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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.
April 28, 2022
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Editor’s note: The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Director of Venture Capital. Former Editor Julie Ruvolo now publishes GPCA's global newsletter, the Global Tech Brief. | TLDR 📣 DATA | LAVCA Q1 2022 Preliminary Data
📣 DEALS | New Rounds for: Zubale, Novopayment, Celcoin, Galena, Floki, Nilus, Theia, Strike and Influur
📣 M&A | UOL Edtech acquires Qulture.Rocks; Via Varejo acquires Ja Vendeu |
| | LatAm didn’t slow down during Q1 2022. In contrast to the downward trend of VC investments in the US,LAVCA recorded a preliminary total of USD2.7b invested across 157 transactions. This is the fourth largest quarter on record for investment in Latin America.
The USD2.7b invested represents a 66% increase compared to Q1 2021 (USD1.7b) and a 371% increase compared to Q1 2020 (USD582m).
Note: The first and second largest tickets for the period went to venture debt and CVC-led deals, respectively.
Notable USD100m+ rounds in Q1 2022 include: Keo World, a Miami-based BNPL platform operating exclusively in Latin America raised a USD500m venture debt round led by Hayfin Capital. Brazilian digital bank Neon raised a USD300m Series D led by Spanish bank BBVA at a USD1b+ valuation. Brazilian fintech Creditas raised a USD260m Series F led by Fidelity Management at a USD4.8b valuation. 8VC led a USD181m Series B for Tul, a Colombian supply chain management platform connecting construction material manufacturers with SMEs. Chilean insurtech Betterfly raised a USD125m Series C led by Glade Brook Capital at a USD1b valuation. Brazilian HRtech Solides raised USD100m from Warburg Pincus in the largest known investment to date for a Brazil-based HRtech. LAVCA Members: Stay tuned for final Q1 2022 numbers in mid-May. |
| | ▸ QED Investors led a USD40m Series A for Zubale, a Mexican fulfillment services marketplace connecting independent contractors with retailers, with participation from GFC and Felicis Ventures, and follow-on from Wollef, NFX, MAYA Capital and angel Kevin Efrusy (Accel). Zubale raised a USD4.4m round led by NFX in October 2019. ▸ WOMEN-LED | Fuel Venture Capital and IDC Ventures led a USD19m Series A for Novopayment, a US-based B2B platform offering white label fintech products for Latin American clients, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and Visa Ventures. This is Novopayment’s first institutional round after 15 years of bootstrapping. ▸ Innova Capital led a ~USD17m round for Celcoin, a Brazilian infrastructure developer for fintechs targeting the underbanked. Celcoin acquired Galaxy Pay, a Brazilian API for recurring payments with PIX in January, and raised ~USD11m led by Torq Ventures in July 2021. ▸ EDTECH | San Francisco-based Altos Ventures led a USD16.7m Series A for Galena, a Brazilian upskilling platform for public school graduates, with participation from Owl Ventures, Globo Ventures, Reaction and Exor, and angels David Velez (Nubank), Kevin Efrusy (Accel), Romero Rodrigues (Headline), Dan Rosenseig (Chegg) and Arminio Fraga. This is Altos Ventures’ first known investment in Brazil, according to LAVCA Data. ▸ Valor Capital Group and NFX led a ~USD10m round for Floki, a Brazilian supplier management platform for restaurants. Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD720k round in December 2020. ▸ FOODTECH | MFO RESPADA led a USD6m Series A for Nilus, an Argentine low-cost grocery delivery platform repurposing fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be discarded based on their appearance. Diferente, a Brazilian startup operating under a similar business model, just raised a ~USD4.8m seed round led by MAYA Capital. ▸ WOMEN-LED / HEALTHTECH | 8VC led a ~USD6m seed round for Theia, a Brazilian platform for pregnancy-related healthcare treatment, with participation from US-based VC Canaan and follow-on from KASZEK. Theia raised ~USD1.4m from KASZEK and MAYA Capital in 2019. ▸ SECURITY | UK-based growth equity firm Greyhound Capital led a USD5.4m seed round for Strike, an Uruguay-based cybersecurity stress testing platform, with participation from NXTP, Canary, FJ Labs, Latitud, Magma Partners, VentureFriends and OrokVentures. Other investments Greyhound has participated in include Pomelo, Ualá and Albo. ▸ Point72 Ventures led a USD5m seed round for Influur, a Miami-based influencer marketing platform with operations in the US and Latin America, with participation from H20 Capital and Magma Partners.
