Building a FinTech Powerhouse in Brazil: Pedro Góes, CEO of Paytrack, on Travel, Expense & Growth

Brian Samson (00:01.651)
Welcome everyone to another episode of the Nearshore Cafe podcast. I’m Brian Samson, your host. First, I want to thank our sponsor, Plug Technologies, PLUGG.Tech. Great way to connect talent from all over Latin America to growing US companies. If you’re interested in the world of fintech in Latin America, especially Brazil, this is going to be a great episode for you.

I have Pedro Gois, the CEO of Paytrack, and we’re going to have a great conversation. Pedro, thanks so much for joining us today.

Pedro Góes (00:37.89)
Hi, Brian. Thank you for the invitation. I hope we’ll have a good chat here.

Brian Samson (00:44.023)
So as we let off, Paytrack, it’s a really interesting fintech that is for the Brazilian market. Tell us more, like, what does it do? What do the products do? Who is it for? All that stuff.

Pedro Góes (01:02.062)
So, Paytrack is an all-in-one solution for travel and expense management. We help medium, large, and enterprise companies spend their money better. From the beginning—when you have a booking, travel, hotel, flights, car rental—until the last part where you have to do the accountability of the expenses related to this travel. And not only travels, but also departmental spending. We help companies control, manage, and simplify all of this.

As a fintech, we also provide cards where the company can manage and spend their funds. So it’s truly an all-in-one solution for Brazilian companies and, increasingly, for Latin American companies.

Brian Samson (02:13.408)
Interesting. So your customer base has expanded outside of Brazil?

Pedro Góes (02:17.964)
Yes, yes. We have some customers outside Brazil. First, of course, there were Brazilian companies that started to use Paytrack in other parts of the world. As we are helping enterprise companies, this is really common. They have subsidiaries around the world, and Paytrack usually becomes the solution for all of them.

Brian Samson (02:44.969)
Interesting. If I may ask about currency, because it’s much more complicated when you have multiple currencies in the system and sometimes you have volatility as well. Can you talk about how Paytrack thinks about that?

Pedro Góes (03:01.294)
Yes, actually. First of all, Paytrack had to be prepared to work outside Brazil. Our card solution can support companies not only in Brazil but worldwide. Currency volatility is mainly a problem for our customers—Brazilian companies traveling abroad are heavily impacted by the value of the real. We’ve seen international travel decrease somewhat in the past year, but companies still need to do business and will continue to travel.

Brian Samson (04:08.853)
Yes, travel is recovering. People are excited to attend conferences, visit customers, and travel more. How did Paytrack navigate COVID?

Pedro Góes (04:27.726)
Yes, it was tough. But our strong solution for expense management helped. Even when travel dropped, companies still had expenses—car travel, services, even home office resources. Competitors focused only on travel management lost 80–90% of their revenue, while Paytrack could continue supporting expense management. We even closed big deals because companies wanted modern solutions.

Brian Samson (08:19.189)
So your business runs on a SaaS model, like monthly per user?

Pedro Góes (08:31.022)
Exactly. That’s our first revenue stream. Then we also earn from travel services purchased inside our platform (flights, hotels, etc.), and from our card solution. Multiple revenue sources helped us survive COVID and later accelerate growth.

Brian Samson (10:55.563)
Can you tell us more about your personal career journey?

Pedro Góes (11:27.404)
[Pedro shares his career story—from law school, switching to engineering, launching startups, joining Paytrack early, leading multiple areas, and eventually becoming CEO in 2023.]

Brian Samson (18:35.425)
As Paytrack grew from 15 employees to nearly 400, can you share how the company was funded?

Pedro Góes (18:57.91)
[Pedro explains how Paytrack was mostly bootstrapped, with founders investing their own money, some small funding rounds, and eventually a partnership with Riverwood to accelerate growth.]

Brian Samson (22:54.987)
How has venture capital in Brazil changed in the last decade?

Pedro Góes (23:43.874)
[Pedro explains the shift from B2C to B2B focus, investor caution around valuations, and the rise of AI attracting VC funding.]

Brian Samson (26:46.987)
What about Brazil’s culture of risk-taking in entrepreneurship?

Pedro Góes (27:23.476)
In Brazil, entrepreneurs are real risk takers. It’s harder to get funding compared to places like San Francisco. People invest their own money, careers, and effort despite challenges like high taxes. Starting a business in Brazil is tough, but that makes the founders very resilient.

Brian Samson (30:31.031)
Tell us more about Paytrack’s location in Blumenau.

Pedro Góes (31:02.882)
[Pedro explains the city’s German roots, Oktoberfest, local tech ecosystem, and how Paytrack grew there before expanding to São Paulo.]

Brian Samson (34:02.071)
As we close out, what advice do you have for other entrepreneurs in Brazil and Latin America?

Pedro Góes (34:30.56)

• Focus on sales first.

• Build a structure with intelligence, not just effort.

• Start with a good CRM and think big early.

Brian Samson (37:00.555)
Amazing. Pedro, thank you for a fantastic conversation.

Pedro Góes (37:18.38)
Thank you, Brian.

Brian Samson (37:22.075)
Thanks again to our sponsor, Plug Technologies, PLUGG.Tech. See you next time.