A descendant of German migrants in Mexico, Daniel Vogel became interested in computers in 1997 when his brother showed him a website that he made himself. At that moment, Vogel realized the potential that the Internet could have and created his own page at the age of eleven. During his time in Silicon Valley, Daniel Vogel worked for Quantcast, where he developed the company’s flagship product.
When Daniel was studying for an MBA at Harvard University (USA), he began to worry about some of the problems of financial inclusion in Mexico, where only 40% of adults had a bank account and access to loans was only 20%. Through financial inclusion projects, Vogel sought to change this situation. Thus he realized another relevant fact: in the country, there are 100 million mobile phones, of which 80% are smartphones. Mexico is a country where its inhabitants have state-of-the-art gadgets in their pockets, but they don’t have a bank account.
Daniel Vogel noted that in the United States, Asia, and Europe there was an increase in the use of cryptocurrencies, but in Latin America, there was nothing similar.
Intending to increase financial inclusion, Daniel Vogel founded Bitso together with Pablo González and Ben Peters. Bitso offers a digital exchange platform that allows both Mexican citizens and companies to establish relationships in an easier, faster, safer, and more transparent way, thanks to the dependence of bitcoin on the blockchain.
Through Bitso, mobile banking users can receive payments directly in bitcoins, becoming a bridge between Mexicans and digital currencies. According to Vogel, in Mexico, no other company offers the services, structure, and prices that Bitso offers.
Bitso has grown in the emerging fintech market in Mexico, managing to obtain an increasing number of B2C and B2B clients who use its technological infrastructure to send and receive payments. The Mexican startup began to expand internationally with transfers, including remittances, which represent one of the most important capital flows in Mexico.
In November 2016, it was included in “Innovators under 35 Mexico 2016”, an award was given by MIT Technology Review. His work at Bitso has been recognized by Endeavor (Global Endeavor Entrepreneur), MassChallenge (2016 Gold Winner), the President of Mexico (Digital Leader Mexico), among others. After a successful investment round in 2021, Bitso became the third Mexican startup to reach the unicorn category.
