Peter Henry turns MetaMap layoff into Agricompa, a Latin American farmer fintech

Peter Henry grew up splitting time between southern Florida and Puerto Rico, learned resilience from hurricanes and a single‑parent household, and later worked in sales and baseball before joining MetaMap as VP of revenue in Latin America. In October 2022 he was laid off from MetaMap, where he had helped grow revenue from zero to $18 million ARR in 18 months.

Seeing the financing gaps faced by small farmers, Henry co‑founded Agricompa with three former MetaMap colleagues. The startup offers an all‑in‑one agro‑management platform that helps packers and traders manage cash flow and pay farmers quickly. Within months it signed up 150 farmers, raised $100 k from Day One Ventures’ Funded, not Fired program and now employs eight people, planning a Series A to expand across the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Colombia.

Agricompa enrolled 150 farmers, built an agro‑management platform, raised $100 k seed funding and aims to become the ‘Shopify for agro’ in Latin America.

Henry’s background in Latin American agriculture and finance gave him unique insight into farmers’ cash‑flow problems.

His layoff removed the safety net of a corporate job, prompting him to act on a long‑held idea of building a fintech for growers.

Early conversations with coffee roasters and cacao farmers confirmed a strong demand for accessible loans and streamlined payments.

A layoff can spark entrepreneurship when founders apply deep industry insight and personal networks to solve a clear market need, turning adversity into opportunity.

Since its launch, Agricompa has operated in beta‑stealth with eight employees, onboarded about 150 small and medium‑sized farmers in the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Colombia, and processed early loan disbursements through its platform. The company is preparing to seek a Series A round later in 2024 to scale its agro‑management software and expand its farmer network across Latin America.