▸ WOMEN-LED | Tiger Global and H20 Capital led a USD5m pre-seed round for Morado, a Colombian wholesale marketplace for beauty salons, with participation from Andreessen Horowitz, QED Investors and Village Global. Morado was founded by Rappi alum Angela Maria Acosta. Morado was selected as part of Andreessen Horowitz START, an initiative to make USD1m investments in early stage founders out of its USD400m seed fund. ▸ BLOCKCHAIN | Boston-based VC Borderless Capital led a USD3.6m seed round for SenseiNode, an Argentine blockchain infrastructure developer platform.
▸ PROPTECH | GFC led a ~USD3.2m round for aMORA, a Brazilian rent-to-own residential real estate platform, with participation from Caravela, Moore Strategic Ventures, Plug & Play, Latitud, RBR Asset and Pareto20.
Angels participating included Brian Requarth (Latitud), Guilherme Bonifacio (iFood), Diego Libanio (Ze Delivery) and Douglas Oliveira (Swap). ▸ Grupo Central, a Chilean dark kitchen operator, raised a USD3m seed round led by Chilean investment bank Moonvalley Capital, with participation from GFC and Opera Ventures.
▸ HEALTHTECH | FO Green Rock led a ~USD1.6m round for Vitamine, a Brazilian D2C vitamin brand.
▸ Alfred, a Colombian car maintenance platform, raised a USD2.5m seed round from undisclosed investors.
▸ IoT | Indicator Capital led a ~USD2.4m round for SYOS, a Brazilian IoT platform focused on temperature and maintenance monitoring for commercial refrigerators.
KPTL invested in August 2020. ▸ PROPTECH | Kambio, a Miami-based developer of prefabricated residential real estate, raised a USD1m round from First Check Ventures, Plug and Play, WeWork Alumni Fund, Bluebox Ventures and Asymmetry Ventures, and angels Miguel McKelvey (WeWork), Jeronimo and Tomas Uribe (La Haus).
▸ CIRCULAR ECONOMY | Vox Capital led a ~USD1.4m round for OCTA, a Brazilian car recycling platform connecting companies with fleets of inoperative cars to vehicle dismantling centers.
▸ CVC | Brazilian analytics platform Boxnet invested ~USD1m in Keep.i, a Brazilian sales and marketing analytics platform.
▸ WEB3 | Draper Cygnus led a USD1m seed round for GreenBond Meter, an Argentine tokenized carbon credit platform for reforestation.
▸ LOGISTICS | Brazilian logistics company Comexport invested in Cheap2Ship, a Brazilian international freight management platform.
▸ ANGEL | Poli Angels led a ~USD240k round in Flower Club, a Brazilian flower delivery subscription platform.
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| | ▸ M&A / EDTECH | UOL Edtech, a Brazilian B2B edtech developing corporate training programs as well as MBA and post-graduate courses for higher education institutions, acquired Qulture.Rocks, a Brazilian enterprise performance management platform. SoftBank Latin America and Volpe Capital invested in UOL Edtech in March 2021. ▸ M&A / RESALE | Brazilian retail conglomerate Via Varejo acquired Ja Vendeu, a Brazilian marketplace for second-hand consumer products. Ja Vendeu raised ~USD500k from Verve Capital and angels in October 2021. ▸ M&A | Maxxa, a Chilean credit platform for SMEs, completed a USD4m acquisition of ERPyme, a Chilean finance management platform for SMEs. |
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▸ 17Sigma held a USD30m final close for its first fund to invest in pre-seed, seed and Series A startups in Latin America.
17Sigma was founded by Ualá founder Pierpaolo Barbieri and KASZEK alum Bianca Sassoon. 17Sigma’s portfolio includes Buk, Foodology, Truora, ontop, Trela and Tarken. ▸ Headline launched Headline I, their first flagship fund with a ~USD167m target to invest in early-stage Latin American startups. Headline was founded by former Buscapé founder and Redpoint eventures Partner Romero Rodrigues. XP made an undisclosed commitment to Headline in February. Headline’s portfolio includes Creditas, VELVT and Pismo. ▸ Endeavor Catalyst launched their second Brazil-focused fund with a ~USD20m target. This is Endeavor’s second Brazil-focused fund after their first vehicle raised ~USD16.8m. ▸ Digevo, a Chilean marketing analytics company, launched Digevo Ventures, a fund with a USD5m target to invest in AI-enabled startups.
▸ SoftBank announced the Latin America Fund will now be overseen by Vision Fund CEO Raje Misra, after the departure of Managing Partners Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyatta.
