2024 LAVCA Trends in Tech

While total investment was in line with pre-pandemic levels, the total number of disclosed deals increased by 43% when compared to 2020 – the year with the third most transactions on record, propelled by steady participation from seed-stage investors.

Our annual Trends in Techreport breaks down 2023 VC investment data, top deals, highlighted transactions and most active investors, as well as round size analysis and country-specific trends. 

Notable analysis in this year’s report includes:

• A new view on how venture investors are deploying capital as they seek to de-risk their portfolios amidst limited sources of follow-on financing.
• Analysis of investment activity by investment stage
• Spotlights on Climate Tech, AI & Machine Learning and Logistics

LAVCA Members can log in to download the accompanying LAVCA Data Pack.

New LAVCA Member Portal

We got a facelift. LAVCA Members can now access our new interactive data portal. Our quarterly reports will continue to be the best source for aggregate data, but this new portal will give LAVCA Members the option to filter and export publicly disclosed transaction-level data. 

If you are an active LAVCA Member and require assistance accessing the portal, please email contact@lavca.org with the names and email addresses of all the users who require access from your firm. Our team also remains available to fulfill custom research requests not included in our reports.

Deals

▸ Goldman Sachs Asset Management led a USD55m Series B for Simetrik, a Colombian B2B platform for automatic financial reconciliation, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, MELI Fund, Falabella Ventures, Actyus, and follow-on from FinTech Collective, Cometa and Moore Strategic Ventures. 

• FinTech Collective led a USD24m Series A in April 2022; Simetrik raised a USD5m seed round led by Cometa in April 2021. 

▸ General Atlantic led a USD50m Series C for Bold, a Colombian payment platform for SMEs, with participation from the IFC, and follow-on from InQLab and Amador.

• Tiger Global led a USD55m Series B in February 2022.

▸ AGTECH | Syngenta Group Ventures led a USD38m Series D for ProducePay, a US-based financing platform for farmers in Latin America, with participation from CF Private Equity and follow-on from G2 Venture Partners and Anterra Capital.

• G2VP led a USD43m Series C in May 2021.

▸ US-based PE investor Creation Investments led a USD25m round for AVLA, a regional insurance and trade credit solutions group with operations in Chile, Peru, Mexico and Brazil. 

▸ Marco Financial, a Miami-based lending platform for Latin American SMEs conducting international trade, raised a USD12m round from IDB Lab, IDC Ventures and Barn Investimentos. 

• Marco raised a USD8m round led by Arcadia Funds alongside a USD200m credit facility provided by MidCap Financial and Castlelake. 

▸ Techreo, a Mexico-based financial services platform, raised a USD3.4m round from G2 Momentum, Creation Investments Capital Management and undisclosed investors. 

▸ Skandia and Progresión Sociedad Comisionista de Bolsa led a USD3m round for Plataforma, a Colombian financial services platform for SMEs. 

▸ CROSSBORDER | Alaya Capital and Switch VC raised a USD2.2m seed round for Coba, a Mexico-based crossborder payments platform for remote workers. 

▸ IoT | Cogtive, a Brazilian IoT manufacturing management platform, raised ~USD2m from Indicator Capital.

▸ DEBT | Obvious Fibra, a Brazilian fiber broadband provider, secured USD2m in venture debt from Namari Capital. 

▸ Vertown, a Brazilian waste management startup, raised ~USD1.4m from Açolab Ventures and Irani Ventures.

▸ LOGISTICS | Prolog, a Brazilian fleet management startup, raised ~USD1m from Parceiro Ventures.

▸ Bossa Invest and DOMO invested in PlayBPO, a Brazilian financial BPO management platform. 

▸ Plano, a consumer financial education platform, raised a ~USD400k round from Anjos Do Brasil, Poli Angels, FEA Angels, BossaInvest, Sai do Papel, Quintal Ventures, Levain Ventures and Westwood Capital.

• Brazilian incubator Grupo Sai do Papel invested ~USD200k in April 2023. 

▸ 4MDG, a Brazilian no-code data governance platform, raised an undisclosed round from BR Angels and Darwin Startups. 

News

▸ STADIUMS | Mercado Libre invested ~USD202m in naming rights for Pacaembu Stadium in São Paulo.

• Partnership will run for an initial five years; the stadium will now be known as Mercado Livre Arena Pacaembu. 

▸ CROSSBORDER | Gogoro, a Taiwan-based EV and battery manufacturer listed on the NASDAQ, partnered with energy company Copec to launch operations in Chile and Colombia. 

• This is the first time Gogoro operates in Latin America. 

▸ FT: Nubank sets sights on becoming Latin America’s biggest financial group

"However, the challenger bank will have its work cut out replicating its Brazilian success in Mexico, where a number of industries are dominated by oligopolies and have cautious regulators."

▸ Bloomberg: Cash-Rich Venture Capital Firms Eye New Investments in Latin American Startups

"Venture investors sitting on nearly $4 billion are turning aggressive after a dire year for Latin America’s startups."

▸ Mining Technology reviews the opportunity of embedding IoT systems into mineral extraction systems to further worker safety. 

“There is high pressure on miners to stay productive, especially in the current economic landscape where mining companies face strong demand for raw materials amid the green transition. IoT networks are usually successful in these scenarios, not only at monitoring miners’ productivity levels but also increasing the efficiency of ore extraction.”

People & Programs

▸ ColCapital will host the seventh edition of Congreso de Capital Privado y Capital Emprendedor in Bogotá on 5-6 March. Registration is now open. 

▸ GPCA will hostGPC Conference in partnership with IFC in New York City on 25-27 March. Registration is now open. 

• Select speaking faculty this year includes: Eric Acher (monashees), Yemi Lalude (TPG), Scott Voss (HarbourVest Partners), Noor Sweid (Global Ventures), Jessica Huang Pouleur (Openspace Ventures), Mehmet Atici (Earlybird Digital East), Sanjay Nath (Blume Ventures) and Kuo-Yi Lim (Monk’s Hill Ventures).

▸ The 4th edition of the VC LatAm Summit will be hosted in Miami on 16-17 April. Registration is now open. 

• Organizing local associations include: ARCAP, ABVCA, BOCAP, CAPCA, ACVC, COLCAPITAL, ECUACAP, AMEXCAP, PARCAPY, PECAP, VENECAP and URUCAP.

▸ Finnovista will host FINNOSUMMIT Connect in Cancun, Mexico on 4-7 March. Registration is now open. 

• Stay tuned for additional details on Finnovista’s annual FINNOSUMMIT Mexico to be hosted in CDMX on 24-25 September. 

▸ Antler will host the fourth edition of its founder residency program in Brazil starting on 25 March. 

• The 10-week program runs out of São Paulo and is designed for individuals in the earliest stages of the startup founder journey: those without a clear idea of what business they want to build; those looking for a co-founder; those working on a specific thesis but without any validation.
• Interested founders are welcome to apply before 15 March.

▸ 30N Ventures launched its inaugural VC Fellowship Program for recent college graduates interested in getting involved in the venture ecosystem to work alongside the investment team. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. 

Global Tech

▸ Sign up for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief, a monthly newsletter that covers tech activity in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East. 

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.