Latin America's Global Bank

Fernando Terrés is the co-founder and CEO of ARQ (S21), a fintech company building global banking for the growing number of people in Latin America who live, work, and invest across borders. The company recently closed a $70 million Series B co-led by Sequoia and Founders Fund, and now processes more than $10 billion in annualized transaction volume. In this fireside, Fernando sat down with YC Partner Aaron Epstein to reflect on ARQ's journey from YC to one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Latin America. https://www.arqfinance.com Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs 00:00 — ARQ's $70M Series B 00:31 — What ARC Actually Does 01:09 — The Real Pain of Cross-Border Money 03:07 — From Consulting to Startup 04:10 — The Revolut Years & Crypto Insight 06:03 — First YC Check, Mexico City Mall 07:00 — What Customers Actually Wanted 09:57 — Imposter Syndrome Is Universal 11:19 — Never Celebrating Milestones 12:38 — The "Unreasonable Ambition" Value 16:04 — How They Hire & Set Goals 18:44 — Why They Rebranded from Dollar App 23:47 — Expanding to Four Countries 27:57 — Surviving the 2022 Crypto Crash 29:42 — The Next Five Years for ARQ 31:12 — How They're Using AI 37:07 — What YC Did for ARQ

Aaron EpsteinhostFernando Terrésguest

Jun 25, 202639mWatch on YouTube ↗

EPISODE INFO

Released: June 25, 2026
Duration: 39m
Channel: YC Root Access
Watch on YouTube: ▶ Open ↗

EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Fernando Terrés is the co-founder and CEO of ARQ (S21), a fintech company building global banking for the growing number of people in Latin America who live, work, and invest across borders. The company recently closed a $70 million Series B co-led by Sequoia and Founders Fund, and now processes more than $10 billion in annualized transaction volume. In this fireside, Fernando sat down with YC Partner Aaron Epstein to reflect on ARQ's journey from YC to one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in Latin America. https://www.arqfinance.com Apply to Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/apply Work at a startup: https://www.ycombinator.com/jobs 00:00 — ARQ's $70M Series B 00:31 — What ARC Actually Does 01:09 — The Real Pain of Cross-Border Money 03:07 — From Consulting to Startup 04:10 — The Revolut Years & Crypto Insight 06:03 — First YC Check, Mexico City Mall 07:00 — What Customers Actually Wanted 09:57 — Imposter Syndrome Is Universal 11:19 — Never Celebrating Milestones 12:38 — The "Unreasonable Ambition" Value 16:04 — How They Hire & Set Goals 18:44 — Why They Rebranded from Dollar App 23:47 — Expanding to Four Countries 27:57 — Surviving the 2022 Crypto Crash 29:42 — The Next Five Years for ARQ 31:12 — How They're Using AI 37:07 — What YC Did for ARQ

SPEAKERS

Aaron Epstein
host
YC Root Access interviewer (Y Combinator) who hosts the conversation and introduces the guest.
Fernando Terrés
guest
Founder/CEO of ARQ (formerly Dollar App), building USD/global account infrastructure for Latin Americans.

EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of YC Root Access, featuring Aaron Epstein and Fernando Terrés, Latin America's Global Bank explores aRQ is rebuilding LatAm cross-border banking with stablecoin infrastructure ARQ provides Latin American users with dollar-denominated global accounts, cards, and rails—built on stablecoins—to reduce FX spreads, remittance fees, and settlement delays.

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