22 New Rounds; DILA Exits Cobee; Nubank Acquires Hyperplane

LATAM VENTURE BULLETIN

A must-read roundup of startup deals and news on emerging technologies in Latin America, delivered to over 7,000 investors, entrepreneurs and corporates bi-weekly.

3 July 2024

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Director of Venture Capital.

LAVCA Tech Brasil

We look forward to seeing venture investors on Wednesday, 21 August in São Paulo for this year’s meeting.

The program will include keynote fireside chats, breakout sessions and networking opportunities designed to build meaningful relationships amongst investors active in the region.

LAVCA Members are welcome to join us for a Members-only dinner right after the program.

LAVCA Tech Brasil 2024 is made possible with support from LAVCA’s Tech Growth Members. Special thanks to Google for hosting, along with AWS, Qualcomm Ventures, MercadoLibre, Riverwood Capital and SVB, for their continued partnership.

Contact Marcelo Pizzato at mpizzato@lavca.org with questions.

Deals

▸ Summit Partners led a USD125m round for Celcoin, a Brazil-based infrastructure developer for fintechs targeting the underbanked.

▸ EV | Eve, a Brazilian manufacturer of electric vertical take-off and landing aircraft (eVTOLs), raised USD95m from Brazilian aerospace company Embraer and Japanese vehicle part manufacturer Nidec.

▸ CRM | Bonus, a Brazil-based marketing automation platform, raised a USD10m Series B+ from Vivo Ventures and Industry Ventures.

▸ Flapper, a Brazilian on-demand private aviation platform, raised an undisclosed Series A+ with follow-on from DXA Invest, Arien and Confrapar.

▸ AGTECH | Emerald Technology Ventures led a USD7.5m Series A for Kilimo, an Argentine agtech using satellite-based analytics to optimize water irrigation systems in crops, with participation from Kamay Ventures, Salkantay Ventures, iThink VC and the Yield Lab Latam.

▸ CLIMATE | Teampact Ventures fund led a USD4.2m seed round extension for Morfo, a France and Brazil-based reforestation startup, with participation from RAISE Seed for Good, Demeter and AFI Ventures.

▸ Ximple, a Mexico-based digital financial services company for the underbanked, raised a USD2.7m pre-seed round from Clocktower Technology Ventures, BoostCapital Partners, Graph Ventures, 99 Startups and Lotux.VC.

▸ LOGISTICS | LogShare, a Brazil-based collaborative logistics platform, raised a ~USD2.2m round from ONEVC, Niu Ventures and FJ Labs.

▸ TheVentureCity led a USD1.74m round for Moonflow, an Argentinian debt collection management startup, with participation from Salkantay Ventures, Amador Holdings and Morro Ventures.

▸ Impacta VC led a USD1.2m round for Retorna, a Chilean international money transfer platform, with participation from Morro Ventures, Ana Raptis (Amplifica) and undisclosed angels.

▸ Omnik, a Brazilian e-commerce solutions platform, raised ~USD1.2m from ABSeed.

▸ Canary and QED Investors led a ~USD1m round for Amparo, a Brazilian end-of-life service recommendation platform.

▸ HRTECH | Valutia led a ~USD1m seed round for Konsi, a Brazilian payroll loan analysis platform, with participation from Lighthouse's LH Tech Ventures fund.

▸ AGTECH | Gado Certo, a Brazilian cattle marketplace, raised ~USD780k from KPTL and Bossa Invest.

▸ AGTECH | Grandeo, a Brazilian agricultural monitoring and analysis startup, raised ~USD730k from holding company Uby Agro.

▸ Thompson Participações led a ~USD650k round for Licitei, a Brazilian government commission bidding platform for SMEs.

▸ Espírito Santo’s FUNSES1 invested ~USD550k in Conducco, a Brazilian CRM platform, Global Touch, a Brazilian community mapping tool, MVGI, a Brazilian environmental asset management platform, Taxly, a Brazilian tax management platform and Twiggy, a Brazilian online fashion startup.

▸ DEFI | Notus Labs, a Brazilian decentralized finance on-chain solutions startup, raised ~USD230k from Transfero, a Brazilian blockchain company.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Wayra invested in Fiibo, a Brazilian employee health benefits management platform.

▸ CVC | CEMEX Ventures invested in ObraLink, a Chilean sensor-based construction monitoring platform.

▸ Paysecure invested in a55, a Brazilian revenue-based lender and payment integration platform focused on SMEs in Brazil and Mexico.

▸ ANGEL | Judit, a Brazilian legal processes search engine for companies, raised a ~USD730k round from undisclosed angels.

Exits and M&As

▸ M&A | Nubank acquired Hyperplane, a US-based AI platform that helps banks deploy deep-learning models trained in proprietary data.

▸ EXIT | DILA Capital exited Cobee, a Spanish employee benefits platform and card issuer with operations in Latin America, through a sale to Pluxee, a Spanish employee engagement platform.

▸ EXIT | Mexico-based investor GC Capital exited Amigo Tours, a Mexican B2B coordination platform for travel agencies.

Funds

▸ USV is targeting USD275m for its latest fund.

▸ Global Environment Facility committed USD6m to The Yield Lab Latam’s opportunity fund focused on food production startups in Latin America and the Caribbean.

▸ CVC | Brazilian beauty company Natura launched Natura Ventures, a ~USD10m CVC fund to invest in cosmetics, circular economy and B2B early-stage startups in Brazil.

▸ AMAZON | Brazilian VC KPTL reached a USD11m first close for an inaugural fund with a USD30m target to invest in the Amazon-focused companies.

▸ Brazilian multi-family office Jera Capital is setting up offices in Miami with a focus on international investments, and Geneva, to further expand client relationships.

News

▸ iFood launched iFood Pago, a fintech platform offering credit and payment services to restaurants.

▸ Kunzapp, a Mexican enterprise software activation and management platform for employees, launched operations in Ecuador through a partnership with fintech Kushki.

▸ BOLIVIA | The Central Bank of Bolivia authorized crypto transactions executed through banking institutions after implementing a crypto-based payment ban earlier this year.

▸ Steve Cohen’s Point72 Ventures is rolling back its fintech investment team to focus on AI, per Forbes.

▸ AI | Mary Meeker of BOND published her first industry report since 2019 analyzing the relationship between AI and higher education in the US and its global impact.

▸ SECONDARIES | Venture Capital Journal reviews the increased investor appetite for VC secondaries across global markets.

People & Programs

▸ TOMORROW |Hi Ventures published the second edition of its State of AI in Latin America report and will host a live webinar in Spanish tomorrow, 4 July, at 2pm ET to walk through the findings with Jose Ortiz Masllorens (MercadoLibre), Gonzalo Enei (perhaps) and Josefina Van Thienen (Atlas). Register here.

▸ AI |Google for StartupspublishedStartups & Inteligência Artificial Generativa: Destravando o seu potencial no Brasil, a comprehensive review of the opportunity created in the country by the new wave of AI developments.

▸ Quona Capital is looking for an Analyst (Mexico City) and Intern (São Paulo) to join its investment team. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

▸ Antler Brasilopened registrations for the fifth edition of its 10-week residency and startup incubation program for September 2024.

▸ REGISTER NOW | LAVCA will be hosting LAVCA Week on 8-11 October in New York. Registration is now open.

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.