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TLDR

📢 Another Record Year: LAVCA estimates at least USD6.2b in VC investments for 1H 2021, blowing 2019’s record (USD4.6b) out of the water. More below..

📢 LAVCA Week 2021: Member registration is now open for the 2021 virtual program.

📢 Exits & Listings: Satellogic goes public via SPAC merger; VTEX files for IPO; Loft acquires CredPago

📢 New Rounds for Mercado Bitcoin, Zoop, Flash, Nowports, VU, Yuca, Moons, Gal, Super.mx, Nexodata

📢 Startups: Indian edtech giant Byju’s launched operations in Mexico; Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia authorizes operations of nine crypto startups

ANOTHER RECORD YEAR

We are only halfway through 2021 and Latin American VC has already set another record. LAVCA estimates at least USD6.2b in VC investments for 1H 2021, blowing 2019’s record (USD4.6b) out of the water.

Top 10 Announced Deals:

VIEW LAVCA’s full list of 18 startups with unicorn valuations in Latin America.

It’s not just Latin America; Africa and the Middle East are also on track for record venture investment in 2021, according to data from our global organization, the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA).

LAVCA members can email cramos@lavca.org for more details on our 1H 2021 VC estimate.

GLOBAL TECH

EMPEA, the global industry association for private capital investment in Asia, Latin America, Africa, Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle East, is now the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA). LAVCA is thrilled to be part of the GPCA network and will continue to operate as a parallel membership organization with its own dedicated team and board.

VISIT the website.
READ the press release.

SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA’s Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers global tech transactions and innovations with cross-border applications.

VIEW the archive of previous editions and sign up here.

EXITS / M&A

> #SPAC #M&A #SPACETECH Argentine earth observation startup Satellogic merged with CF Acquisition Corp. V, a SPAC formed by Cantor Fitzgerald, to go public at a reported USD850m valuation. The deal includes a USD100m PIPE investment from SoftBank and Cantor Fitzgerald.

• Tencent and Fondo Pitanga made a USD50m follow-on in 2020 after leading a USD27m Series B in 2017; previous investors include monashees, Valor Capital Group, NXTP, Draper Cygnus, CrunchFund, Starlight Ventures and Endeavor Catalyst.
• Satellogic partnered with SpaceX to launch four optical observation satellites into orbit earlier this year.
• Daniel Salvucci of Draper Cygnus: “Satellogic going public is an important validation of the complete venture capital cycle and proves that space companies can emerge from Latin America and play at the most competitive global stage.” Draper Cygnus counts two other spacetech startups in its portfolio: Skyloom and Novo Space.

> #IPO Brazilian e-commerce platform VTEX filed for a USD236m IPO on the NYSE.

• VTEX raised a ~USD250m Series D led by Tiger Global and Lone Pine Capital in 2020 at a reported USD1.7b valuation; SoftBank led a USD140m round in 2019. Riverwood and Naspers invested previously.
• VTEX was selected as the fastest growing e-commerce platform in the world in July 2020, according to a new IDC report.
  

> #PROPTECH #M&A Brazilian proptech Loft acquired CredPago, a Brazilian fintech enabling residential rentals without collateral.

• BTG Pactual invested in CredPago in 2020 and increased its stake to 49% the same year.
• Loft raised a USD100m Series D+ led by Baillie Gifford in April at a reported USD2.9b valuation; D1 Capital led the USD425m Series D in March at a reported USD2.2b valuation.

> #EDTEDCH #M&A Ânima Educação, a Brazilian higher education conglomerate, acquired a 55.8% stake in Gama Academy, a Brazilian edtech focused on professional training in programming and design.

• Smart Money Ventures led a ~USD600k round for Gama Academy in 2020.

DEALS

> #CRYPTO #UNICORN SoftBank invested USD200m in Brazilian bitcoin exchange Mercado Bitcoin, at a reported USD2.1b valuation.

• GP Investimentos’ Inova Fund and Parallax Ventures led a ~USD40m round in January; this is the second known crypto startup to attain a USD1b+ valuation in Latin America after Bitso, according to LAVCA Data.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Latin American Unicorn Leaderboard for our full list of 18 unicorns.

> Movile invested ~USD34m in Zoop, a Brazilian white label fintech platform for startups and SMEs.

• Movile led a ~USD12m round in 2020 and first invested USD18.3m in 2019.

> #HRTECH Tiger Global led a USD22m Series B for Flash, a Brazilian on-demand corporate benefits provider for executives, with participation from Citius and Kauffman Fellows and follow-on from monashees and GFC.

