Brazilian fintech Creditas chases UK tech talent

Brazilian financial technology (fintech) firm Creditas is looking for ways to access technology talent in the UK who may be considering to leave the country due to Brexit.

The company is accelerating the development of its new technology hub in Valencia, Spain, after receiving a scaleup funding round from Japanese fund SoftBank, which has set aside US$5bn to invest in promising technology startups in Latin America.

The São Paulo-headquartered firm is focused on secured lending products. A marketplace with partners and a home renovation offering are among the new products being developed by the Spanish office.

According to the head of technology and new products at Creditas, Ronaldo Marciano, the company is actively seeking ways to tap into the UK-based technology talent pool.

“We are currently looking for a recruitment partner in the UK to help us accelerate the process of attracting those skilled professionals,” said Marciano, who is confident the fintech stands a good chance in Europe’s war for tech talent.

“As well as the fact that we apply very modern approaches to product development, we are quite unique in terms of how we manage staff – people are empowered to take ownership of the products they develop and make decisions from day one,” Marciano added.

Creditas is planning to hire at least 100 technology staff in Spain in the next few months. The new hub, set up in August 2019, has so far attracted 10 professionals from Romania, Colombia, Spain and Brazil.

The company is currently focusing on attracting more experienced hires, including tech leads, product managers and senior software engineers.

Benefits offered by the company include health, dental and life insurance, membership to corporate fitness platform Gympass, as well as meal and education allowances.

In addition, technology staff working in Spain will have the opportunity of working in projects at the company’s head offices in Brazil.

Offering meal allowances is required by law in Brazil, and despite it not being the case in Spain, it is also is part of the package. The startup offers an education allowance, so staff can spend on ongoing skills improvement through courses or university-level education.