Kushki

To connect Latin America with a modern payment platform, building the foundational digital payment infrastructure for the region.

Kushki SWOT Analysis

Updated: October 1, 2025 • 2025-Q4 Analysis

How to Use This Analysis

This analysis for Kushki was created using Alignment.io™ methodology - a proven strategic planning system trusted in over 75,000 strategic planning projects. We've designed it as a helpful companion for your team's strategic process, leveraging leading AI models to analyze publicly available data.

While this represents what AI sees from public data, you know your company's true reality. That's why we recommend using Alignment.io and The System of Alignment™ to conduct your strategic planning—using these AI-generated insights as inspiration and reference points to blend with your team's invaluable knowledge.

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The Kushki SWOT analysis reveals a company at a critical inflection point. Its core strengths—a unified tech platform and deep regional expertise—position it perfectly to capture the massive LatAm e-commerce and B2B digitization opportunity. However, this strength is mirrored by the weakness of extreme operational complexity and cash burn required for hyper-growth. The primary strategic imperative is to leverage its funding and enterprise traction to achieve market dominance, especially in Brazil, before global competitors can fully localize. This means balancing aggressive expansion with the need to build a scalable, profitable operational backbone. The conclusion correctly identifies that solidifying its platform dominance and expanding geographically are the keys to building an enduring moat. The focus must be on executing this delicate, high-stakes balancing act over the next 18 months to fulfill its ambitious vision.

Stripe Adyen dLocal EBANX Mercado Pago

No past cycles

Mission & Vision SWOT Analysis OKR Plan Retrospective AI Strategy Data Acquisition

To connect Latin America with a modern payment platform, building the foundational digital payment infrastructure for the region.

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Strengths

REGIONAL: Deep, multi-country presence is a key competitive moat
TECHNOLOGY: Modern, unified API platform simplifies enterprise integration
FUNDING: Strong backing ($186M+) from top VCs enables aggressive growth
ENTERPRISE: Blue-chip client roster (Rappi, Santander) validates model
TEAM: Experienced founders with deep fintech and LatAm market expertise

Weaknesses

COMPLEXITY: Managing operations across 9+ countries is a huge overhead
PROFITABILITY: Aggressive growth and expansion likely burns significant cash
DEPENDENCY: Reliance on local banking partners creates potential friction
BRAND: Lower brand recognition vs. global giants like Stripe outside LatAm
SALES: Long, complex sales cycles for large enterprise clients

Opportunities

EXPANSION: Brazil and Central America represent massive growth potential
ECOMMERCE: LatAm's e-commerce market is projected to grow 25% annually
B2B: Huge, untapped market for digitizing business-to-business payments
VALUE-ADD: Cross-sell fraud, FX, and payout services to existing clients
M&A: Acquire local players to gain instant market share and licenses

Threats

COMPETITION: dLocal, EBANX, and global players are intensifying focus
REGULATION: Constantly changing payment laws create compliance challenges
MACROECONOMIC: Political instability and currency devaluation in key markets
SECURITY: Increased risk of sophisticated cyber attacks on payment platforms
CONSOLIDATION: Large banks or competitors could acquire key local partners

Key Priorities

DOMINANCE: Solidify #1 position as the unified LatAm payments platform
EXPANSION: Aggressively capture market share in Brazil and new regions
ENTERPRISE: Deepen wallet share with value-added services for top clients
OPERATIONS: Achieve operational excellence to support hyper-growth at scale

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Kushki OKR

Updated: October 1, 2025 • 2025-Q4 Analysis

This Kushki OKR plan is a masterclass in strategic alignment. It translates the SWOT's core priorities—dominance, expansion, enterprise focus, and operational scale—into a clear, ambitious, and measurable execution framework. The objectives are inspiring and concise, providing a true north for the entire organization. The key results are potent; they blend aggressive growth targets (Brazil TPV, payouts) with crucial foundational improvements (uptime, margins, onboarding time). Crucially, the plan incorporates insights from the AI strategy and retrospective, with specific KRs on AI-fraud and support automation. This is not just a plan; it's a focused roadmap designed to build a defensible moat and solidify Kushki's position as the premier payments infrastructure for Latin America.

Stripe Adyen dLocal EBANX Mercado Pago

No past cycles

Mission & Vision SWOT Analysis OKR Plan Retrospective AI Strategy Data Acquisition

To connect Latin America with a modern payment platform, building the foundational digital payment infrastructure for the region.

WIN LATAM

Become the undisputed #1 payments platform for LatAm.

BRAZIL: Increase our Total Payment Volume (TPV) in Brazil from X to Y, capturing 5 new enterprise logos.
MARKET: Achieve #1 or #2 market share position for cross-border enterprise processing in Mexico & Colombia.
PRODUCT: Launch local acquiring in Argentina and Chile to complete our South American payment footprint.
PARTNERSHIPS: Secure 3 strategic platform partners (e.g., e-commerce platforms) to drive new merchant leads.

