Rebuilding LatAm Banking

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, Rebuilding LatAm Banking 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.

RELATED EPISODES