Brazilian credit infrastructure startup Bull has raised 20 million reais in a seed funding round led by venture capital funds Maya and Caravela to expand its artificial intelligence capabilities and financial technology platform.
Venture capital firm Canary also participated in the transaction. Canary previously led the company's pre-seed investment round held one year ago.
The startup will direct the newly raised capital toward platform expansion, increasing investment in artificial intelligence, data architecture, cybersecurity, and process automation.
Seed rounds provide early stage technology companies with capital to scale operations after proving initial market demand. In Latin America, venture capital investors have increasingly targeted financial infrastructure providers that enable non-financial businesses to offer banking products.
Platform infrastructure and credit services
Juliana Freitas and José Pires Neto founded Bull in 2025 to operate a credit as a service model. The platform provides underlying technology and infrastructure that allows financial institutions, fintechs, startups, digital marketplaces, and retail companies to launch credit products without building complex internal operations.
Credit as a service platforms function as white-label backends for embedded finance. By integrating these systems, retail merchants and digital platforms can grant loans directly to consumers, utilizing their existing customer relationships while delegating risk analysis, regulatory compliance, and debt servicing to specialized technology providers.
Within approximately one year of launch, Bull transitioned from its minimum viable product phase to servicing more than 20 corporate clients. Juliana Freitas, cofounder and chief executive officer of Bull, said the company moved rapidly from an initial prototype to an enterprise operation now preparing to generate over 100 million reais in monthly credit origination during the third quarter.
Freitas added that the funding will accelerate the core infrastructure provided to businesses seeking to offer lending solutions directly to their customer bases.
Growth targets and credit modalities
With the fresh capital, Bull plans to broaden operations with its existing client base while introducing additional credit modalities to the platform. The startup has set a target to reach one billion reais in total operational volume by the end of 2026.
In the short term, the startup plans to validate and launch a new credit line distributed through partner ecosystems. José Pires Neto, cofounder and chief operating officer of Bull, said many companies possess large customer bases, proprietary data, and distribution channels, but building a credit division from scratch requires years of work and specialized infrastructure. Neto explained that Bull provides a ready-made framework to bypass those operational hurdles.
The first financial product launched on Bull's platform was private payroll-deductible credit. In Brazil, payroll-deductible loans allow monthly repayments to be deducted directly from an employee's salary, offering financial institutions lower default rates compared to unsecured personal credit lines.
Long term vision and technology tools
Although private payroll loans served as its initial product, Bull designed its core technology to handle multiple credit categories. The architecture integrates credit management and credit risk analysis tools that connect directly into partner software systems.
Automated credit analysis relies on machine learning models to analyze customer data, evaluate risk profiles, and streamline loan approvals in real time. Modern fintech platforms pair these algorithms with robust cybersecurity protocols to protect sensitive consumer data and maintain financial system compliance.
Over the medium term, Bull intends to expand its corporate client list and increase the overall volume of credit processed across its network. Over the long term, the company aims to establish itself as a primary financial infrastructure provider for any enterprise seeking to launch proprietary credit products.
