Brazil has one of the world’s most advanced payments systems, but for international companies, getting access is rarely straightforward. Licensing can take years, capital requirements are steep, and relying on third-party platforms often means giving up control over products, data and infrastructure.

Cumbuca approaches the problem differently. Founded by Daniel Ruhman, the company operates as a regulatory proxy, enabling international teams to launch in Brazil in weeks rather than years, with direct access to the country’s payments infrastructure under Cumbuca’s Central Bank licence.

In this week’s Behind the Idea, Ruhman explains why Brazil remains a tough market for foreign fintechs, how firsthand experience led to Cumbuca’s model, and why tightening regulation is turning compliance into a competitive advantage.

Tell us more about your company and its offering

Cumbuca removes a key barrier international companies face when entering Brazil’s payments market. Getting a licence from the Central Bank can take years and requires significant capital.

Most firms aren’t willing to make that investment until they’ve proven market fit. The alternative has been working through third-party platforms that strip away flexibility and control.

We hold a payment institution licence under which clients can operate seamlessly. They get direct API access to the Central Bank, build their own systems, and retain all their data. When they eventually scale enough to justify their own licence, the infrastructure they built transfers with them.

International teams can launch in weeks instead of years, test their product in the market, and build what they need.

What problem was your company set up to solve?

Companies entering Brazil faced two difficult choices: They can either wait years and spend millions to obtain their own payments licence, or they can surrender operational control to third-party providers that restrict what they can build.

We experienced this problem firsthand while building consumer fintech products and trying to access Brazil’s payments infrastructure. As we scaled to over a million accounts, our growth was limited not by what we wanted to build but by the restrictions of our infrastructure partners. Customer issues often couldn’t be resolved quickly, outages were beyond our control, and critical features were delayed or couldn’t be launched.

We had also gone through the full licensing process ourselves and understood how slow, costly, and risky it can be, especially for international companies. Brazil treats financial services as a matter of national security, so foreign ownership of regulated entities requires extensive approvals.

We realised there was a missing option. Cumbuca is that third path.

Since launch, how has your company evolved?

Cumbuca has gone from cleaning services to community banking to bill-splitting to regulatory proxy. The lessons from those earlier versions inform everything we do today.

The infrastructure challenges we solved while building consumer products, the regulatory expertise we gained securing and operating our licence, and the understanding of what Brazilian users need all shape how we support our clients now. It enabled us to launch our proxy with the exact problems we were trying to solve in mind: stateless and horizontally scalable while ensuring full compliance. That’s what we built.

What has been the biggest challenge or most ‘tricky moment’ to overcome?

The regulatory environment has tightened significantly over the past year. Brazil’s Central Bank has raised capital and compliance requirements dramatically; what used to require R$1 million now costs 10x to 15x that, and adding new services to existing licences has become far more complex.

Up until recently, the Central Bank prioritised fostering innovation with relatively low barriers. Now the emphasis has shifted to financial stability and regulatory compliance. Many smaller fintechs will struggle to meet these new requirements.

This development validates Cumbuca’s model. We built compliance into our operations from day one rather than trying to retrofit it later. Our team includes some of Brazil’s leading regulatory experts, including Gustavo Lino, former President of INIT; Ana Luisa Monteiro, our CFO who specialises in Brazilian financial markets; and Nic Marcondes, who architected Brazil’s no-redirect payment flow.

The regulatory tightening means compliance becomes a differentiator for companies.

What are your biggest achievements or ‘proudest moment’ so far?

My proudest moment with Cumbuca was our last pivot. Reaching profitability within months of shifting to B2B confirmed the approach faster than we expected and proved that demand exists for a compliance-first model with technical flexibility.

Being the fourth payment initiation licence issued in Brazil also put us in the market early. We were building when open finance was still taking shape, which gave us a front-row seat to the development of the infrastructure and regulations. That timing is difficult to replicate.

Another highlight this year was our contribution to the Pix Anniversary Report, launched with W Fintechs to mark five years since Pix started. It was fascinating to step back and look at how something that began as a new payment method has become part of Brazil’s core financial infrastructure. The report covers adoption numbers, system design, and why other countries are increasingly paying attention to Brazil’s Open Finance approach.

How would you describe the culture of your company?

We are a team that’s been through the same problems our clients face. That shared experience shapes everything about how we work.

We value expertise and our team includes people who’ve built the systems we’re helping clients access, people who sit on regulatory boards, and people who’ve architected the infrastructure that powers Brazil’s open finance ecosystem. Our goal is not to have only smart people but the right team that understands this market from the inside.

Our focus is on doing things the right way. We have seen companies try to add compliance later or take shortcuts on infrastructure, and it never works. Our platform was designed from the ground up to handle scale, high transaction volumes, and zero downtime while staying fully compliant. This commitment to discipline guides everything we do.

We care about building infrastructure that works and relationships that last. We want to be the thinnest possible layer between our clients and the regulated environment, and that requires a culture of precision, transparency and partnership.

What’s in store for the future?

Cumbuca is focused on making it easier for companies to operate in Brazil while staying fully aligned with regulation. There are still many international firms that want to build there but struggle with the time and complexity involved in obtaining a licence.

We already support Open Finance and payment initiation through our existing licence, and given how quickly those systems are evolving, keeping up with them is a core part of what we do.

Our ambition is to become Brazil’s largest payment initiation and open finance data provider by the end of 2026. The regulatory environment is tightening, which creates opportunities for compliant players like us. We want to be the default choice for any international company serious about building in Brazil’s fintech ecosystem.