Editor's Note

Late stage startups are taking increasingly longer to fundraise in Latin America, according to LAVCA Data. 

Notably, capital deployment into early-stage startups remains around the 15-month average and has not seen major shifts since 2019 – even during 2021 when Latin America VC more than tripled its prior investment record.

LAVCA Members: Stay tuned for preliminary Q2 VC investment figures and insights.
 

Investor Spotlight: Positive Ventures

Positive Ventures will reach a USD25 final close for its second flagship fund to invest in early-stage startups with a social and environmental impact in Latin America. Positive Ventures reached USD10m final close for Fund I in 2020. Individual LPs committing to Fund II include Fábio Barbosa of Natura&Co and Candido Bracher of Itaú Unibanco.

LAVCA sat down with Founding Partner Bruna Constantino to learn more about the fund’s impact investing lens, its journey as one of the first B-Certified VC funds in the region, and key investment sectors that are keeping the team busy.
 

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Startups

▸ M&A | RD Station, a Brazilian enterprise software platform acquired by TOTVS in 2021, acquired Exact Sales, a Brazilian pre-sales optimization platform for ~USD10.2m.

• Astella Investimentos led a ~USD3m round for Exact Sales in 2019, with follow-on from CVentures and Vesper Ventures.

▸ M&A | Alice, a Brazilian healthcare provider, acquired the customer portfolio of QSaúde, a Brazilian health insurance platform for freelancers and small business owners. 

• SoftBank led a USD127m round in Alice in January 2022. 
• This is Alice’s second acquisition, after acquiring Cuidas, a Brazilian enterprise primary case platform for employees, in December 2021. 

▸ M&A | QI Tech, a Brazilian API-based credit issuance platform, acquired Builders Bank, a Brazilian banking application developer. 

• GIC Led a USD50m Series A for QI Tech in November 2021; QI Tech was the first Direct Credit Company (Sociedade de Credito Direto) approved by the Brazilian Central Bank. 

▸ M&A | Galgo (formerly known as Migrante), a Chilean car and motorbike lending platform for gig workers, acquired Crediorbe, a Chilean motorbike credit provider. 

• Kayyak Ventures led a USD30m Series A for Migrante in April 2022; Migrante secured a USD80m debt facility as part of that round. 

▸ M&A | Belvo, a Mexican fintech providing a financial services API for mobile applications, acquired Skilopay, a Brazilian payment platform operating through PIX, the Brazilian Central Bank instant payment system. 

• Belvo officially launched operations in Brazil in March; Citi Ventures invested in Belvo in September 2022, over a year after the startup raised a USD43m Series A. 
• This is Belvo’s first startup acquisition.

▸ M&A | Vórtx, a Brazilian asset custody and issuance platform for corporate trusts, acquired Capital Aberto, a Brazilian financial education platform. 

• Vórtx also acquired Basement, a Brazilian cap table management platform, in June 2022. 
• FTV Capital led a ~USD38m Series B for Vórtx in April 2021.

▸ M&A | Brazilian enterprise software TOTVS acquired Lexos, a Brazilian e-commerce integration developer, for ~USD2.6m. 

▸ M&A | Argentine fintech Ualá received regulatory approval to acquire Mexican boutique bank Banco ABC by the Mexican Securities and Banking Commission (CNBV).

• The acquisition will enable Ualá to launch its credit card program in Mexico.
• Ualá first announced the acquisition of Banco ABC in 2021. 
• Ualá also acquired Ceibo Créditos, an Argentine POS BNPL platform, in September 2022.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Shein, a China- and Singapore-based online fashion retailer, will open its next factory in Mexico. 

• Shein already has 100 factories in Brazil.
• Marcelo Claure was recently appointed President of Shein Latin America and invested USD100m into its regional operations. 
• Shein just raised a USD2b down round at a USD66b valuation led by General Atlantic, Sequoia China and Mubadala.

▸ CLEANTECH | Solfácil, a Brazilian solar energy financing platform, invested ~USD20m from its balance sheet in a new battery storage and energy distribution center.

• Solfacil acquired Solare Inove, a Brazilian solar energy equipment distributor in March. 
• Fifth Wall led a USD30m Series C+ in September 2022; QED Investors led a USD100m Series C in May 2022.

▸ Geopagos, an Argentine payments infrastructure platform, launched operations in Paraguay. 

• Riverwood Capital led a USD35m round in August 2022 in Geopagos’ first institutional round of funding nine years after launch.

▸ CRYPTO | Lemon Cash, an Argentine crypto banking platform, launched operations in Mexico. 

• Lemon raised a USD28m Series A+ in 2022 and a USD16m Series A in 2021.

