Interview with Gerry Giacomán: Insights from Clara’s CEO

Clara is one of Latin America’s standout fintech platforms, combining corporate cards, vendor payments and real-time expense controls into a single system for finance teams. Under CEO and Co-Founder Gerry Giacomán Colyer, the company has expanded across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia while adding enterprise-grade capabilities that appeal to well-known brands.

Why this conversation matters now

Finance leaders face tighter budgets, distributed teams, and the need for real-time visibility. Clara’s trajectory shows how a customer-first product, rapid iteration and disciplined go-to-market can win in a crowded category—especially as the Latin American market scales. In 2025, Clara announced new equity funding to accelerate growth, signalling continued investor confidence in the model.

Key points

Customer-centric spend management. Clara integrates locally issued corporate cards with controls, AI-driven insights and automated compliance, giving finance teams clarity and speed without sacrificing governance.

Operational scale in core markets. With operations anchored in Brazil and active across Mexico and Colombia, Clara’s growth has included enterprise customers and strong payment volumes, underpinning product maturity.

Resourced to build. Fresh capital in 2025 supports product and go-to-market investment, sustaining momentum in a category where depth of features and support determine winner-take-most outcomes.

How it works

Clara positions itself as the control centre for company spending: issue unlimited virtual/physical cards with policy controls, orchestrate vendor payments, and reconcile transactions automatically with real-time data. Its site highlights AI-driven insights and automated tax compliance, reflecting a push toward proactive finance operations rather than after-the-fact reporting.

From a market perspective, leadership has reinforced Brazil as a fast-growing base, appointing seasoned finance leadership and citing progress toward break-even in 2024—useful signals for customers evaluating platform durability.

On the capital side, Clara disclosed an $80M equity and growth round in 2025 to expand sales/marketing across core markets. Debt facilities announced later in 2025 bolstered product expansion, particularly in payments rails that matter to regional enterprise customers.

Practical steps

1) Start with policy clarity. Define spend policies and approval flows before rolling out cards. Clara enables granular controls (merchant categories, limits, teams), making it easier to encode policy into issuance from day one.

2) Pilot where spend is messy. Begin with a high-variance category—e.g., travel or field operations—then expand. Finance teams in Brazil and Mexico often start with travel and marketing budgets, where card controls and instant receipts deliver immediate ROI. (Market context from Reuters coverage of Clara’s Brazilian scale.)

3) Close the loop with automation. Use card-linked receipts, automated VAT rules and categorisation to reduce month-end close friction. Clara emphasises automated tax compliance and real-time expense capture to give finance teams same-day visibility.

4) Iterate with user feedback. Giacomán frequently highlights fast iteration and customer dialogue. Use monthly feedback cycles with budget owners to tune limits, merchant whitelists and reporting views; then socialise the wins across teams to drive adoption. (Leadership emphasis referenced in public interviews/podcasts.)

5) Measure adoption and cash impact. Track time-to-close, unsubmitted expenses, and budget variance. Tie improvements to business outcomes (lower leakage, faster reimbursements, better cash forecasting). As Clara invests in go-to-market scale post-funding, ask your account team for best-practice benchmarks by industry.

Leadership takeaways from Gerry Giacomán

• Agility with discipline. Keep teams shipping quickly, but anchor on unit economics and market depth. Growth updates through 2024–2025 suggest a measured path to scale in Brazil with enterprise logos—evidence that agility and discipline can coexist.

• Local depth wins. Issuing locally, managing taxes and meeting regional compliance needs are non-negotiable in LatAm—Clara’s locally issued cards and compliance positioning speak to this.

• Capital as a catalyst, not a crutch. The 2025 round and subsequent debt facilities are framed as accelerants to an existing trajectory, not as lifelines—useful context for risk-sensitive CFOs.

Summary

Gerry Giacomán’s playbook at Clara blends customer-centric product development with region-specific execution and rigorous financial stewardship. For finance leaders evaluating spend-management platforms, the lesson is clear: prioritise control, automation and local depth—and measure the outcomes month by month.

For tailored guidance on selecting or rolling out spend-management tools, contact Generation Digital.

FAQ

Q1: What is Clara’s main focus in fintech?
Clara provides a spend-management platform for companies in Latin America, combining corporate cards, vendor payments and real-time expense software.

Q2: Where does Clara operate today?
Clara is active across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia, with Brazil highlighted as a rapid-growth market in 2024.

Q3: What recent milestones should CFOs know about?
In 2025, Clara announced an $80M equity and growth round and later secured structured debt financing to expand payment products—signals of continued scale and investment.

Q4: What leadership themes does Gerry Giacomán emphasise?
Customer feedback loops, continuous iteration, and balancing growth with profitability.