TLDR

📣 2023 LAVCA Startup Founders Survey
 

📣 New Rounds for: Neon Pagamentos, Tembici, Tuhabi, Beek, minu,
Medsi, Lemu, Juvo, Michroma, Blumer, Diferente, Paketá

📣 Funds: Warburg Pincus Reaches USD15.4b final close

📣 Startup M&A: CRM&Bônus Acquires Giver; 
Infracommerce Acquires Ecomsur; PedidosYa Acquires Hugo

LAVCA conducted a Startup Founders Survey to capture how 160+ venture-backed founders are responding to a radically different macroeconomic context in the Latin American tech ecosystem, following a sustained period of significant growth, with a record USD16b in VC investment deployed in 2021, according to LAVCA Data.
​​​​​

Founders across ten countries submitted substantive responses, which are the basis for new aggregate financial and operating benchmarks, with new insights on valuation, revenue growth and workforce composition.
 

LAVCA Members can log in to download the 2023 Startup Founders Survey Excel file. Non-members can purchase access to the data.

Stay tuned for LAVCA’s 2022 Full-Year Industry Data and Analysis in mid-February.

Deals

▸ Brazilian fintech Neon Pagamentos raised ~USD66.2m through a FIDC (Fundo de Investimentos em Direitos Creditorios) managed by XP.

• Neon raised a USD300m Series D led by Spanish Bank BBVA in February 2022.

▸ Felicis Partners led a USD50m Series C for Runway, a NY-based film production and editing platform. 

• Runway was co-founded by Chileans Cristobal Valenzuela and Alejandro Matamala-Ortiz.
• Previous Runway investors include Coatue, Lux Capital, Compound Ventures and Amplify Partner.

▸ BNDES invested ~USD32m in Tembici, a Brazilian micro-mobility platform focused on bikes with operations in Chile, Argentina and Colombia.

• Tembici raised a ~USD10.6m round from Itaú, Mastercard and Colombian natural gas company Vanti in October 2022 and a USD10m round led by Blue Like an Orange in April 2022.

▸ DEBT | Tuhabi, a subsidiary of Colombian protech Habi focused on brokering sales of used home purchases, secured a USD21m credit line from BBVA to expand its operations in Mexico.

• Habi just secured a USD6.3m cred line from Bancoldex and a USD75m credit line from Triple Point Capital in June 2022.

▸ WOMEN LED | Insight Venture Partners led a USD13m Series A for Beek, a Mexican audiobook and meditation platform, with participation from angels Sam Altman (OpenAI), Dylan Field (Figma), Sebastian Mejia (Rappi), Alfonso de los Rios (Nowports) and Jorge Mazal (Duolingo), and follow-on from Greylock and Accel.

• Beek was co-founded by Pamela Valdes.

▸ minu, a Mexican employee wellness platform, raised a USD10m bridge round with participation from Coppel Capital, Besant Capital and Enea Capital, and follow-on from QED Investors, Salkantay and FinTech Collective. 

• minu also raised USD20m in debt from Accial Capital as part of the round. 
• FinTech Collective led a USD14m Series A in March 2021.

▸ DEBT | Medsi, a Mexican lending platform for healthcare services, secured USD10m in debt financing from Mexican credit company CAPEM.

▸ CLEANTECH | Arauco Ventures, the CVC arm of Chilean lumber company Arauco, led a USD8m Series A for Lemu, a Chilean crowdsourcing platform for nature conservation projects.

• This is the second largest investment in a Chilean cleantech startup after Algramos’ USD8.5m Series A in July 2021.

▸ CVC | SRM Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian asset manager SRM, invested ~USD8m in Juvo, a Brazilian credit financing platform for Brazilian underbanked customers.

• SRM Ventures has led four investments in the past four months, including LinKapital (~USD14m), Openbox (~USD4m), Tutu Digital (~USD4m) and Broadfactor (~USD4m).

▸ FOODTECH | Supply Change Capital led a USD6.4m seed round for Michroma, a US- and Argentina-based developer of fungi-derived food colorants, with participation from Be8 Ventures and Koran biotech CJ CheilJedang. 

▸ CRYPTO | Blumer, a Colombian social network that allows users to monetize their engagement through crypto payments, raised a USD5m round from undisclosed investors to launch operations in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil.

• Blumer raised a USD1m pre-seed round from Stratum Investments in September 2022.

