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Naranja X

Can a 40-year-old Argentine credit card brand reinvent itself as the country's leading consumer-and-SMB fintech against Mercado Pago and Ualá?

Founded1985
HQCórdoba, Argentina
Latest roundDebt, $147M
IndustryFintech / Neobank
The story

Founded 1985 in Córdoba as Tarjeta Naranja, Argentina's largest private-label credit card issuer. Repositioned in 2017 as 'Naranja' (multi-product platform) and again in 2021 as 'Naranja X' — a full fintech with accounts in ARS/USD, remunerated accounts, personal loans, MEP-dollar trading, QR/PIX/Tap acceptance for merchants, and insurance distribution. Now operating two regulated entities (Tarjeta Naranja S.A.U. for cards, Naranja Digital Compañía Financiera S.A.U. for loans/accounts), Naranja X is competing with Mercado Pago and Ualá to be the financial OS for Argentine consumers and small merchants, while experimenting with blockchain collateral to expand credit access to the ~3.5M applicants it rejects annually.

Last 12 months
2024-11
2024
2025
2025
Product timeline
1985
Tarjeta Naranja founded as Argentina's largest credit card issuer by plastic emission.· launch
1995
Strategic alliance with Grupo Financiero Galicia and Visa, Mastercard, American Express networks.· partnership
2017
Evolved into Naranja, a broader products and services platform beyond a single card.· pivot
2021
Rebranded to Naranja X — fintech platform with accounts, loans, investments and payments.· pivot
2024
Pilot with Xcapit Labs for crypto-collateralized credit cards on Rootstock/Polygon using USDC and smart contracts.· lending
2024
Migrated reconciliation infrastructure to Simetrik to handle 400% transactional growth.· infrastructure
Regulated entities
Compañía Financiera
Argentina (BCRA)
Naranja Digital Compañía Financiera S.A.U.
Credit card issuer
Argentina · 1985
Tarjeta Naranja S.A.U.
The stack
Payments / PSP
Naranja X Cobro TAP (self-operated)Naranja X Código QR (self-operated)Naranja X Cobro PIX (self-operated)Naranja X POS terminals (self-operated)
Banking / BaaS
Naranja Digital Compañía Financiera S.A.U. (in-house)
Card issuing
Tarjeta Naranja S.A.U. (in-house)
Ledger
unknown
Lending
Naranja Digital Compañía Financiera S.A.U. (in-house)Préstamos online personales (up to ~$9M ARS, up to 48 cuotas)Préstamos para estudiantesPréstamos para monotributistasCuotas sin tarjeta (QR-scan BNPL, 1/3/6 cuotas, $10k–$300k ARS)Plan Z (1/2/3 zero-interest installments on credit card)Pago Flex (credit card consumer financing)Crypto-collateralized credit card pilot (Xcapit / Rootstock)
Crypto
Xcapit LabsSelf-custodial wallet (non-custodial, Rootstock smart-contract escrow)
Accounting gap: minor