor Catalyst (chaired by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman), Van Eck VC (a global investment firm managing over $130 billion in assets), Persea VC (led by Germán Pugliese), Alumni Ventures, Lambda Class, and Stani Kulechov, founder of the decentralized finance protocol Aave. Founded in 2019 by Marcelo Cavazzoli, Lemon offers a suite of crypto financial services, including buying, selling, storage, payments, and Visa debit cards linked to crypto holdings, currently operational in Argentina and Peru. The platform processes an average of more than 7 transactions per second. Projections indicate a total processed volume of $9.3 billion in 2025, representing a 57% year-over-year increase. Lemon currently custodies over $160 million in user assets, maintaining publicly auditable reserves. Furthermore, aligning with its long-term vision for on-chain finance, the company incorporated Bitcoin into its treasury as a strategic position as of April 2025.

Financial Mechanics

The $20 million secured in the Series B round represents a direct equity investment into Lemon, contributing to its operational scaling and regional expansion efforts. No specific debt instruments or convertible notes were detailed in the funding announcement. This round augments the total capital raised by Lemon to $66 million since its founding, building upon a Series A round completed between 2021 and 2022. The company's operational efficiency is evidenced by its capacity to process an average of over 7 transactions per second. Financial forecasts project a substantial increase in total processed volume, reaching $9.3 billion in 2025, which signifies a 57% year-over-year growth. The platform also holds over $160 million in user assets, which are backed by publicly auditable reserves, ensuring transparency and user confidence.

Business Strategy & Market Positioning

Lemon's core business strategy is predicated on aggressive market penetration and expansion across Latin America. The company aims to leverage its successful model in Argentina and Peru—where it holds a leading position in the retail crypto market with nearly 5 million users—to acquire an additional 5 million users, reaching a total of 10 million within 12 months. This expansion targets key markets including Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, and Chile. The prior success in Peru, where Lemon onboarded over 1 million customers and issued over 150,000 VISA cards within a year, demonstrates its capability to adapt to diverse regulatory environments and cultural nuances across the region. Marcelo Cavazzoli, Founder and CEO of Lemon, articulated this vision, stating, "We're going to be the most widely distributed crypto platform on the continent." The high crypto adoption rate in Argentina, with 2.4% of its population as daily active users compared to 0.4% across Latin America, provides a strategic backdrop for Lemon's growth projections, suggesting a potential for 150 million new crypto accounts if the region follows Argentina's trajectory. The company's strategic decision to integrate Bitcoin into its corporate treasury as of April 2025 aligns with a broader trend seen in publicly traded companies like MicroStrategy, signaling a long-term conviction in digital assets as a treasury reserve strategy.

Market Implications

This $20 million Series B funding for Lemon marks the first significant capital raise for a Latin American crypto company since the recent market downturn, signaling a renewed investor appetite and confidence in the region's digital asset ecosystem. The infusion of capital is expected to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrencies and associated financial services in Latin America, particularly in countries characterized by high inflation and currency instability, where crypto offers alternative financial infrastructure. The expansion of Lemon's crypto payment solutions and Visa debit cards could further integrate digital assets into everyday transactions, potentially disrupting traditional financial systems. The participation of prominent investment firms such as F-Prime, ParaFi, and Van Eck underscores a maturing institutional perception of crypto fintech as a scalable and viable business model within emerging markets.

Broader Context

Latin America is emerging as a crucial growth frontier for cryptocurrency adoption, driven by unique economic conditions that favor digital asset integration. The success and expansion model demonstrated by companies like Lemon could establish a precedent for other fintech innovators seeking to penetrate similar high-growth, high-potential markets globally. Lemon's strategic move to incorporate Bitcoin into its treasury reflects a growing trend among corporate entities to diversify their balance sheets with digital assets. This decision indicates a broader institutional acceptance of Bitcoin as a strategic reserve asset, moving beyond speculative investment. This investment further supports the narrative articulated by Marcelo Cavazzoli that "The new financial system will be global and will use crypto as its infrastructure," highlighting the foundational role that blockchain and digital assets are expected to play in the future of global finance, particularly in regions poised for rapid digital transformation.