# Akua — Full Site Content > Acquiring-as-a-Service platform for Latin America. Direct principal member of Visa and Mastercard. AI-native payments infrastructure operating in Colombia, Argentina, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Guatemala — expanding to Brazil and Central America. Akua is an AI-native payments infrastructure company providing 71+ capabilities across acquiring, fraud, tokenization, financial operations, merchant services, and AI agents — all in one cloud-native platform, accessible through a single API. --- ## Company Overview ### Key Stats - 50M+ daily transaction capacity - 99.99% uptime across 6+ datacenters (active-active in 2 AWS regions, 3 AZs each) - 20+ AI agents automating operations in production - Up to 60% reduction in operating costs - Go-live in hours, not months - 100% cloud-native architecture (no COBOL, no on-premise) ### Certifications - PCI DSS 4.0 - PCI PIN - ISO 27001 - SOC 2 Type II - Visa Certified Processor - Mastercard Certified Processor ### Countries Colombia, Uruguay, Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Guatemala — expanding to Brazil and Central America. ### Founding Team - **Carlos Marín, CEO** — Ex-PayU (Country Manager Colombia/Perú), ex-Mastercard (Director Fintech & Digital Alliances), ex-Pomelo (Country Manager Colombia/Perú). - **Juan José Behrend, CTO** — Ex-dLocal (Head of Platform), ex-Pomelo (Director of Engineering). MBA, Endeavor mentor, Universidad ORT professor. Expert in scalable payment system architecture. - **Rodrigo Rodrigues, COO** — 13+ years in fintech. Leadership at Jeeves, Movii, and Mastercard. Deep expertise in operations and partner relationships. ### Funding $13M raised total. - Seed $8.5M led by Cathay Innovation (Federico Gómez Romero) - Pre-seed $4.3M led by Propel (David Mort) - Investors: Flourish Ventures, HTwenty Capital Innovation, Rallycap, Plug and Play, IC Ventures, Krealo (Credicorp), Atlântico, Honey Island, Simma ### Media Coverage Featured in: Forbes, Bloomberg, AXIOS, NEOFEED, LatamFintech HUB, Entrepreneur en Español, La República, EL OBSERVADOR, EL PAÍS, LatamList, FINTECH GLOBAL, Yahoo! --- ## Products — Payments Processing ### Payments Overview URL: /products/payments Multi-rail payment processing with AI-powered smart routing. Supports cards (Visa, Mastercard), bank transfers, digital wallets, alternative payment methods, and crypto rails through a single API. ### Checkout URL: /products/checkout White-label checkout optimized for conversion. One-click, multi-step, or modal. Customizable per merchant. Supports all payment methods. ### Payment Links URL: /products/payment-links No-code payment link generation. Customizable, fixed or flexible amounts, multi-method. Shareable via WhatsApp, email, SMS, social media. ### Click2Pay URL: /products/click2pay One-click payment based on the Click to Pay standard from Visa and Mastercard. No card data entry required. ### Subscriptions URL: /products/subscriptions Full subscription engine: trials, upgrades, downgrades, dunning management, automatic proration, smart retry. ### Split Payments URL: /products/split-payments Automatic fund distribution between multiple parties. Ideal for marketplaces, multi-vendor platforms, and aggregators. ### Smart Routing URL: /products/smart-routing AI-powered dynamic routing that optimizes approval rate, cost, and latency in real-time across multiple rails and acquirers. ### Alternative Payment Methods URL: /products/alternative-payment-methods 50+ local payment methods across Latin America. PSE (Colombia), OXXO (Mexico), Boleto/PIX (Brazil), PagoEfectivo (Peru), and more. ### Digital Wallets URL: /products/digital-wallets Integration with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, and local wallets per market. ### Bank Transfers URL: /products/bank-transfers Real-time bank transfers: PSE (Colombia), SPEI (Mexico), PIX (Brazil), local transfers per country. ### Stablecoins Rails URL: /products/crypto-rails Cryptocurrency payment acceptance with automatic conversion and settlement in fiat. ### Terminals (SmartPOS) URL: /products/terminales Smart POS terminals with white-label app. Remote terminal management, configuration, software updates, and monitoring. ### Tap to Phone URL: /products/tap-to-phone Accept contactless card payments directly on any Android smartphone via NFC. No additional hardware. White-label. ### Elements URL: /products/elements Embeddable payment UI components for custom checkout experiences. Drop-in fields for card data, APMs, and wallets. ### Agentic Payments URL: /products/agentic-payments AI agent-initiated payments via MCP (Model Context Protocol). LLM interprets intent → MCP translates to tools → Akua agents execute with audit trail. ### Mobility URL: /products/mobility Payment solutions for transportation, delivery, and mobility platforms. --- ## Products — Risk & Compliance ### Risk & Fraud Overview URL: /products/risk-fraud AI-powered fraud prevention platform with mandatory rules (regulatory, fraud history, global limits), configurable rules per client (country, product, velocity), and real-time scoring. ### Tokenization URL: /products/tokenization Network tokenization (Visa/Mastercard Network Tokens) and PAN tokenization. Secure card data storage with PCI vault. ### PAN Tokenization URL: /products/pan-tokenization PAN-level token management for secure card-on-file storage and recurring payments. ### PCI Vault URL: /products/pci-vault Certified PCI DSS vault for secure card data storage, isolated from processing infrastructure. ### ABU/VAU URL: /products/abu-vau Account updater services (Account Billing Updater / Visa Account Updater) to automatically update expired or replaced card credentials. ### 3D Secure URL: /products/3ds White-label 3D Secure 2.0 authentication with friction and frictionless flows. Reduces fraud and chargebacks. ### Intelligent Retry URL: /products/intelligent-retry AI-powered retry engine that maximizes approval rates without increasing fraud. Analyzes decline codes, timing, and routing to optimize retry strategy. ### Chargebacks URL: /products/chargebacks Full chargeback lifecycle management with AI. Evidence collection, representment drafting, deadline monitoring. ### AI Chargeback Agent URL: /products/ai-chargeback-agent Autonomous agent that manages chargebacks: classifies, prioritizes, generates representment responses automatically. >70% cost reduction. ### Merchant Onboarding (KYC/KYB) URL: /products/merchant-onboarding Digital merchant onboarding with automated KYC/KYB verification. White-label. Minutes, not weeks. ### AI AML Agent URL: /products/ai-aml-agent AI agent for Anti-Money Laundering: continuous transaction monitoring, suspicious pattern detection, regulatory report generation. --- ## Products — Financial Operations ### Financial Operations Overview URL: /products/financial-operations Settlement, clearing, reconciliation, and financial management automated with AI. ### Clearing Engine URL: /products/clearing-engine Automated clearing and settlement engine. Multi-currency. T+0 to T+3 configurable. AI-powered cash flow prediction. ### Reconciliation URL: /products/reconciliation AI-powered reconciliation engine. 99.9% accuracy. SAP/Oracle export. Matches transactions across all rails. ### Cashouts URL: /products/cashouts Mass payouts and scheduled disbursements to bank accounts, digital wallets, and cash across LATAM. ### Merchant Engine URL: /products/merchant-engine Merchant management with AI: configurable commissions, automated billing, per-merchant reporting. ### Billing & Invoicing URL: /products/billing-invoicing Electronic invoicing and recurring billing. White-label. Compliant with local regulations per country. ### Tax Management URL: /products/tax-management Automated tax calculation and reporting for 5 countries (Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Peru). --- ## Products — Data & Reporting ### Data & Reporting Overview URL: /products/data-reporting Native DataLake with real-time dashboards, custom reports, and advanced analytics. ### Dashboard & Analytics URL: /products/dashboard-analytics Interactive white-label dashboards with real-time metrics: volume, transactions, approval rate, network distribution, hourly activity. ### Custom Reports URL: /products/custom-reports AI-generated custom reports via conversational interface. Export in multiple formats. ### Data Sync (ETL) URL: /products/data-sync Data synchronization with external systems. ETL pipelines for business intelligence tools. --- ## Products — AI Agents ### AI Agents Overview URL: /ai 20+ autonomous AI agents in production, organized by function: **For Merchants:** - Merchant Support Agent — Resolves 80% of queries without human intervention - Analytics Agent — Natural language reports and trend analysis **For PayFacs & Acquirers:** - Legal Agent — 24/7 regulatory change monitoring across LATAM - KYC/KYB Agent — Automated onboarding. 75% less KYC staff needed - Financial Agent — P&L analysis, margins, interchange rates in real-time - Reconciliation Agent — End-to-end reconciliation. 60% less FinOps time - Fraud Operations Agent — Fraud alert investigation. 