SoftBank also just spun out its Latin America early-stage fund. The new vehicle will retain all portfolio investments and rebrand to Upload Ventures under the leadership of former SoftBank Managing Partners Rodrigo Baer and Marco Camhaji and Operating Partner Norberto Giangrande. |
| Startups ▸ HRTECH | Chilean employee management platform Buk launched operations in Mexico. Buk raised a USD50m Series A led by Greenoaks and SoftBank in October 2021 at a USD417m valuation. ▸ EV | Brazilian rideshare platform 99 is leading Aliança pela Mobilidade Sustentável, an initiative with eight other mobility startups to increase the share of EV in Brazil to 10% by 2030. Startups participating include CAOA Chery, Ipiranga, Movida, Raizen, Unidas, Tupinamba and Zletric. ▸ Fintechs Fitbank and Money Exchange are the latest Brazilian startups launching operations in Mexico as a second market.
▸ Brazilian unicorns Facily (e-commerce), QuintoAndar and Loft (proptech) announced internal restructurings. |
| News ▸ CRYPTO POLICY | Argentina’s National Securities Commission launched a regulatory sandbox for crypto startups which will include specialized licenses for digital asset-focused companies to operate.
▸ Itau and TOTVS launched a ~USD200m joint venture to combine TOTVS’ ERP capabilities with Itau’s credit and cash management products.
CVC | TOTVS launched a ~USD60m CVC fund in November 2021 to invest in healthtech, retail, manufacturing, fintech, agtech and edtech startups. TOTVS’ notable transaction activity includes the acquisition of RD Station, a Brazilian marketing automation platform, at a reported ~USD360m valuation in March 2021. ▸ Mercado Libre partnered with Brazilian airline Gol to expand its delivery network in South America with six additional cargo planes to quadruple its annual delivery capacity from 10m to 40m packages.
▸ EBANX partnered with Citi to provide institutional clients with local payment processing solutions.
EBANX just partnered with VTEX to launch a cross-border payment platform for Brazilian e-commerce operating throughout Latin America. ▸ Meta is putting on hold the launch of a Brazilian merchant payments platform running on Whatsapp, as it looks to formalize partnerships with local merchant acquirers Cielo, Rede and GetNet.
▸ Endeavor published Soft Landing in Latin America, a survey-based study on successful strategies for startup international expansion in the region.
▸ MIT Technology Review: Crypto millionaires are pouring money into Central America to build their own cities.
“If it’s ever built, Bitcoin City will be a shining realization of crypto’s world-building aspirations. The dream doesn’t stop there, though. A growing number of crypto investors are also trying to persuade other governments to create semi-autonomous zones that double as laboratories for economic experimentation, claiming it will stimulate growth and enrich nearby communities." |
| People & Programs ▸ Congratulations to LAVCA Chair Nico Szekasy of KASZEK and Micky Malka of Ribbit Capital for their inclusion in Forbes’ 2022 Midas List.
LAVCA WEEK | Save the date for LAVCA Week 2022, taking place in person October 12-14 at the Conrad New York Downtown in New York City. The 2022 conference will convene LAVCA’s unparalleled network of private capital investors from across Latin America, the US, Asia and other global markets for a highly interactive experience, including networking and discussions on the latest trends in private equity, venture capital and other private capital strategies. ▸ Volpe Capital will host a conversation with Jorge Paulo Lemann of 3G Capital and Marcelo Claure of Claure Capital as part of Volpe Day, its annual meeting on May 9. Registration is now open.
▸ The second edition of the VC LatAm Summit will be hosted on May 25-26 in Miami.
Local associations participating include: ARCAP, ABVCAP, AMEXCAP, ACVC, ColCapital, ECUACAP, PARCAPY, PECAP and Uruguay XXI. LAVCA member GPs and LPs are welcome to register. ▸ IDB partnered with Universidad Politécnica de Madrid to conduct a qualitative survey on the role of VC funds in promoting governance frameworks in Latin America startups. Interviews will be conducted anonymously with aggregate results to be shared with participants. Interested investors can contact Santiago Nardini. |
| LAVCA Job Board ▸ SVB is looking for a Director and VP to lead its SVB Startup Banking LATAM platform focused on client and partner engagement. Applications are open to candidates with at least 10 years of experience for the Director position and at least three years of experience for the VP position.
▸ Elevar Equity is looking for a Financial Analyst to join their team in Mexico City. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.
▸ Zendesk is looking for a Startup Partnerships Manager to join their team out of their Sao Paulo office. Candidates with at least five years of experience are welcome to apply.
▸ NXTP is looking for an Investment Associate to join its team in Mexico City. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.
▸ Spectra Investments is looking for an Associate to expand its investment team in Sao Paulo. Interested candidates are welcome to apply at rh@spectrainvest.com.
LAVCA Members: We welcome your job recs for future editions. Email cramos@lavca.org with information on relevant opportunities.
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