▸ FOODTECH | Caravela Capital led a ~USD3.2m round for Diferente, a Brazilian low-cost grocery delivery platform repurposing fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be discarded based on their appearance, with follow-on from Collaborative Fund, South Ventures and Valor Siren Ventures.

• MAYA Capital led a ~USD4.8m seed round in April 2022.

▸ IOB invested ~USD3.2m in a Series A extension for Paketá, a Brazilian credit consignment platform.

• Kinea Ventures, the CVC arm of Itaú, led the ~USD5.4m Series A in October 2021; 
• DEBT | Paketá just secured a ~USD60m credit facility from Milenio Capital in January.

▸ AGTECH | Barauna VC and MOV invested ~USD2m in Symbiomics, a Brazilian developer of sustainable fertilizers developed from microorganisms.

• Vesper Ventures invested in January 2022.

▸ WEB3 | Globant’s BeKind Tech Fund invested USD1m in Polemix, an Argentine token-based opinion platform. 

• Newtopia invested in September 2022.

▸ IDB and Cordoba’s Innovar y Emprender Agency led a USD1m pre-seed round for Nippy, an Argentine employee benefits platform for independent workers.

> Auto.cl, a Chilean new car data aggregator, raised USD1m from Civic Inversiones and other undisclosed investors.

▸ WOMEN LED | Mexican asset manager LDM Capital invested USD750k in Getin, a Mexican brick-and-mortar retail analytics platform.

• Getin was co-founded by Anabell Trejo. 
• Getin was selected to participate in the the LAC Women Founders Accelerator, a program hosted by Google in partnership with IDB Lab in March 2022.

▸ WOMEN LED | ACE Startups led a ~USD600k seed round for Talent Academy, a Brazilian psychometrics-based employee performance and retention platform. 

• Talent Academy was co-founded by Renata Betti. 

▸ EDTECH | Yunus Social Business invested ~USD400k in Portábilis, a Brazilian management platform for public offices in charge of education programs at the municipality level.

▸ FOODTECH | UK-based foodtech investor Veg Capital made a ~USD220k follow-on investment in Super Vegan, a Brazilian plant-based chocolate brand.

• Veg Capital first invested in July 2021.

▸ ANGEL | GV Angels led a ~USD700k round for Leadster, a Brazilian conversation-based marketing and lead management platform, with participation from Silver Angels.

Funds 

▸ Warburg Pincus reached a USD15.4b final close for Warburg Pincus Global Growth 14, its fourteenth flagship fund to invest across private equity and growth equity in the Americas, Europe and Asia.

• Warburg Pincus’ Latin America tech portfolio includes Petz, Take Blip and Sólides.

▸ Embraer made a ~USD4m commitment to MultiCorp II, Banco do Brasil’s second flagship fund with a ~USD20-30m target.

• Other LPs in MultiCorp II include BB Seguros, Moura Baterias and Agência Estadual de Fomento do Rio de Janeiro.

▸ CLIMATE | Rumbo Ventures launched its first flagship fund with a USD50m target to invest in early-stage climate-focused pre-seed through Series A startups in Ibero America.

• Rumbo Ventures was founded by ALLVP former Managing Partner Fernando Lelo de Larrea.
• Rumbo Ventures portfolio includes Cultivo, Nilus, Thalasso and Tycho.

▸ Brazilian VC Pyaar Fund launched its first flagship fund with a ~USD20m target to invest in startups from Brazil’s favelas. 

▸ LAVCA publishes an annual directory of VC/Tech members, with profiles on 75+ firms active in Latin America.

Startups 

▸ M&A | CRM&Bônus, a Brazilian white-label giftback platform for retailers, acquired Giver, a Brazilian loyalty platform, for ~USD6.6m. 

• CRM&Bonus raised ~USD56m from SoftBank, Riverwood Capital, Igah Ventures and Volpe Capital at a ~USD200m valuation in October 2021.

▸ M&A | Brazilian e-commerce platform Infracommerce acquired Ecomsur, a Chilean omnichannel sales management platform, in an all-stock deal.

• Infracommerce also acquired Tevec, a Brazilian platform developing demand prediction algorithms for retail shopping for ~USD5m in 2021.
• Infracommerce raised ~USD174m in an IPO on the B3 in April 2021.

▸ M&A | PedidosYa, an Uruguayan last-mile delivery marketplace, acquired Hugo, a Salvadoran last-mile delivery platform, and shut it down. 

