Michael Calvey, the private equity investor best known for betting on some of the world’s most successful tech firms when they were still early-stage startups, is now backing Plata, a Mexican digital bank that recently crossed the $1.5 billion valuation mark.

Calvey, who co-founded and led Baring Vostok, one of Eastern Europe’s largest and most influential private equity firms, has been advising Plata together with serial tech entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, founder of Tinkoff, ever since Plata launched in Mexico in 2023. Both Calvey’s and Tinkov’s families are investors in Plata. Calvey previously invested in such tech powerhouses as Yandex, Ozon, Tinkoff and many others before they became publicly-traded household names in their respective fields.

Plata Co-founders Neri Tollardo, Daniil Anisimov and the rest of the team “are brilliant and we decided to support them,” Calvey, who serves on Plata’s board, recently told journalist Elizaveta Osetinskaya in an interview, referring to himself and Tinkov. He added that Plata’s growth trajectory has exceeded expectations, so the company is already evaluating international expansion opportunities into Colombia and other Latin American markets.

Tinkov, who appeared in the interview for Osetinskaya’s youtube channel alongside Calvey, said Plata is growing at twice the pace of digital bank Tinkoff in its early years. Plata “reached one million cards in a year and a half; Tinkoff needed about three years” to reach the same milestone, he said. Tinkov sold his remaining stake in what was once the world’s largest and most profitable digital bank, Tinkoff, and fully divested from Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, becoming one of the first and most vocal Russian tech entrepreneurs to speak out against the war.

Calvey also divested from Russia and stepped down from Baring Vostok after 2022, launching Baring Ventures, which retains such international fintech powerhouses as Kaspi and Revolut among its portfolio companies and also has invested in Plata. The Mexican unicorn, now operating as a fully-licensed digital bank, announced in July its successful placement of a $120 million senior unsecured bond, which was 1.7 times oversubscribed due to strong demand from international institutional investors.

“Mexico is experiencing a unique opportunity in financial innovation,” Plata’s Co-Founder and CEO Neri Tollardo told Bloomberg News earlier this year. He added that factors such as a large young population “and the growing willingness of authorities and institutions to achieve financial inclusion create a prosperous environment for investment in the country’s banking industry.”

Betting on Digital Banking in Latin America

Plata was founded in 2023 by Neri Tollardo, Danil Anisimov, and other former Tinkoff executives, and has since expanded its team to alumni of other tech powerhouses from around the world. The startup received its full banking license in Mexico in December 2024 and has since grown rapidly, now accounting for approximately 10% of all new credit card issuance in Mexico, reaching over 1 million users within its first 18 months of operation.

Plata’s founding team relocated to Mexico due to what they described as a favorable regulatory and business environment. Calvey echoed this view in the Osetinskaya interview, citing Mexico’s visa and work permit policies, a growing appetite for financial inclusion through digital channels, and a sense of vibrancy characteristic of a fast-developing emerging market.

“The business environment is very friendly to entrepreneurs,” Calvey said, adding that Plata’s young and international team combines fintech expertise and a keen understanding of the local market. That combination, he noted, is essential for scaling a neobank in a competitive and regulated financial landscape.

Mexico’s banking sector is dominated by a few large institutions, leaving significant room for digital challengers, particularly among younger and underserved consumers in one of the world’s last large cash-based markets. Plata is aiming to fill that gap with a fully licensed mobile-first platform offering credit, payments, and eventually savings and insurance products.

IPO in Sight, but Timeline Unclear

While the company has not formally disclosed IPO plans, both Calvey and Tinkov said Plata could target a valuation of around $10 billion in the medium term, potentially through a public listing in the future. No timeline has been confirmed.

Calvey’s broader portfolio at Baring Ventures, which has $5 billion of assets under management, includes several other fintech darlings, such as Kaspi, Central Asia’s leading digital marketplace and financial services platform that went public in London in 2020. In addition to being an investor in and advisor to Plata, Calvey also holds other notable advisory or governance roles, including sitting on the board of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian studies.

The investment in Plata highlights a continued focus by Calvey on growth-stage investments primarily in Europe, Central Asia, and Latin America, with a particular emphasis on businesses that combine strong tech infrastructure with high user adoption.

Plata is set to reach profitability in approximately six to nine months, according to Tinkov, despite the digital bank’s focus on fast growth, which requires a lot of investment. Calvey said Plata is already earning $25 million per month in revenue.

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