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. |
OPEN CALL FOR MEMBERS 2024 LAVCA ESG Deal Awards |
LAVCA is partnering with its member investors to showcase exemplary portfolio companies. This initiative is designed for a diverse audience comprising of global institutional investors, fund investors and strategic or long-term investors actively engaged or interested in Latin America. Member GPs are invited to nominate a portfolio company deal for the 2024 LAVCA ESG Deal Awards. Deals can be across any asset class, including VC/tech, private equity, private credit and real assets. Submissions will be judged by a panel of LPs. Select deals will also be considered for publication in a monthly series of case studies. The deadline to submit a portfolio company is this Friday, 26 January 2024. To nominate a deal, or for more information, please contact Marcelo Pizzato at mpizzato@lavca.org. |
Deals ▸ PAYMENTS | KASZEK led a USD40m Series B for Pomelo, an Argentine payments infrastructure platform for fintechs launching prepaid and credit cards, with participation from monashees, Index Ventures, S32, TQ Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst. Pomelo raised a USD15m round in August 2022; Tiger Global led a USD35m Series A in November 2021. ▸ CARS | ARC Capital led a ~USD30.5m round for Turbi, a Brazilian car rental platform, with participation from Reag Investimentos and Clave Capital. EXT Capital led a ~USD16.5m round in July 2023. DEBT | Turbi secured a ~USD21m loan facility from ARC Capital, Jive Investments, Augme, Capitânia, EXT Capital, Fator and Western in November 2022; DOMO Invest led a ~USD800k round in October 2018. ▸ Yalo (formerly Yalochat), a Mexican customer service management platform, raised a USD20m Series C+ from Glisco Partners. B Capital led a USD50m Series C in May 2021 and a USD15m Series B in 2020. Yalo’s clients include Unilever, Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Walmart. ▸ URUGUAY | Antler Elevate led a USD13m Series A for Prometeo, a Uruguayan fintech infrastructure startup for LatAm banks, with participation from PayPal Ventures, Samsung Next, DN Capital and follow-on from Cometa and Magma Partners. Magma Partners first invested in 2020; Kalonia Venture Partners invested in 2022. ▸ HEALTHTECH | General Catalyst led a ~USD7m round for Genial Care, a Brazilian mental health platform focused on autism, with follow-on from Atlantico, Canary, IKS and SSV, and angels Mauro Figueiredo (Fleury) and João Lima (Qualicorp). Genial Care is now EBITDA positive, according to CEO Kenny Laplante. General Catalyst led a USD10m round in 2023; Canary first invested in 2020. ▸ SECURITY | Qualcomm Ventures and Astella led a USD7m round for Gabriel, a Brazilian developer of security camera networks, with follow-on from Canary, Endeavor Catalyst, Globo Ventures, SoftBank, LTS and Norte. SoftBank led a ~USD13.2m Series A in October 2021; Canary invested USD1.5m in January 2020. ▸ CLEANTECH |Contrarian Ventures and Headline led a USD6.9m seed round for Delfos, a predictive maintenance platform for renewable energy systems launched in Brazil and relocated to Spain, with follow-on from DOMO and EDP Ventures. DOMO led a ~USD1m round in 2021; EDP Ventures led a ~USD300k round in 2019. Delfos was selected to participate in Google for Startups’ Brazil 2020 cohort. ▸ monashees and Audacious Ventures led a USD4m seed round for Meistrari, a Brazilian language learning solutions platform, with participation from angels Oleg Rogynskyy (People AI), Paul St. John (Github), Hugh Strange (Nubank) and David Peixoto (Isaac). ▸ Bancolombia led a USD3.5m seed round for Quipu, a Colombian lending platform for small enterprises, with participation from IDB Lab, G2 Fintech Fund, Caffeinated Capital, Flori Ventures and Vertical Partners. ▸ LOGISTICS | Cargado, a Mexican cross-border logistics startup, raised a USD3m round from Proeza Ventures, Ironspring Ventures, Wischoff Ventures, Zenda Capital, Sahil Bloom (Assembly), Craig Fuller (FreightWaves) and other undisclosed angels. ▸ Approbe, a Colombian peer-to-peer lending platform, raised a USD2.3m seed round from Treebu Capital and HubBog angel network. ▸ MAYA Capital led a USD2.2m seed round for Deco.cx, a Brazilian website creation startup, with participation from FJ Labs, Lanx Capital and Crivo Ventures. ▸ Spot Technologies, an El Salvador- and Chile-based video surveillance startup, raised USD2m from FEMSA Ventures, Bridge Latam, Daedalus, Kuiper and Casque. ▸ MSW Capital led a ~USD1.6m round for Lina, a Brazilian open banking platform, with participation from BB Seguros. Brazilian telco service provider RTM invested ~USD1.5m in August 2022. ▸ Hiker Ventures led a ~USD500k seed round for Fluna, a Brazilian back office automation startup for SMEs. ▸ Brazilian venture studio Osten Moove invested in Faço a Conta, a Brazilian fiscal and financial management platform for SMEs. |
Funds ▸ 500 Global launched 500 LatAm Seed IV, L.P., its fourth flagship seed fund to invest in startups in Latin America developing solutions in fintech, healthtech, edtech, agtech, SaaS and D2C. 500 Global’s latest investments in Latin America include Yana, Dapta, Avify, Apparta, AgroMatch, Aplicable, Conteller, Dora, Health and Prelu. |