80% less staff - Chargebacks Agent — Full chargeback cycle. >70% cost reduction **For Operations:** - Merchant Onboarding Agent — Merchant activation in minutes - Compliance Agent — Continuous compliance monitoring - Network Expert Agent — Card network rule expertise **Support & Voice:** - Support Agent — Multichannel autonomous support - Red Line Voice Agent — Voice agent for phone calls ### AI Integrations URL: /products/ai-integrations AI integrations with enterprise tools: Slack, email, CRM, ERP, and more. ### AI Support URL: /products/ai-support Multichannel AI support agent and Red Line voice agent for 24/7 cardholder and merchant support in multiple languages. ### MCP (Model Context Protocol) Akua supports MCP for agentic payments: 1. LLM (Claude, GPT, Gemini) interprets natural language intent 2. MCP Platform translates intent to tools and permissions 3. Akua Agents execute the operation with controlled access 4. Akua API executes in production with full traceability and audit --- ## Solutions ### Acquiring-as-a-Service URL: /solutions/acquiring-as-a-service Three deployment models: - **License Enabler** — Operate as an acquirer under Akua's license. Direct Visa/Mastercard connections included. Time-to-market: weeks. - **Full Stack AaaS** — Complete acquiring: technology + license + risk management. All included. - **Cloud Native Processor** — Cloud-native processor on your AWS infrastructure. 99.999% uptime SLA. Maximum control. **vs. In-House comparison:** | Dimension | In-House | With Akua | |---|---|---| | Time to launch | 2-4 years | < 90 days | | Initial investment | US$5-20M | No initial CAPEX | | Team required | 50-100+ people | 5-15 people | | PCI certifications | 12-18 months | Inherited from Akua | | Visa/MC connections | 1-2 years | Included from day 1 | ### Solutions by Business Model URL: /solutions/business-model - **PayFacs:** Full Payment Facilitator infrastructure — sub-merchant management, split payments, KYC/KYB - **PSPs:** High-availability infrastructure — multi-rail, smart routing, 99.999% uptime - **Banks & Acquirers:** Payment infrastructure modernization — migration without interruptions, legacy coexistence - **Fintechs:** Speed-to-market — time-to-market < 4 weeks, sandbox with real data - **E-commerce:** Embedded payments — white-label checkout, recurring, marketplace payments ### Merchant Experience Center - **Merchant Suite** (URL: /solutions/merchant-suite) — White-label suite for merchant management - **Merchant Hub** (URL: /solutions/merchant-hub) — White-label merchant dashboard - **Customer Intelligence** (URL: /solutions/customer-intelligence) — AI customer analytics - **Terminal Management** (URL: /solutions/terminal-management) — Remote POS terminal management - **BIN Promotions** (URL: /solutions/bin-promotions) — Bank promotion engine by BIN - **Advance Payments** (URL: /solutions/advance-payments) — Merchant payment advances based on transaction history --- ## Platform & Core URL: /plataforma ### Architecture - Cloud-native on AWS (active-active in 2 regions, 3 availability zones each, 6 datacenters) - 99.999% uptime SLA - Shared or private cloud deployment - Auto-scaling infrastructure ### Integration - REST APIs - Secure, reliable, scalable webhooks - ISO 8583, SFTP connectivity - SSO support: Auth0, Okta, Azure AD, Google ### White-Label Everything is white-label: checkout, merchant portal, dashboards, onboarding, terminals, support. ### Core Capabilities - Organizations: Multi-tenant management - Users: Permissions and access control - Feature Flags: Gradual rollout controls - Notifications & Webhooks: Event-driven architecture --- ## Developers URL: /developers Documentation: https://docs.akua.la - REST API documentation - SDKs: Node.js, Python, PHP, Go, Java, Ruby, cURL - Webhooks for real-time event notifications - Sandbox/testing environment with real data - Code examples for every language ```javascript import Akua from '@akua/node'; const akua = new Akua({ apiKey: process.env.AKUA_SECRET_KEY }); const payment = await akua.payments.create({ amount: 150000, currency: 'COP', payment_method: 'pm_card_123', routing: { strategy: 'smart' } }); ``` --- ## Security URL: /security ### Certifications PCI DSS 4.0, PCI PIN, ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, Visa Certified Processor, Mastercard Certified Processor. ### Infrastructure 6+ datacenters across Latin America. AWS-based cloud-native architecture. Multi-region redundancy. End-to-end encryption. HSM for key management. ### Security Features Network tokenization, 3DS 2.0, real-time AI fraud detection, dynamic rules engine, AML monitoring, KYC/KYB verification, encryption at rest and in transit. --- ## Pricing URL: /pricing Transparent cost structure with no hidden fees: - Competitive, predictable base rates from day one - Automatic volume-based discounts - Real-time fee visibility in dashboard - Dynamic fee profiles configurable by MCC, payment method, channel, volume, or region - Interchange pass-through with full transparency - Configurable MDR by segment, product, or commercial agreement --- ## Green Akua URL: /green-akua Commitment to sustainability and positive environmental impact. Cloud-native infrastructure reduces carbon footprint vs. on-premise legacy systems. --- ## Contact - Website: https://akua.la - Documentation: https://docs.akua.la - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/akua-la - Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/akua-0e02 - Contact form: https://akua.la/es/contacto