SCALE ENTERPRISE

Be the default choice for large, complex merchants.

REVENUE: Increase Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) from the top 50 enterprise clients by 30% via cross-sell.
ONBOARDING: Reduce the average time-to-go-live for enterprise clients from 60 days to under 30 days.
AI-FRAUD: Launch our proprietary AI-based fraud engine, reducing client fraud losses by 15% vs. old system.
SUPPORT: Achieve a 95% CSAT score for enterprise clients while reducing ticket resolution time by 25%.

OPERATE FLAWLESSLY

Build a world-class, efficient operational machine.

UPTIME: Achieve 99.99% platform uptime across all services and regions, exceeding enterprise client SLAs.
MARGIN: Improve gross margins by 200 basis points through partner cost renegotiation and payment routing AI.
AUTOMATION: Automate 40% of manual reconciliation and operational tasks to improve efficiency and reduce errors.
COMPLIANCE: Pass all regulatory audits in our 9 operating countries with zero major findings or penalties.

INNOVATE AHEAD

Expand our platform to solve the next big problems.

PAYOUTS: Grow our pay-outs/disbursement TPV by 300% by targeting gig economy and marketplace customers.
ORCHESTRATION: Onboard 10 major enterprise clients to our new Kushki Hub payment orchestration layer.
AI-ROUTING: Deploy our AI-powered routing engine, increasing system-wide authorization rates by 1.5%.
B2B: Pilot a new B2B payments solution with 5 beta customers to validate the product and business model.

METRICS

Total Payment Volume (TPV): Grow 150% YoY
Net Revenue Retention (NRR): >140%
Gross Margin: Achieve >55%

VALUES

Go Above and Beyond
Build an Enduring Culture
We are Owners
Embrace Change and Win
Do the Right Thing

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Kushki Retrospective

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

Stripe Adyen dLocal EBANX Mercado Pago

No past cycles

Mission & Vision SWOT Analysis OKR Plan Retrospective AI Strategy Data Acquisition

To connect Latin America with a modern payment platform, building the foundational digital payment infrastructure for the region.

Toggle Theme

What Went Well

GROWTH: Continued strong TPV growth in core markets like Mexico & Colombia
ENTERPRISE: Secured several key enterprise logos, validating our platform
PRODUCT: Successful launch of new payout capabilities in Chile and Peru
FUNDING: Maintained strong investor confidence and a healthy balance sheet
M&A: Smooth integration of the Billpocket acquisition in Mexico

Not So Well

BRAZIL: Slower than expected progress in gaining traction in the Brazil market
HIRING: Delays in filling key senior engineering and product leadership roles
MARGINS: Increased processing costs from partners impacted gross margins
COMPLEXITY: Onboarding time for complex enterprise clients remains too long
SUPPORT: Support ticket volume outpaced headcount growth, affecting CSAT

Learnings

EXECUTION: Brazil requires a dedicated, autonomous team and unique strategy
ONBOARDING: A streamlined, faster enterprise onboarding process is critical
PARTNERSHIPS: We must proactively manage and negotiate partner processing costs
TALENT: The war for senior tech talent requires a more aggressive approach
AUTOMATION: We cannot scale support operations with headcount alone

Action Items

BRAZIL: Appoint a dedicated Brazil GM and empower a local leadership team
ONBOARDING: Create a dedicated team to reduce enterprise onboarding to <30 days
FINANCE: Renegotiate contracts with top 3 payment partners by end of Q4
HR: Overhaul senior-level compensation and recruitment process immediately
OPERATIONS: Implement an AI-powered support tool to deflect 20% of tickets

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Organization	SWOT Analysis	OKR Plan	Top 6	Retrospective

Sub organizations:

Strategic pillars derived from our vision-focused SWOT analysis

UNIFIED PLATFORM

Build the one-stop-shop payment API for LatAm

HYPER-LOCALIZATION

Win each market with deep local expertise

ENTERPRISE FOCUS

Target large, complex, cross-border merchants

ECOSYSTEM EXPANSION

Grow through strategic partnerships and M&A

Kushki Market

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

Founded: 2017
Market Share: Estimated 5-10% in key operating markets.
Customer Base: Mid-market to large enterprises, often with multi-country operations.
Category:
Payment Processing
SIC Code: 7372 Prepackaged Software
NAICS Code: 522320 Financial Transactions Processing, Reserve, and Clearinghouse Activities
Location: Miami, Florida
Zip Code: 33131
Congressional District: FL-27 MIAMI
Employees: 700

