CÍVICO

About CÍVICO

CÍVICO operated as a digital and financial inclusion ecosystem, founded in 2012 by Juan Felipe Castaño, Ricardo Pombo, and Juan Carlos Agudelo. The company was headquartered in Bogota, Colombia, and ceased operations in early 2024. The founding team's background was integral to the company's development; Castaño brought over a decade of experience in Latin American digital ventures and online business development, while Pombo had a history in digital transformation and new media from his time at Casa Editorial El Tiempo.

The firm's core business was a platform designed to bridge the gap between small merchants and consumers by crowdsourcing and providing detailed location data for businesses in cities like Bogota, Mexico City, and Santiago de Chile. This information included hours of operation, product listings, and contact details, effectively creating a digital presence for numerous small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The platform served a diverse client base that included local merchants, larger brands, and government entities. At its peak, CÍVICO amassed a user base of over 5 million.

The company's primary offering was its digital ecosystem, which empowered merchants to accept digital payments and gain access to financial products such as microcredits, thereby increasing foot traffic to their physical locations. A key feature was "Cívico Negocios," a dedicated space for SMEs to market themselves. Revenue was generated through data-driven strategies for larger brands and government clients, leveraging the 30 million data points processed on the platform to inform decisions on retail expansion, promotions, and financial inclusion initiatives. Despite securing investments from notable institutions like Acción's Gateway Fund and Mastercard, the company was ultimately recorded as being out of business as of February 2024.