Banking Is Going Digital. This Atlanta Hardware Startup Is Building Physical Access.
ATLANTA, September 28 (Hypepotamus) - Loto Punto, a Create-X and Techstars startup building in Atlanta, started as an automated ticket vending machine on a street corner in Colombia.
But “selling lottery slips had a ceiling,” the startup’s CEO Victor Espinosa told Hypepotamus. Yet, he saw a larger market opportunity in turning the machine he had built into a “full banking agent" that can help bring more digital access to the unbanked and underbanked.
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As he explained to Hypepotamus, “what started as a machine to buy a shot at being a millionaire, evolved into a financial hub, bridging cash with digital finance without losing its neighborhood soul.”
Today, Loto Punto’s easy to spot yellow machines are serving as a unique hardware and FinTech bridge between communities.
How Loto Punto Works
Loto Punto self-service kiosks allow customers to pay bills, make instant transfers, top up accounts, and, true to the company’s roots, play lotteries.
It is all about meeting the needs of Espinosa’s community.
“During one of our early pilots, when our machines only sold lottery tickets, people kept walking up asking a frustrated question: Where is the nearest bank branch? He explained to Hypepotamus. “In many Latin American neighborhoods, the answer was usually a 40-minute bus ride into the city center, followed by a two-hour wait in line just to deposit cash or pay a utility bill."
"However, this is not just a regional issue—it is happening across the U.S. as well, as traditional banks continuously shrink their physical footprint and abandon these communities.”
Within the US, Loto Punto is launching a Branch-as-a-Service, which Espinosa said gives financial institutions an “instant, plug-and-play physical presence without the expensive overhead of brick-and-mortar real estate.”
Now, in the world of neo-banks and app-based payments, in-person payments machines might seem antiquated. But for Espinosa, that is missing a key point.
“Fair financial access is a universal problem,” he added. “While a banking app can process a transfer, only a physical presence builds long-standing trust. People believe in what they can see, touch, and walk up to.”
Building Loto Punto In Atlanta
Atlanta’s FinTech community made it a natural fit for Loto Punto’s US expansion efforts.
But the startup’s roots run even deeper. Espinosa initially moved to Atlanta to pursue his master’s degree at Georgia Tech.
Earlier this year, Espinosa participated in Create-X’s spring cohort on Georgia Tech’s campus.
“CREATE-X changed everything by expanding our horizon. While being in the program in the U.S., we fell in love with a striking problem: millions of unbanked and underbanked people paying exorbitant fees at ATMs just to access their own hard-earned money, cash checks, or send remittances. An unfair tax on the very people who can least afford it. We assumed this was uniquely a Latin American problem, but in the U.S., the crisis is ten times worse,” she added. “To help us tackle this challenge, the program provided the mentorship, frameworks, and safe-to-fail environment needed to refine our core platform and validate key user assumptions.”
Maija Ehlinger
Now, Espinosa is setting up Loto Punto’s HQ in the city.
“With our Atlanta headquarters established, our primary focus is partnering with regional banks, credit unions, and retail networks to launch our next 200 Branch-as-a-Service locations across Georgia in the next ten months,” he added. “In addition to our cross border payments service with the Stellar blockchain, we'll integrate America’s leading banks real-time payment networks, including 2,200 financial institutions with 74% of all U.S. demand deposit accounts, covering more than 160 million active users.”
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