Evaluating only Monkey Exchange’s profile at its peak — without knowing the outcome — the model ranked Regulation as the #1 likely cause. That’s exactly how it died.
Monkey Exchange built a B2B marketplace for receivables discounting — allowing SMEs to sell future invoices for immediate cash. The platform reached R$200M in transactions before Brazil's securities regulator (CVM) ruled that receivables tokens constituted securities, requiring costly licensing the startup couldn't afford. Operations ceased in 2020.
Lesson
“In regulated industries, get pre-clearance from the regulator before you scale. Forgiveness is not guaranteed.”