Two of the most prominent figures in post-Soviet finance – Oleg Tinkov and Michael Calvey – have reunited as investors in Plata, a rapidly growing Mexican fintech aiming to replicate the success of Tinkoff Bank, Russia’s first and leading online-only fintech, in Latin America.

Plata, founded in 2023 by former Tinkoff Bank executives Neri Tollardo, Alexander Bro and Danil Anisimov, is now among the most valuable startups in Latin America. In March, the company was valued at $1.5bn following a $160mn funding round from European and US investors, including New York’s Kora and Moore Strategic Ventures. Tinkov and Calvey’s families were among the original backers, alongside about 20 of Plata’s top executives.

AS the head and founder of Barings Vostok Capital Management, the US-born Calvey is the most famous fund manager in Russia and responsible for bringing billions of dollars of private equity investments into Russia. He has an impeccable track record, having been an early investors into “homerun” projects like Russia’s leading search engine Yandex, which eventually IPO’d with a valuation of $11bn. He was also an early investor into Kazakhstan’s Kaspi.kz, which IPO’d with a valuation of $6.5bn.

However, Calvey made front page news when he was arrested by Russian authorities on St Valentine’s day in 2022 as part of a dispute with his co-investors into a Russian bank. He spent two years in jail and was eventually given a suspended sentence on fraud charges, but he has since left the country and the sentence was erased by the authorities.

Tinkov is a serial entrepreneur, springing to prominence with an eponymous beer, before going on to found Tinkoff Bank. However, he is one of only two prominent business leaders to publicly condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and was forced to sell his bank to oligarch Vladimir Potanin for “kopeks on the ruble.” He left the country and set up shop in Mexico, where he has been working to repeat the success of Tinkoff Bank in Latin America.

In an interview with journalist Elizaveta Osetinskaya released on her YouTube channel Eto Osetinskaya, Tinkov said Plata’s valuation could double in its next round and reach $10bn within two years, at which point the company aims to launch an IPO, The Bell reports.

“Plata is growing about twice as fast as Tinkoff Bank did at the start,” Tinkov said. “We reached one million cards in a year and a half; Tinkoff needed about three years.”

Plata’s main product is the Plata Card, a cashback credit card delivered by couriers who assist with setup and onboarding. The startup received its banking licence in Mexico in December and now issues roughly one in every ten new credit cards in the country, according to the company.

Tinkov, who renounced his Russian citizenship, sold his stake in Tinkoff Bank in 2022. He has since focused on building fintech ventures abroad. Calvey, who was also an investor in Tinkoff Bank and a personal friend of Tinkov, was one of the earliest Western investors in Russian tech and banking, and now lives in Switzerland, having handed control of Barings Vostok to  his Russian partners.

Plata currently employs about 2,000 people, of whom 700 are Russian. Tinkov said 100 staff are based in Mexico, while others work from Cyprus, Serbia and Barcelona. He noted that nearly all employees now hold Mexican citizenship. “Right now, with the exception of a few managers, no one [at Plata] even has Russian passports,” he said.

Calvey added that Mexico has proved itself to be a practical destination for relocation, with visa-free entry for Russians and relatively smooth work permit processes. Plata is now seeking a licence in Colombia, with plans to expand further across the region.

The Yakutia-based InDrive taxi hailing service also targeted Mexico as its first market of operation following its decision to leave Russia in 2022 after the war broke out for similar reasons: a large but underserviced population in a fast growing economy.

“We participate in all key decisions,” Tinkov said of his and Calvey’s involvement. “But we are not involved in the operational day-to-day.”