Miami’s Tech Innovators Solve International Payment Challenges with Koywe

Imagine selling your car and getting paid within an hour. That was the promise at Ignacio Detmer’s former company, but making it a reality was harder than it seemed. A simple misstep in cash management could leave customers waiting, and trust broken. Today, that memory is the driving force behind Koywe, a financial infrastructure company founded by Detmer and Guillermo Acuña, his lifelong friend from age five.

Both Chilean natives, Detmer and Acuña built successful tech companies independently before coming together in 2022. They entered Y Combinator in 2023 with no initial problem, customers, or technology. What they found was a region in Latin America poorly connected to the United States and the broader financial system. Koywe’s solution is a treasury platform that allows businesses to move money across Latin America within minutes, even on weekends. The platform supports local payments, currency exchanges, and fund settlements in fiat or stablecoins, with complex approval rules and user-friendly interfaces.

Acuña, now based in Santiago, recently tested the platform himself, moving money from the U.S. to Chile in just minutes. ‘We’re redefining the time dimension of moving money, but also the prices, the transparency, and the visibility,’ he said. The aim is to let companies focus on growth rather than cash placement.

Koywe now operates in seven Latin American markets with over 100 employees and processes over $2 billion in annual transaction volume. Miami serves as their U.S. base, with Detmer noting the city’s importance as a meeting point for U.S. investors, regional business leaders, and crypto partners. The company has raised $12.5 million from investors including Y Combinator, Franklin Templeton, and Concentric VC.