▸ WOMEN-LED | Online content creator Mr.Beast partnered with Foodology, a Colombian dark kitchen operator, to launch Mr.Beast Burgers in five cities across Mexico.

• Foodology raised a USD20m round from Andreessen Horowitz, Wollef, Kayyak Ventures and others in October 2022.
• Foodology was co-founded by Daniela Izquierdo. 

▸ Liquido, a US-based payment infrastructure developer for Latin America, emerged from stealth after two years of operation. 

• Liquido raised USD26m across two rounds led by Index Ventures in 2021, with participation from Mantis VC, Base Partners, Restive Ventures and UpHonest Capital. 

▸ Brazilian pet marketplace PetLove is increasing its delivery footprint in Brazil’s favelas through a partnership with Brazilian delivery management company naPorta. 

• Petlove raised a USD150m round led by Riverwood Capital in September 2021.

▸ Maria Echeverri of Muni shares a detailed post-mortem on the Colombian social commerce platform.

• Muni decided to shut down in December 2022, after raising USD20m from undisclosed investors in September and a USD20m Series A led by Lightspeed in April. 
• Echeverri: “Surreal. Esa es la palabra con la que describiría el cierre de Muni. Ver como desaparece todo lo que uno, y cientos de personas mas, han trabajado y sacrificado mucho por los últimos tres años, es surreal. Pero no todo desaparece. Lo que no desaparece es nuestro legado: el equipo, los aprendizajes, las memorias, los sueños y las amistades.”

Funds

▸ QED Investors reached USD925m in final closings for its early-stage and early growth-stage funds to invest in fintech companies in Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, Africa, the US and the UK. 

• QED’s Fund VIII (early-stage) and Growth II (early-growth) will deploy USD650m and USD275m of capital commitments, respectively. 
• Managing Partner Nigel Morris: “Pacing will be extremely disciplined, but we will be opportunistic where it makes sense. Generally speaking, we anticipate fund deployment to be quite measured across the ecosystem, particularly in comparison to recent years.”

▸ IFC made a ~USD156m anchor commitment in Patria Infra FIDC, Patria Investimentos’ debt infrastructure fund with a BRL5b (~USD1b) target to invest in digital infrastructure, renewable energy, waste management and water and sanitation.

▸ CLEANTECH | Mountain Partners reached a USD30m final close for Mountain Partners Green, a Chile- and Argentina-based fund to invest in early-stage companies focused on actively reducing the carbon footprint of corporates and consumers.

• Mountain Partners officially launched the fund last August 2022.

▸ AGTECH | The Yield Lab LatAm reached a USD20m second close for its third fund with a USD50m target to invest in early-stage agtech and foodtech startups in Latin America.

• LPs in the fund include Grupo Bimbo, Chilean chemicals company SQM and IDB Lab.

▸ CENTRAL AMERICA | Innogen Capital, a VC fund focused in Colombia, Mexico and Central America, launched ICV Delta Fund I, its first flagship vehicle to invest in early-stage startups operating in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

• USAID is anchoring the fund. 

▸ FoF Andreessen Horowitz announced a fund of funds program to back GPs investing in early-stage startups, per Business Insider. The fund’s geographical mandate has not been publicly announced.

• Andreessen’s direct investment portfolio in Latin America includes VaaS, Foodology, Around, Inventa, Morado, Latitud, ADDI, Loft, among others.

▸ URUGUAY | Institut Pasteur, a Montevideo-based biomedicine research institute and investment bank Ficus Advisory launched Lab+ Ventures, a VC fund with a USD15m target to invest in early-stage life science startups in Latin America. 

▸ SoftBank Group launched Open Opportunity Fund II, its second flagship fund with USD150m in committed capital to invest in Black and Latino-led startups. 

• SoftBank’s Opportunity Fund I investments in Latin America include Arcus (fintech) and Ontop (hrtech). 

▸ BIOTECH | Vesper Ventures launched Vesper Ventures II, its second flagship fund with a ~USD30-50m target to invest in early-stage biotech startups in Brazil. 

• Vesper launched its first fund with a USD70-100m target in June 2022. The fund is already fully deployed. 
• Vesper’s portfolio includes InEdita Bio, Vyro Bio, FUTR Bio, Symbiomics, Radiotarget and Aptah Biosciences.

▸ WOMEN-LED | Next Tier Ventures launched its first fund to invest in early-stage startups in Latin America, the US and Europe.

• Next Tier Ventures was launched by former GoHub Ventures Managing Partner Patricia Pastor. 

▸ Better Tomorrow Ventures (BTV) launched The Mint, a 3-month fintech accelerator program based out of San Francisco.