• monashees invested in 2019.

> #LOGISTICS Mouro Capital led a USD16m Series A for Nowports, a Mexican automated freight platform, with participation from Foundation Capital, InvestoVC and angels Ricardo Weder (Jüsto), Carlos Salinas (Luuna) and Justin Mateen (Tinder) and follow-on from monashees, Base10 Partners, Broadhaven Ventures and Y Combinator.

• monashees and Base10 led a USD5.3m seed round in 2019.
• Nowports was selected to participate in YC’s Winter 2019 batch.
• CEO Maximiliano Casal told LAVCA the LatAm market for freight shipments is as big as the US market.

> NY-based hedge fund Luxor Capital led a USD14.3m seed round for Treinta, a Colombia-based sales and inventory management platform for SMEs, with participation from Goodwater Capital, YC, First Check Ventures, Outbound Ventures, Soma Capital, FJ Labs, Commerce VC, Rhombuz VC, Acacia Venture Capital, TwentyTwo Ventures and angels Varsha Rao (Nurx) and Raffael Johnen (Auxmoney).

> #CYBERSECURITY #BIOMETRICS VU, an Argentine developer of fingerprint authentication systems, raised USD12m from NXTP, Agrega Partners, Bridge One, IDB Lab and CVCs Globant and Telefonica.

> #PROPTECH monashees led a USD10m Series A for Yuca, a Brazilian residential rentals platform, with participation from Foundation Capital and Tishman Speyer, and follow-on from ONEVC.

• monashees led a ~USD4m round in 2020; ONEVC invested in 2019.

> #HEALTHTECH DILA Capital led a USD9m round for Moons, a Mexican orthodontics startup.

• Moons raised USD5m from Jaguar Ventures, Foundation Capital, Tuesday Capital and others in 2020.

> monashees led a ~USD8m round for Gal, a Brazilian ERP for beauty salons, with participation from Canary and angel investors Jose Gallo (Renner) and Renato Freitas (99).

> #INSURTECH ALLVP led a USD7.2m Series A for Super.mx, a Mexican insurtech providing C19, life and earthquake insurance, with participation from Goodwater Capital, Kairos Angels, Bridge Partners and angel investors Joe Schmidt IV (Accel) and Kyle Nakatsuji (Clearcover). Super.mx was founded by former US-based Kin Insurance co-founder Sebastián Villarreal.

> #HEALTHTECH Nexodata, a Brazilian drug prescription and clinical exam scheduling platform, raised a ~USD7m round from Mercado Libre’s MELI Fund, Floating Point, FIR Capital, Albert Einstein Hospital, and the family office of Guilherme Benchimol.

• Nexodata was founded by Pedro Dias and Lucas Lacerda, who founded Brazilian telemedicine platform Vitta and sold it to Stone Pagamentos last year.

> #HEALTHTECH #PROPTECH Cadonau Investimentos and Astella Investimentos led a ~USD6m Series A for Livance, a Brazilian on-demand office space provider for health professionals, with participation from Terracotta Ventures, Green Rock and Mago Capital.

• Astella invested in 2020.

> #EDTECH Alicerce Educação, a Brazilian network of education centers which provide afterschool educational programs to children of low- and middle-income families, raised a USD5m seed extension from Valor Capital Group, Canary and Wayra.

• Wayra Hispam invested in 2020; Canary and Valor led a ~USD5m seed round in 2019.

> Investo, a Brazilian ETF management platform, raised ~USD3m from undisclosed investors.

> Multi-family office Turim led a ~USD2.4m round for Guru, a Brazilian retail investment platform, with participation from Discovery Ventures, SumUp, Norte Ventures and angels from iFood and Gympass.

> YC led a USD2.5m round for Conta Simples, a Brazilian finance management platform enabling SMEs to issue corporate cards to manage supplier payments.

• Conta Simples raised ~USD2.6m in a round led by Quartz in 2020; YC invested USD150k the same year.

> Cora, a Brazilian lending platform for SMEs, raised ~USD1.8m from its employees at the same terms offered to Ribbit Capital, KASZEK, Greenoaks and QED Investors in Cora’s USD26.7m round in April.

• Cora’s employees first invested earlier this year; KASZEK led a USD10m seed round in 2019.

> Parceiro Ventures led a ~USD1.7m round for Paytrack, a Brazilian invoice and corporate travel management platform.

> #HRTECH Rocketmat, a US- and Brazil-based enterprise recruiting and employee retention platform, raised a ~USD1.6m round from DOMO Invest, Alexia Ventures and Sound Money Ventures.

