# Toku Automates Latin American Recurring Collections and Debt Recovery Cristina Etcheberry scales payment orchestration across fragmented banking systems using AI collection agents. - **Source:** [TIME](https://time.com/) - **Published:** 2026-09-30 - **Topic:** [Finance](https://brifing.si/c/finance) - **Original article:** - **On Brifing:** https://brifing.si/s/8b46acdc-d1c5-4dec-9e3b-9654e21d6119 ## Resolving Fragmented Corporate Collections Cristina Etcheberry co-founded Toku in 2020 to eliminate friction in recurring payments across Latin America. The fintech infrastructure automates receivables for enterprises dealing with disconnected banking systems. Instead of manually reconciling statements, businesses integrate Toku to streamline cash inflows and eliminate operational reconciliation bottlenecks across regional markets. ## Enterprise Portfolio and Volume Toku currently processes approximately $8 billion annually across Latin American markets. The platform serves over 500 corporate clients, including automotive manufacturer Chevrolet and multinational insurance providers such as Zurich and MetLife. These enterprise institutions rely on the infrastructure to secure consistent billing cycles and mitigate high default rates. ## Rapid Cross-Border Market Expansion Originating from Santiago, Chile, Etcheberry executed an aggressive regional expansion strategy to capture larger market share. She relocated to Mexico City within a single week of deciding to enter the country. Establishing operational hubs in major Latin American economies allowed Toku to connect varied local payment rails directly. ## Record Series A Capitalization In 2025, Toku secured $48 million in Series A funding to expand platform capabilities. This round represents the largest Series A ever completed by a female-founded startup in Latin America. The proceeds provide balance-sheet strength to deepen enterprise integrations and develop proprietary collection workflows across multiple jurisdictions. ## Omnichannel AI Debt Recovery In March, Toku launched a specialized artificial intelligence agent to automate past-due payment recovery workflows. The system conducts automated customer outreach across WhatsApp, email, and voice channels. Beyond issuing basic billing reminders, the autonomous agent actively negotiates customized repayment schedules tailored to individual debtor constraints. ## Measurable Reduction in Defaults According to company figures, Toku's autonomous negotiation system reduces unrecoverable debts by up to 50 percent. By providing immediate, flexible restructuring options across conversational interfaces, clients recover capital that traditional manual outreach teams typically write off, preserving operational margins for major corporate balance sheets. ## Institutional Trust in Billing Securing global insurance and automotive brands demonstrates Toku's compliance with strict enterprise standards. Handling mission-critical premium collections for firms like MetLife requires high platform availability and bank-grade data security. The platform successfully bridges legacy core-banking architectures with modern customer-facing collection channels. ## Strategic Trajectory for LatAm Toku exemplifies the shift from basic payment gateways toward intelligent financial automation in emerging markets. By merging regional payments routing with automated resolution agents, Etcheberry positions the firm as foundational infrastructure. Future enterprise billing in Latin America increasingly depends on closing fragmented operational rails through software. ## Sources covering this story - https://time.com/collection/time100-next/2026/cristina-etcheberry/ — --- _Summary written by Brifing from the original reporting. Copyright in the original article belongs to its publisher; read the full piece at the link above._