Brazilian IDtech company Unico, which currently operates in 20 countries, announced on Wednesday afternoon, April 29th, the appointment of Luis Felipe Monteiro as CEO for Latin America. The executive, who has served as the company's global vice president of institutional relations since February of last year, arrives with the mission of expanding business in the region.
Monteiro's first action will be to implement the company's arrival in Argentina, which will take place by the end of the first half of the year. There are also plans to enter the Colombian market, possibly in early 2027.
Brazil, which accounts for 80% of the company's revenue in the identity verification segment, recorded 34% growth in the first quarter. The outlook is to close 2026 with growth between 30% and 40%. In Mexico, where the company has been operating for about two years, growth was 100%.
“Unico is no longer a local company. It’s a Brazilian big tech company expanding its services worldwide. And one region where we are paying much more attention is Latin America,” says Monteiro, in an interview with NeoFeed .
Among the markets where the company already operates are the United States, the Middle East, Indonesia, and Eastern Europe. In the case of Latin America, the avenue for growth lies precisely in the opportunities for developing the fraud prevention segment.
“The strategy for expanding in Latin America is related to the fact that digitization, especially in the system, is still expanding rapidly. Argentina is one such case, as was Brazil a few years ago,” says the CEO.
At the same time, the volume of sophisticated fraud has been growing significantly in the countries of the bloc, which is causing the demand for Unico's service to increase.
On the company's platform, attempts at more elaborate fraud increased by 1,082% last year, mainly through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to replicate faces, voices, and behaviors.
“And these fraudsters are exploiting these other countries. We recently spoke with Argentinian banks, which detected an escalation of these fraud attempts, with profiles very similar to those in Brazil. That's why it makes a lot of sense for Unico to expand its operations,” says Monteiro.
As was the case in his role as global VP, Monteiro will continue to report to Unico's global CEO, founder Diego Martins. With the organizational chart change, each country in Latin America will have a head of operations, but under the leadership of the new regional CEO.
Before joining Unico, Monteiro worked in the public sector, in the technology field. Between 2018 and 2021, he was the National Secretary of Digital Government, where he led the creation of the Gov.br digital platform.
Unico has also recently entered the age verification technology market, primarily with the implementation of the Digital Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA).
“This is a new industry where self-declaration is prohibited. Platforms need to accurately confirm that the person is of legal age. We are launching this product in the coming weeks,” says Monteiro.
In Brazil, Unico currently has around 800 clients across 23 business segments. These include the country's five largest private banks and nine of the ten largest retail companies.
In 2025, the company recorded 32% revenue growth compared to the previous year. And it achieved positive EBITDA for the second consecutive year. The company does not disclose the figures.
During the year, Unico carried out 1.5 billion identity verifications, which, according to the company, prevented losses of R$ 23 billion from fraud.
The company's growth also depends on its acquisition model. Last year, Unico acquired the American company OWnID, which focuses on the passwordless authentication market.
“We learned that the international expansion strategy works very well in the inorganic model. We find a partner in each of these regions and evaluate the best model. And this is part of the strategy for the new regions,” says Monteiro.
The executive says there are plans to acquire new companies, but does not reveal the size of the separate check. “Our vision is to create a global identity network that protects society in the digital world. This player is still being built, and Único is very well positioned.”
Invested in by SoftBank, General Atlantic, and Goldman Sachs, Unico completed its last funding round in 2022, when it was valued at US$2.6 billion.