• The program is designed for six to ten startups per batch and will begin this August. 
• Better Tomorrow Ventures’ Latin America fund portfolio includes Portão 3, Yave, Clubbi, Mendel and Divibank.

▸ WOMEN-LED | Vibra Energia, a Brazilian petrochemical company, launched Vibra Ventures, a CVC arm with ~USD30m to invest in early-stage women-led startups in Brazil. 

▸ SoftBank Group announced a ~USD2.7b loss on its ~USD7.3b Latin America Fund as of its most recent fiscal year.

• 84% of SoftBank’s invested startups in Latin America command a 12+ cash runway as of the first quarter, according to the Group.
• SoftBank also announced a USD32b loss on its Vision Funds, an additional USD13b loss compared to 2021. 

▸ Tiger Global is seeking a partial GP-led secondary strip sale of its late-stage venture portfolio in an attempt to bring early liquidity to its investors, per PitchBook. 

• Tiger’s recent investments in Latin America include NotCo, Rebill, Miferia, Treble.ai, Mottu, Mono, Zippi and Nowports.

Deals

▸ DEBT | R2, a Mexican embedded lending platform for consumer-facing applications, secured a USD100m debt facility from Community Investment Management. 

• Gradient Ventures led a USD15m Series A in September 2022; General Catalyst led a USD5.9m seed round in February 2022.

▸ Goldman Sachs Asset Management led a ~USD60m round for Digibee, a Brazilian digital integration manager for SMEs, with participation from Vivo Ventures, the growth equity arm of Telefónica and Leadwind, the growth vehicle from European VC K Fund.

• Vivo Ventures invested ~USD3m in the round.
• Staged Ventures made an undisclosed investment in September 2022; Kinea Ventures and G2D led a USD25m Series A in February 2022.

▸ Niya Partners and Tribe Capital led a ~USD20m Series A for Kapital, a Mexican finance management platform for SMEs, with participation from Broom Ventures, FoundersX, True Capital Management, Pioneer Fund, Kube VC, MyAsia VC and angel Arash Ferdowshi (Dropbox). 

• DEBT | Kapital also secured a USD45m debt facility from Accial Capital as part of the round, complementing the USD100m facility raised from US-based debt investor Sivo in October 2022.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Chinese VC Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI Capital) led a USD10m pre-Series A for Galactic Holdings, a Mexico-based digital wallet and crypto asset exchange, with participation from Animoca Brands, Y2Z Ventures, Longling Capital, Head & Shoulders, TKX Digital Group, Perseverance Capital and Palm Drive Capital.

• This is BAI Capital’s first known investment in a Latin American startup, according to LAVCA Data.

▸ DataMlik, a Brazilian design optimization platform for e-commerce sites, raised a USD8m Series A from Big Bets, RTP Global, Angel Invest and others. 

• Big Bets led a USD1.7m seed round in September 2021. 

▸ Brazilian VC Provence Partners led a ~USD6.6m round for Track.co, a Brazilian survey-based customer insights platform, with participation from FO Green Rock and TM3 Capital.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Carao Ventures and Intoku Health led a USD5.5m pre-Series A for Huli, a Costa Rican patient care automation platform for medical professionals.

• Carao led a USD1m round extension in July 2021 and a USD2.5m round in 2019; Innogen Capital Ventures invested previously.

▸ HEALTHTECH | SRM Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian asset manager SRM, invested ~USD4m in Portal do Médico, a Brazilian healthcare equipment marketplace for doctors, and ~3USDm in Noodle, a Brazilian royalty management and financing platform for artists and digital creators.

• This is SRM Ventures’ eight investments in the past six months, including Scalable, Blipay, Juvo, LinKapital, Openbox, Tutu Digital and Broadfactor.

▸ EDTECH | ALIVE Ventures and Reinventure Capital led a USD3.5m seed round for BeeReaders, a Colombian reading comprehension platform for K-12 Spanish-speaking students, with participation from EWA Capita, University Venture Fund and Wisconsin Investment Partners.

▸ EL SALVADOR | Cubo, an El Salvador-based POS payment platform, raised a USD3.5m seed round from IDB Lab, Soma Capital, Latin Leap, Amador Holdings and Seedstars. 

• GFC led a USD1.6m pre-seed round in August 2022, in its first known investment in a Central American startup.

▸ GOVTECH | Netwopia VC led a USD3m round for Glass Commerce, a US-based marketplace connecting local governments with safety and office equipment suppliers, with participation from New Age Capital and Alcove Capital. 

• WOMEN-LED | Glass Commerce was founded by Paola Santana. 