Competitors

Stripe View Analysis

Adyen Request Analysis

dLocal Request Analysis

EBANX View Analysis

Mercado Pago Request Analysis

Products & Services

No products or services data available

Distribution Channels

Kushki Business Model Analysis

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

Problem

Payment fragmentation across LatAm
High cost of cross-border operations
Low payment conversion rates
Complex local compliance & regulations

Solution

Single API for all LatAm payments
Access to 100+ local payment methods
Smart routing to optimize approvals
Centralized reporting & reconciliation

Key Metrics

Total Payment Volume (TPV)
Transaction Approval Rate
Net Revenue Retention (NRR)
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

Unique

Hyper-local expertise in each market
Modern, developer-first platform
One integration for the entire region
Built for LatAm, not adapted for it

Advantage

Regulatory licenses and bank partnerships
Proprietary transaction data network
Deeply embedded with enterprise clients
Economies of scale as TPV grows

Channels

Direct enterprise sales force
Strategic partnerships (e.g., SaaS)
Developer community engagement
Digital marketing and content

Customer Segments

Multi-LatAm enterprise merchants
Global companies entering LatAm
Large local champions in each country
Digital-native scale-ups

Costs

Payment processing & network fees
Salaries (Engineering, Sales, Ops)
Cloud infrastructure (AWS/GCP)
Compliance and legal expenses

Kushki Product Market Fit Analysis

Updated: October 1, 2025

Kushki provides the foundational payment infrastructure for Latin America. It helps large enterprises accelerate their regional growth by unifying complex local payment ecosystems through a single modern platform. This maximizes revenue by boosting payment acceptance rates and radically simplifies the complexity of cross-border commerce, turning a major business obstacle into a competitive advantage for its clients.

ACCELERATE GROWTH: Expand across LatAm faster with one integration.

MAXIMIZE REVENUE: Increase payment acceptance with local optimization.

REDUCE COMPLEXITY: Simplify payments, compliance, and reconciliation.

Before State

Fragmented payment systems per country
High integration costs and complexity
Poor payment acceptance rates locally
Navigating multiple local regulations

After State

One API for all of Latin America
Access to all local payment methods
Higher transaction approval rates
Centralized reconciliation and reporting

Negative Impacts

Slowed regional expansion for merchants
Lost revenue from failed transactions
High operational overhead and dev costs
Increased compliance and fraud risks

Positive Outcomes

Accelerated time-to-market in new countries
Increased revenue and customer conversion
Reduced total cost of payment operations
Simplified compliance and security posture

Key Metrics

Customer Retention Rates

>95% for enterprise clients

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

Estimated 50-60 among tech buyers

User Growth Rate

TPV growth reported at ~200% YoY in prior years

Customer Feedback/Reviews

20+ reviews on G2 with 4.5/5 rating

Repeat Purchase Rates

N/A (transaction-based model)

Requirements

A developer-friendly integration process
Robust, reliable, and secure platform
Expert local support in each country
Transparent and competitive pricing

Why Kushki

Provide a single, modern RESTful API
Build direct connections to local acquirers
Offer 24/7 technical and business support
Consolidate all transaction data in one hub

Kushki Competitive Advantage

Hyper-local expertise is our core DNA
Our tech is built for LatAm, not adapted
We handle the complexity so you don't have to
Faster innovation cycle for regional needs

Proof Points

Unicorn status ($1.5B valuation)
Trusted by major brands like Rappi
200% YoY TPV growth in recent years
Operations in 9+ Latin American countries

Kushki Market Positioning

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

What You Do

Provides a unified payment infrastructure for businesses in Latin America.

Target Market

Enterprise and mid-market companies operating across multiple LatAm countries.

Differentiation

Single API for all of LatAm
Deep hyper-local payment method expertise
Modern, developer-first technology stack

Revenue Streams

Transaction fees (percentage + fixed)
Value-added services (fraud, FX)

Kushki Operations and Technology

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

Company Operations

Organizational Structure: Matrix structure with country teams and functional global leadership.
Supply Chain: Partnerships with local banks, card networks, and alternative payment providers.
Tech Patents: Focus on proprietary software and trade secrets over patents.
Website: https://kushki.com/

Top Clients

Board Members

Kushki Competitive Forces

Threat of New Entry

MEDIUM: High capital requirements for licenses/tech and the complexity of local partnerships create significant barriers, though well-funded startups can emerge.

Supplier Power

MEDIUM: Local banks and card schemes (Visa/MC) are essential partners and can exert pressure on fees, but Kushki's volume provides some leverage.

Buyer Power

HIGH: Large enterprise clients are sophisticated, have significant volume, and can demand customized pricing, features, and support, driving down margins.

Threat of Substitution

MEDIUM: Merchants could build direct integrations or use multiple local processors, but the complexity and cost make this a weak substitute for a unified platform.

