C6 Bank, the Brazilian digital bank in which JPMorgan Chase holds a 46% stake, agreed on 3 September 2026 to acquire Alymente, a corporate benefits startup founded in 2017. The deal is C6's entry into the market for meal, food and other employee benefit cards.
The price was not disclosed. Completion depends on approval from Brazil's Central Bank and on other conditions precedent; the Rio Times cited press reports that closing could take two to three months.
Once the deal closes, Alymente will be renamed C6 Benefícios and its cards will be issued under the Mastercard brand. According to the Rio Times, Alymente's team of about 40 people will join the bank.
What Alymente built
Alymente runs a multi-benefit card that covers nine categories, including food, mobility and well-being, and adds services such as telemedicine, psychological support and gym access. Employers can tailor the mix of benefits for their staff.
Its platform also handles HR tasks beyond benefits: managing rewards and incentive programmes, vehicle fleets, corporate expenses and employee reimbursements. The company serves more than 100,000 beneficiaries, and the Rio Times and Dealroom reported that it works with about 1,200 client companies. Named clients include Heineken, Nissan, BIC and Pernod Ricard; Startups.com.br has also listed Pfizer, Total Express and Scania.
Startups.com.br reported that founder and chief executive André Purri came up with the idea while working at the payments company Stone, where he saw that merchants wanted better terms for accepting corporate benefit vouchers. None of the reports disclosed how much outside funding Alymente had raised.
“Nossa ambição sempre foi ser um banco completo para as empresas.”
Why C6 is buying
C6 has been building out services for business clients, and the bank presented the deal as filling a gap in that offer. Ricardo Botelho, who heads C6's business banking, said the bank's ambition had always been to be a complete bank for companies, and that the acquisition brought in a working platform and a team that already knows the sector.
Buying Alymente spares C6 from building a benefits operation from scratch. Alymente's corporate clients will also gain access to the bank's other financial products, and C6 said it is preparing a payroll service for the coming months so that companies can pay salaries through the bank as well.
C6 chief executive and founder Marcelo Kalim told Bloomberg Línea that deregulation of the sector, which opened card acquiring to everyone, was the reason the bank would enter the segment in the second half of the year.
The Rio Times noted that C6 Bank began operating in 2019 and was founded by former executives of the investment bank BTG Pactual.
A crowded market opening up
Corporate benefits move more than R$150 billion (about $29.3 billion) a year in Brazil and reach more than 22 million workers. According to C6, four large operators handle about 80% of that volume. The established issuers include Ticket, Alelo and Pluxee, while newer fintechs such as Flash, Caju and Swile have been competing for the same employers.
A recent rule change allows any card acquirer to process benefit card transactions. Previously each issuer ran its own network of accepting merchants, which made it hard for new competitors to enter.
What happens to customers
The rebranding takes effect only once the deal closes. After that, existing clients will move to the C6 Benefícios brand, with cards carrying the Mastercard network, and will be offered C6's banking services alongside their benefits programmes.
Neither side said whether Alymente's founder will take a role at the bank. C6 said the team that already knows the benefits sector is a main reason for the purchase, and Alymente's employees are expected to move across with the platform.
C6 has not said how quickly it plans to grow C6 Benefícios or whether it will price the product to win clients from the four large incumbents.