▸ BetterTomorrow Ventures and Canaan Partners led a USD3m seed round for Trébol, a Colombian Business onboarding automation for banks and lenders, with participation from SOMA Capital, Unpopular Ventures and YC.

• Trébol was selected to participate in YC’s W22 batch.

▸ DEBT | Ease Labs, a Brazilian developer of cannabis-based medicine, raised ~USD3m in venture debt from Itaú BBA.

• MadFish, the investment fund of Brazilian tennis player Bruno Soares, led a ~USD2.4m round in June 2022. 

▸ H20 Capital led a USD2.5m seed round for Seeri, a Colombian B2b commerce management platform, with participation from Redwood Ventures. 

• H20 Capital first invested in July 2022.

▸ ALLVP led a USD2m pre-seed round for Senzai, a Mexican software developer of ad campaign performance optimization for enterprise clients.

• Senzai is the first investment out of ALLVP’s fourth flagship fund. 

▸ HRTECH | US-based Outlander VC led a USD1.65m pre-seed round for Eskuad, a Chilean offline team collaboration platform, with participation from Behind Genius Ventures, C2 Ventures, FO Mis Inversiones and undisclosed angels.

• Google invested USD100k through its Latino Founders Fund in July 2022.

▸ CRYPTO | Reserve, a US-based digital currency developer, led a USD1.5m pre-seed round for Num Finance, an Argentine issuer of stablecoins in Latin America, with participation from H20 Scouter Fund, Ripio Ventures and angel Matías Woloski (Auth0).

▸ HEALTHTECH | Fen Ventures invested USD1.45m in Praxis Biotech, a US- and Chile-based drug discovery company focused on cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.

▸ IoT | TM3 Capital led a ~USD1.2m seed round for Houseasy, a Brazilian manufacturer of hardware-based smart home solutions. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD1.1m round for Covalenty, a Brazilian supply management platform for small and medium-sized pharmacies, with participation from DOMO Invest, 1616 Ventures and Aimores.

▸ AGTECH | Sensix, a Brazilian satellite image processor for crop management and harvest planning, raised an undisclosed follow-on round from DOMO Invest, Brazilian agricultural producer SCL Agrícola and others via crowdfunding. 

• DOMO and Silver Angels invested ~USD200k in January 2021.

▸ LOGISTICS | MeuChapa, a Brazilian freight forwarding platform connecting SMEs with independent contractors, raised ~USD1m from Tompkins Ventures, Venture Hub and GVAngels.

• DEBT | MeuChapa also raised ~USD200k in venture debt from Yunus Social Business. 

▸ LOGISTICS | Viasoft, a Brazilian agtech software developer, made a ~USD1m follow-on investment in CargOn, a Brazilian carrier logistics management startup, with participation from crowdfunding platform EqSeed. 

• CargOn raised ~USD500k from Viasoft in 2021.

▸ PROPTECH | DOMO Invest invested ~USD700k in Seazone, a Brazilian short-term rentals management platform.

▸ Smart Money Ventures and Investidores.vc led a ~USD540k round for uMode, a Brazilian supply and sales analytics platform for apparel retailers.

▸ VENEZUELA | SkyDeck, the startup accelerator of UC Berkeley, led a USD450k pre-seed round for El Dorado, a Venezuelan peer-to-peer crypto and stablecoin exchange platform.

• Previous investors include Flori Ventures and Startup Instambul.

▸ Investidores.vc led a ~USD400k round for Minimal Club, a Brazilian D2C minimalist menswear brand.

▸ AGTECH | Flor e Fruto, a Brazilian network of small fruit and vegetable producers, raised a ~USD400k round from US-based VC Newlin, Angatú Ventures and Darwin Capital.

• Angels participating included Giampaolo Buso (Paripassu), Sergio Bronstein (BZCP), Julio de Angeli (medCel), André Szapiro (SRM Ventures) and Julaina Bechara (Bioma Food Hub).

▸ Investidores.vc led a ~USD340k round for BeUni, a Brazilian gift management platform for employees and corporate clients.

▸ CVC | RX Ventures, the CVC arm of Lojas Renner, invested in Radar, a US-based point of sale inventory management platform. 

• Lojas Renner launched RX Ventures with ~USD31m in March 2022 to target investments in early-stage startups operating in retail, fashion, logistics and fintech.

▸ CVC | Cencosud Ventures and Locaweb, a Brazilian web services hosting platform, invested in Milo Live Sales, a Brazilian live shopping consumer platform.

• Chilean retail company Cencosud launched Cencosud Ventures in August 2021.

▸ Equitas VC led an undisclosed pre-seed round for deX, a Brazilian data analytics automation platform, with participation from Grão VC.