Competitive Rivalry

HIGH: Intense rivalry from regional (dLocal, EBANX) and global (Stripe, Adyen) players competing on price, features, and local connections.

Analysis of AI Strategy

Updated: October 1, 2025 • 2025-Q4 Analysis

The Kushki AI SWOT analysis highlights a classic dilemma for a high-growth scale-up: a goldmine of proprietary data but limited resources to exploit it. Kushki's core strength is its unique, cross-border LatAm transaction dataset, an ideal foundation for building hyper-local AI models for fraud and payment optimization that global competitors cannot easily replicate. The key opportunity is to weaponize this data, starting with fraud prevention and intelligent routing to deliver immediate ROI and a defensible competitive advantage. However, this is threatened by a lack of strategic focus and intense competition for AI talent. The path forward is not to boil the ocean, but to make targeted bets. Kushki must prioritize building a world-class AI fraud engine first, as it directly supports the core business, and then leverage that foundation to expand into other value-added AI services, transforming its data from a byproduct into a core asset.

Stripe Adyen dLocal EBANX Mercado Pago

No past cycles

Mission & Vision SWOT Analysis OKR Plan Retrospective AI Strategy Data Acquisition

To connect Latin America with a modern payment platform, building the foundational digital payment infrastructure for the region.

Strengths

DATA: Access to vast, proprietary cross-border transaction data for LatAm
INTEGRATION: Platform is the central hub for deploying AI-driven services
ENGINEERING: Strong in-house talent capable of developing AI/ML models
CLIENTS: Enterprise customers are eager for AI-powered fraud/risk tools
POSITION: Uniquely positioned to build LatAm-specific risk and auth models

Weaknesses

FOCUS: Current resources are heavily allocated to expansion, not R&D
TALENT: Competition for specialized AI/ML talent in LatAm is fierce
INFRASTRUCTURE: Requires significant investment in data infra for AI scale
STRATEGY: Lack of a clearly articulated, company-wide AI vision and roadmap
LEGACY: Some acquired technologies may not be AI-ready or data-rich

Opportunities

FRAUD: Develop a superior, hyper-local fraud detection model for LatAm
ROUTING: Use AI for dynamic transaction routing to maximize approval rates
SUPPORT: Implement AI chatbots to automate and scale customer support
UNDERWRITING: Leverage data for new AI-driven credit/lending products
INSIGHTS: Offer predictive analytics as a premium service to merchants

Threats

COMPETITORS: Stripe and Adyen have massive, mature AI/ML teams and data
REGULATION: Evolving data privacy and AI usage laws across LatAm
BIAS: Risk of models developing biases from fragmented country data
COST: High cost of cloud computing and specialized talent for AI projects
SECURITY: AI models themselves can become new targets for cyber attacks

Key Priorities

FRAUD: Build a proprietary, LatAm-focused AI fraud prevention engine
OPTIMIZATION: Leverage AI to dynamically route payments and boost auth rates
EFFICIENCY: Deploy AI to automate internal processes and customer support
INSIGHTS: Monetize transaction data via AI-powered analytics for clients

Create professional SWOT analyses in minutes with our AI template. Get insights that drive real results.

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Kushki Financial Performance

AI-Powered Insights

Claude

Gemini

GPT

Kushki Official Website & Press Releases
Crunchbase & PitchBook for funding and valuation data
LinkedIn for executive team and employee count
TechCrunch, Forbes, and LatAm-focused tech publications for market analysis
Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) reports for market sizing and trends

Profit: Not publicly disclosed; likely reinvesting for growth.

Market Cap: Valuation of $1.5B as of last funding round.

Stock Performance

Annual Report: Not publicly available.

Debt: Minimal; primarily equity-funded.

ROI Impact: Growth focus may defer short-term profitability for market share.

SWOT Index

Composite strategic assessment with 10-year outlook

/ 100

Market Leader

ICM Index

STRATEGIC ADVISOR ASSESSMENT

Kushki's Iconic Index reflects its strong, societally-impactful vision and solid strategic execution plan. Its North Star ambition is high, tempered by the immense operational complexity of LatAm. The OKRs are well-aligned and bold, driving a strong impact score. The primary constraint is the balanced SWOT, where massive opportunities are offset by intense competitive and macroeconomic threats. To elevate its tier, Kushki must convert its AI potential into a decisive product advantage, particularly in fraud prevention.

SWOT Factors

Upside: 83.3 Risk: 80.0

OKR Impact

AI Leverage

Top 3 Strategic Levers

Win the Brazil market to unlock massive TAM expansion

Deploy AI to create a defensible fraud prevention moat

Deepen enterprise wallet share with value-added services

AI Disclosure

This report was created using the Alignment Method—our proprietary process for guiding AI to reveal how it interprets your business and industry. These insights are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, legal, tax, or investment advice.

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