LAVCA MEMBER SPOTLIGHT: NXTP The Future of B2B Startup Investing in LatAm |
Left to right: Gonzalo Costa, Alexander Busse, Marta Cruz, Darly Bendo and Ariel Arrieta NXTP Ventures recently reached a USD98m final close for NXTP Fund III, its third flagship fund to invest in B2B enterprise startups in Latin America. LAVCA sat down with Managing Partner Alexander Busse to dive deeper into the fund’s thesis, the changing landscape of institutional investors allocating into Latin America VC and the evolution of B2B startups. |
Startup News and M&A ▸ M&A | Visa received regulatory approval to acquire Pismo, a Brazil-based payment processing and banking platform for USD1b in an all-cash deal, after the transaction was first announced in June 2023. Pismo raised a USD108m Series B in October 2021 from SoftBank Group, Redpoint Ventures, PruVen Capital, Headline, Accel Partners, Amazon, B3 and Falabella Ventures. Pismo was co-founded by Daniela Binatti. ▸ PAYMENTS | Digital payment platform Geopagos partnered with Mastercard through its Network Enablement Partner (NEP) Program, in which it will gain access to Mastercard’s network of banks and merchants globally. Riverwood Capital led a USD35m round for Geopagos in August 2022 – the company’s first institutional round of funding nine years after launch. Julian Lisenberg of Geopagos: “We are thrilled to join forces with Mastercard in Latin America. This strategic alliance will enable us to offer innovative and secure payment solutions such as Tap on Phone, which turns any NFC-enabled mobile phone into a point-of-sale terminal. We believe this partnership will be a key factor in our continued success." ▸ M&A | Hotmart, a Brazilian content monetization platform, acquired Reshape, a Brazilian AI-powered language translation platform. TCV led a ~USD75m Series C for Hotmart in April 2021. This is Hotmart’s fifth acquisition since 2020 after acquiring SkillHub, Klickpages, Teachable and Wollo. ▸ M&A | Caribbean payment platform Girasol Payments Solutions acquired Finzi, a Colombian digital wallet. Finzi raised a USD350k round from undisclosed investors in 2021. |
News ▸ POLICY | The Chilean Commission for Financial Markets (CMF) published a regulatory framework establishing operating guidelines for service providers under the national Fintech Law starting February. ▸ Brex announced a RIF of 282 of its workforce (~20%) along with notable updates to its senior leadership. Former COO Michael Tannebaum will transition to board member; Former CTO Cosmin Nicolaescu will become an advisor to the company. Founder Pedro Franceshi shared: “To continue capturing the massive opportunity ahead, we’re hyper-focused on building a high-velocity product and growth machine. Looking inward, I realized we grew our org too quickly, making it harder to move at the speed we once did.” ▸ unico, a Brazilian digital identity protection platform, announced a ~20% reduction in workforce to focus on its core business. Goldman Sachs Asset Management led a USD100m Series D in April 2022; General Atlantic and SoftBank led a USD125m round in August 2021. ▸ MACRO Inflation in Argentina reached 211% in December – the highest inflation rate registered globally during 2023. Colombia commanded the second highest rate in Latin America at 9.3%. ▸ CROSSBORDER | Bloomberg: China Is Recalibrating Its Latin America Strategy. “Chinese companies are in many cases pursuing more engagement with LAC, but through smaller deals on average—and in frontier sectors that are directly aligned with Beijing’s own economic growth objectives. Many of these new, priority areas are described by China as “new infrastructure”, a term which encompasses industries— telecommunications, fintech and energy transition, for instance—that are broadly innovation-related, but also a critical part of China’s own economic growth strategy.” |
People & Programs ▸ WOMEN LED | Nubank appointed Livia Chanes as the new Country Manager for Brazil. Co-founder Cristina Junqueira, who formerly held the position, will now focus on the bank’s roadmap in Mexico and Colombia. ▸ WOMEN LED | Tesla reportedly appointed Rappi alum Teresa Gutierrez as Country Manager for Mexico. ▸ Congrats to Brex, Clara, Pomelo and Stori for being selected for GGV’s 2024 Fintech Innovation 50 list. GGV invited 44 fintech investment firms to nominate and vote on 150 companies in order to select the 50 honorees. ▸ AMEXCAP will host its 2024 VC Day on 7-8 February in NYC. To register, contact jareyes@amexcap.com and mmaldonado@amexcap.com. ▸ Antler will host the fourth edition of its founder residency program in São Paulo, Brazil starting on 25 March. This 10-week in-person program 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. ▸ Capria Ventures is looking for a Senior Investment Analyst to join its team based in Mexico City or São Paulo. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. |
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