▸ CLEANTECH | Raízen invested in Reverde, a Brazilian distributed power-based solar energy provider for households.

▸ VENEZUELA | Development bank CAF invested in Vikua, a Venezuelan software provider for local governments.

▸ ANGEL | Brazilian angel network SC Angels invested in Akropoli, a Brazilian open banking data analytics platform for financial institutions and corporates.

▸ ANGEL | Sheriff, a Chilean B2B collection management platform, raised USD500k from angel investors. 

▸ ANGEL | Front, an Argentine consumer savings platform, raised USD300k from undisclosed angels.

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

News​​

▸ Lojas Americanas is considering a sale of Ame Digital, its independent cashback and merchant payments platform, per Startups. 

• Lojas Americans launched Ame Digital in 2019 in partnership with Brazilian retailer B2W.

▸ Microsoft announced an annual freeze on all full-time employee salaries.

• The company-wide decision is a needed step to focus critical resources on Microsoft’s shift toward artificial intelligence, according to CEO Satya Nadella. 
• This is Microsoft’s most recent streamlining initiative, after the USD10k reduction in workforce announced in January.

▸ Brazilian development bank BNDES and China Development Bank will launch a joint venture of up to USD1.3b to finance credit facilities for Brazilian public and private high tech, climate, manufacturing and energy companies. 

▸ The Economist: Why Mercado Libre keeps soaring as other e-emporiums sink.

• In April, as the world’s tech firms were sacking workers en masse, Mercado Libre said it would hire 13k employees mainly in Brazil and Mexico, raising its workforce by a third.

▸ Sam Altman of OpenAI visited Rio de Janeiro in partnership with Fundação Lemann as part of OpenAI’s 2023 world tour to speak to developers and policymakers.

▸ Congrats to David Velez on Nubank turning 10 years old. 

• Velez reflected on the digital bank’s journey last week; Nubank reported all-time high topline figures five days later. 
• Velez: “In Brazil, research shows that almost one out of two Brazilians that have a smartphone are Nubank’s customers.”

▸ POLICY |Argentina’s Central Bank banned payment service providers (PSPCP) from executing transactions with crypto assets without prior clearance.

▸ EL SALVADOR | The President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele signed into law Ley de Fomento a la Innovación y Manufactura de Tecnológica, eliminating all income, property and capital gains taxes for technology companies for 15 years.

People & Programs

▸ Congrats to the six startups selected to participate in Endeavor Argentina’s 8th edition of the ScaleUp program: Agree, Celeri, Fidu, Kids Corp, Menta and Seeds. 

▸ Congrats to the 12 startups selected to participate in 500 Global’s 500 LatAm Batch 18: Ali, Calificadas, Das Calendar, Dapta, Invera, LedgiFi, PriceLab, Retliq, Serpa, Takenos, The Earth Says and Tufud.

▸ Congrats to the 17 startups selected to participate in Platanus Ventures’ Batch 6: Pronty, Repartes, Sento, Kunzapp, Nodek, Kambia, Divisso, Flair, Kapibara, Calypso, Trutix, Konstruedu and UnaCuarta.

▸ ALLVP launched a survey to gain insights from founders, investors and corporates on the state of AI in Latin America.

▸ Bank of America launched Bank of America Breakthrough Lab, a six-month impact accelerator program for early-stage startups operating in the US, LatAm, EMEA and India. Applications close on June 8. 

▸ LP Brazilian development bank BNDES opened applications for its 2023 VC program.The bank seeks to commit ~USD290m across six GPs in Brazil. Interested investors are welcome to apply. 

▸ GPCA CEO Cate Ambrose hosted a conversation on the current state of the Latin American entrepreneurial ecosystem at Milken Institute’s Global Conference with Patrick De Picciotto of Canary, Mate Pencz of Loft, Shu Nyatta of Bycicle, and Felipe Vallejo of Bitso. Watch the full remarks.

▸ Finnovista will host FINNOSUMMIT 2023 on September 26 and 27 in Mexico City. Registration is now open.

LAVCA Job Board

▸ Quona Capital is looking for an Investment Associate to join its Latin America investment team. Candidates based in Mexico City (or open to relocating) are welcome to apply. 

▸ DILA Capital is looking for a Senior Investment Analyst to join its team in CDMX. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. 

▸ ALLVP is looking for a Senior Investment Analyst to join the team. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. 

▸ Headline is looking for an intern to join its investment team in São Paulo. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. 

LAVCA Members: We welcome your job recs for future editions. Email cramos@lavca.org with information on relevant opportunities.

Global Tech

▸ SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. This bi-weekly newsletter 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.