• Hugo’s investors included Proeza Ventures and TMT Investments.
• PedidosYa was acquired by Delivery Hero in 2014. In 2019, iFood acquired the company’s Brazilian operations.

▸ FOODTECH | Chilean foodtech NotCo is now a B-certified company. 

• NotCo raised a USD70m Series D+ in December led by US-based investor Princeville Capital and a USD235m Series D in July 2021.

▸ LAST MILE | JOKR, a NY- and Berlin-based last-mile retail delivery platform, shut down its operations in Mexico and Colombia after raising a ~USD50m Series C to double down on Brazil. 

• JOKR closed its US operations to focus on Latin America last year. 

News 

▸ Itaú Unibanco raised ~USD400m to expand its lending platform for women-led SMEs in Brazil. 

• The total amount raised is a combination of a ~USD200m private commitment from the IFC and ~USD200m raised in the public market. 

▸ Nubank is shutting down Nu Investimentos, its investment advisory unit for retail clients. 

• The service was used by a small percentage of the total client base, according to the company. 
• The decision is part of a broader workforce restructuring initiative.

▸ CRYPTO | Binance partnered with Mastercard in Brazil to launch Binance Card, its crypto-based credit card for everyday purchases.

• Binance has also been active in Mexico, opening an office in CDMX and appointing Adalberto Palma, former president of the Mexican Securities and Banking Commission (CNBV), to its global advisory board.

▸ HEALTHTECH | FastCompany reviews the role of technology in protecting women’s sexual health and reproductive rights in Central America through apps such as Aya Contigo, a Venezuelan one-on-one virtual support platform for self-managed abortions, and Chava, a Nicaraguan sexual health education platform for girls. 

▸ The Mexican government issued a warning about heightened consumption of clonazepam by teenagers following a TikTok challenge: “Whoever falls asleep last wins.”

Investors

▸ ALLVP reviews three trends that in their view will shape the Latin American tech ecosystem including AI, digital money and supply chain nearshoring. 

▸ Andre Maciel of Volpe Capital shares his view on strategies for global tech investors to seize the current opportunity in Latin America. 

▸ SoftBank Group released its latest operating results.

• Notable takeaways:
  • SoftBank’s Latin America Fund represents 5% of the Group’s equity value.
  • 79% of all portfolio companies invested through the LatAm Fund have 12+ months of runway, compared to 99% of the Vision Fund’s. 

▸ Marcelo Claure of Claure Group was appointed President of Shein Latin America, the local arm of the Chinese fast fashion retailer, and will invest USD100m into its regional operations. 

• Shein had higher sales in Brazil in 2022 than Lojas Renner, Soma, Arezzo and Guarapes combined.

▸ Finnovista published Fintech Radar Mexico 2023, a local analysis of 650+ fintechs operating in the country as of 2022.

• Notably, lack of clear regulation is singled out as one of the biggest challenges to achieving sustained growth and higher investor participation.

People & Programs

▸ WOMEN LED | Congratulations to Christine Kenna of IGNIA for being appointed to the board of directors of Alsea, Latin America’s largest restaurant holding.

• Alsea’s portfolio includes Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza, Burger King, Chilis, and P.F. Chang’s among others.

▸ FOODTECH | Congratulations to the five startups selected to participate in Spanish VC Eatable Adventures’ Colombian foodtech program: Mimi, Spiga, Amande Cocina, JoyFuds and Raspow.

▸ MAYA Capital is hosting the fourth edition of its Matching Program, a series of expert-led talks attended by founders to meet potential co-founders. This time the program will focus on operators in Spanish-speaking Latin America. Interested candidates are welcome to apply before February 10. 

▸ WOMEN LED | Astella Investimentos launched astELLAS, a free women founder mentorship program starting today to support women founders on product development and fundraising strategy. Interested founders are welcome to sign up. 

▸ Finnovista will host Finnosummit Connect 2023 in Cancun, Mexico from February 14-17. View the agenda and register.

▸ AMEXCAP will host Cumbre de Capital Privado 2023 in Mexico City on March 28 and 29. Details here. 

▸ ColCapital will host IV Congreso de Capital Privado y Capital Emprendedor de la Alianza del Pacífico in Bogotá on March 7 and 8. Details here. 

Global Tech

▸ SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA Senior Advisor Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers tech activity in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East. Recent issues covered breastmilk innovation and China’s growing EV investment. 

LAVCA is now part of GPCA, the Global Private Capital Association, and will continue to operate as a parallel membership organization with its own dedicated team and board.