In some way or another, we are all migrants. History —with a capital letter— is full of small stories —with a small letter— where travelers who arrive from distant lands discover and mix with other cultures, from other coordinates.
From Aeneas, who left Anatolia in terror after losing the Trojan War and reached the shores of Lazio, to Spaniards who left their country in the last century.
Among these latest stories is that of Juan Becerra’s grandparents, who arrived in Uruguay at that time to settle in the country. Becerra never forgot the story of his grandparents, who today embody —saving the distances— the Venezuelans who, overwhelmed by the crisis that is plaguing that country, come to Uruguay to try their luck.
Thus, last year Becerra, a purebred engineer and entrepreneur, designed together with his partners Nicolás Barbani, Martín Becerra and Marcelo Tracogna a solution for sending remittances to other countries from Uruguay.
This is how Tus Giros was born, a “spin-off” from the company created by the same entrepreneurial group Criptala, which is dedicated to buying and selling cryptocurrencies. Three years ago, they began to notice that they had customers buying cryptocurrency in low amounts, mainly between US$50 and US$200, to send money to Venezuela from Uruguay. These clients did not have access to traditional transfer services due to restrictions or high costs. This led to the idea of creating a custom platform to make it easy to send money from one country to another.
After two and a half years of development, they obtained the license from the Central Bank in 2022 and officially launched the platform in December of that year in Uruguay. Through Tus Giros, customers can send money through bank transfers, debit cards or collection networks, and the money is automatically deposited in the recipient’s bank account or withdrawn in a collection network in the destination country. within a maximum period of two hours.
The company has experienced significant growth since its launch, going from 10 to 15 spins per day to 80 in one day. In turn, they expect to process 250 operations by the end of this year. In that period, they have captured different types of clients, such as Argentines and Uruguayans who send money to family and friends in the neighboring country, companies that pay salaries or fees in other countries, and mainly Venezuelan immigrants who send remittances from Uruguay to help their families. .
Although the client profile is broad, remittances to Venezuela and money to Argentina predominate due to the exchange difference that Uruguay currently maintains with that country.
Currently, from Tus Giros you can send money from Uruguay and Ecuador —where a large number of Venezuelan clients reside— to Argentina and Venezuela, and they plan to expand to other Latin American countries, such as Ecuador, Panama and Chile. They are also working on developing solutions for the US market in the future, particularly: they hope to open in Miami in the medium term.
Likewise, they are exploring the segment of companies that need to make international payments, such as salaries or fees. The main focus of the platform is to make it easy to send money quickly, with an emphasis on the online experience and fast delivery of money.
The platform seeks to provide a fast online experience and deliver the money in no more than two hours, which means a differential for the Uruguayan technology company, in terms of Becerra. The entrepreneur also thanked the organizations that have contributed to the development of technology, such as the National Agency for Research and Innovation (ANII), the Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Uruguay (AJE) and Initium, the leadership, entrepreneurship and innovation center of the um
Tus Giros, a young company of local origin that has been operating for a few months, hopes to expand throughout Latin America as a business strategy in the next two years.
