Brazilian Fintech FAZ Cred Raises US$15.5M to Expand Payroll Lending
Brazilian fintech FAZ Cred raises approximately US$15.5M through a new FIDC focused on payroll-backed lending in healthcare and education.
FAZ Cred, a Brazilian fintech focused on credit and payroll-backed lending, has raised R$80 million (approximately US$15.5 million) in just 60 days through a new investment fund in credit rights, known as an FIDC. The new vehicle has tripled the company's total volume of contracts and marks another stage in its transformation from a condominium-focused lender into a specialist in private payroll-backed credit.
From Condominium Credit to Payroll-Backed Lending
With five years in the market, FAZ Cred was originally founded in 2021 as Condolivre, focused on providing credit to condominiums.
The company initially built its business around exclusive agreements with condominiums to serve doormen and building managers, representing a base of approximately 60,000 formally employed workers.
That model changed after new rules for private payroll-backed lending came into effect in March 2025.
The regulatory change allowed any worker with a formal employment contract to access this type of credit directly through the government's application, where financial institutions compete through an offer auction. Companies and banks no longer needed to have prior agreements in place.
The new system also allowed payments to remain automated after a worker changed formal employment, reducing the risk associated with job losses.
According to the Central Bank and the Ministry of Labor and Employment, the market's portfolio subsequently grew from R$40 billion to R$140 billion.
For Condolivre, however, the new rules removed the competitive advantage created by its exclusive condominium agreements.
The company responded by largely abandoning unsecured credit for condominiums, changing its name to FAZ Cred, and shifting its focus toward payroll-backed lending.
“When we saw the opportunity in private payroll-backed lending, we decided to become specialists in this and operate directly. It is a rapidly expanding market, but we believe it will require some diligence to operate,” Henrique Rusca, CEO of FAZ Cred, told NeoFeed.
The New FAZ Cred Mais Trabalhador Fund
The company's latest vehicle, FAZ Cred Mais Trabalhador, focuses on the healthcare and education sectors.
The initial strategy was to sell FAZ Cred's credit analysis platform to third parties operating in other areas of payroll-backed lending. Investor demand, however, pushed the company to take a more direct role in the credit chain.
According to Rusca, investors were interested in allocating capital to the business but did not necessarily want to operate the lending process themselves.
“We had many investors knocking on our door: ‘I find this business interesting, I have capital and I would like to allocate it.’ But we would respond: ‘I'll give you the car, but you have to find the driver.’ And many people said: ‘No, thank you.’”
Without investors willing to take over the operational side, FAZ Cred decided to assume the entire credit chain and structure the new fund itself.
Patrimonial Backs the New Vehicle
The main investor behind FAZ Cred's investment vehicles is asset manager Patrimonial, which manages approximately R$1.6 billion (US$309.5 million), according to data from Anbima.
Patrimonial was already a partner in the fintech's first condominium-focused fund, FAZ Cred Condolivre FIDC, which has approximately R$160 million (US$31 million) in assets under management.
“After getting to know our operation [through the first fund], they felt confident enough to start a second vehicle focused on new markets,” Rusca said.
The new FIDC targets sectors with higher salaries, particularly healthcare and education. Despite this, the average loan size has remained between R$1,500 and R$1,600 (approximately US$290 and US$310), in line with the original fund.
Rusca said this is intentional, as the company prefers to diversify risk rather than concentrate credit among a small number of borrowers.
Limiting Portfolio Concentration
FAZ Cred limits the amount that a single person can repeatedly borrow and applies a similar restriction to paying companies.
No individual company represents more than 1% of the portfolio, helping the fintech avoid excessive concentration in a single borrower or employer.
Because the new vehicle is still recent, its delinquency rate has not yet fully matured.
In the condominium-focused fund, which has a longer track record, delinquency ranges between 10% and 15%. FAZ Cred receives approximately 80% of the expected amount through a direct government transfer and recovers another 5% to 10% through its own collections operation.
Competing in an Open Lending Market
The government's decision to open the auction to any bank also changed FAZ Cred's internal operation.
While unrestricted competition reduced origination compared with the period when the company operated through exclusive agreements, the fintech's addressable market within the condominium segment increased from 60,000 to 400,000 workers.
To maintain origination without relying solely on offering the cheapest rate in the auction, FAZ Cred uses its proprietary relationship channels developed over the years, artificial intelligence agents, direct WhatsApp support, and internal pricing tools that have been refined since the company's founding.
“We ran several pricing tests to find offers that converted better in the auction. I admit that, at first, we thought it would be difficult to compete with the large banks. But condominiums are generally small and medium-sized businesses, they have two or three employees, and not all of them want to specialize in this,” Rusca said.
Expansion Into New Sectors
FAZ Cred expects its addressable market in its new healthcare and education segments to be five to ten times larger than its condominium customer base.
According to Rusca, the new fund is also growing at twice the origination rate of the company's previous vehicle.
The fintech's next step is to continue opening new fronts and evaluate opportunities in the automotive and civil construction sectors.
The company is particularly interested in sectors with high re-employment rates, as this characteristic supports the mechanism that allows loan deductions to continue when a worker changes jobs.
“We like sectors with a high re-employment rate,” Rusca said.
According to the executive, a high rate of layoffs in a sector does not necessarily discourage FAZ Cred, since the company can recover the credit once the worker is hired again by a new employer.
From Condolivre to FAZ Cred
FAZ Cred was founded by Henrique Rusca, Rodrigo Gebara, and Luiz Guilherme Moraes.
The company began as Condolivre, raising a R$13 million (approximately US$2.5 million) seed round in 2021 led by TAG Investimentos and Vila Velha Corretora, alongside angel investors.
The company's pivot toward private payroll-backed lending reflects a broader shift in its strategy: rather than remaining dependent on a specific customer segment, FAZ Cred is using its credit infrastructure, data, technology, and investor relationships to expand into sectors with significantly larger addressable markets.