• Rocketmat’s clients include Ambev, Albert Einstein Hospital and iFood.

> Canary led a USD1.4m round for Lastlink, a Brazilian creator community platform, with participation from Graph Ventures and angels Israel Salmen (Méliuz), Marcela Rezende (MadeiraMadeira) and Gustavo Caetano (SambaTech).

> #EDTECH ALIVE Ventures, formerly Acumen LatAm Capital Partners, invested in U-Planner, a Chilean edtech platform for higher education.

• Scale Capital led a USD5m round in 2018.

> #ANGEL BR Angels and Gavea Angels invested USD1m in Cignifi, a Brazilian credit score platform focused on the underbanked.

> DOMO invested ~USD600k in PO27, a Brazilian credit and warranty management platform for company car fleets.

> #HEALTHTECH Brazilian accelerator Inpulse led a ~USD600k Series A for Topway, a Brazilian developer of nutritional supplements.

> Aarin, a Brazilian ERP enabling SMEs to receive payments using Brazil’s open banking platform PIX, raised ~USD400k from RB3 Participações, Cubos Venture Studio and others.

> #ANGEL BiUP Seja Mais, a Brazilian soft skills edtech for professional upskilling, raised a ~USD400k from undisclosed angels.

> Apex Partners invested ~USD300k in Yooga, a Brazilian ERP for bars and restaurants.

> #HEALTHTECH Dux Capital led a USD200k round for Pura Mente, an Argentine personal development and meditation app.

> Minha Quintadinha, a Brazilian online grocery market, raised USD110k from undisclosed angels.

> #CROWDFUNDING Grana Capital, a Brazilian tax automation platform for retail traders, raised ~USD1m in equity crowdfunding through SMU.

• Grana Capital raised ~USD140k in equity crowdfunding in 2020.

NEWS

> #CUBA #CENSORSHIP Thousands of Cubans marched in Havana last weekend to protest the lack of food and C19 vaccines. Government authorities restricted internet access after #SOSCuba became a trending topic on social media alongside the phrase “Asking for help isn’t a crime, denying it is.”

> #FUTURE #POLICY The Chilean government is considering a constitutional reform that will establish the first national regulatory framework in Latin America at the intersection of neuro-rights, data privacy and neurotechnology.

• The framework would include details involving personal identity, free will, mental privacy, equal access to cognitive enhancement technologies, and protection against algorithmic bias.
• The bill is awaiting approval by the Chamber of Deputies.

> #CLIMATE A new study by the The Rainforest Foundation, the World Resources Institute and Amazonian indigenous leaders provides evidence on the effectiveness of leveraging wireless monitoring technology to protect Indigenous rights and preserve rainforests in the Amazon.

• During a two-year study, researchers hired couriers to traverse the Amazon river to deliver USB drives containing forest mapping reports with suspected deforestation to remote communities. Communities would then utilize them to confirm deforestation practices and alert local authorities.
• Jorge Perez of the Indigenous group Organización Regional de los Pueblos Indígenas del Oriente (ORPIO): “The study provides evidence that supporting our communities with the latest technology and training can help reduce deforestation in our territories.”

> Carolina Millán and Vinicius Andrade of Bloomberg review Mercado Libre’s current strategy in fintech and payments algonside its core e-commerce business in Mercado Libre is Changing the Way Latin Americans Shop and Pay.

> Globant opened a regional hub in Uruguay and announced a USD60m investment to recruit 350 professionals to run its operations.

> Rest of World reviews the role of social media platforms in promoting a new wave of casual learning in Brazil’s hottest TikTok celebrities are … English teachers?

• “Influencers are eating the world. From the chart-topping tunes to recipe tutorials, social media stars are wielding their massive audiences to take over industry after industry. [Rhavi] Carneiro represents a new trend in the wave: language learning. In his home country of Brazil, he is part of a cadre of personalities that teach English to Portuguese speakers through YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram, each boasting hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of followers.”

STARTUPS

> #POLICY #CRYPTO Colombian regulator Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia authorized nine crypto-related platforms to operate in the country: Bitso, Buda, Gemini, Obsidian, Binance, Banexcoin, Movii and Bitpoint.

> #CRYPTO #CLEANTECH Brazilian crypto investment management platform Hashdex launched a Bitcoin ETF focused on neutralizing carbon emissions from mining the cryptocurrency.

• Hashdex raised a USD26m round led by Valor Capital Group earlier this year.

> #EDTECH #CROSS-BORDER Indian edtech giant Byju’s launched operations in Mexico with Future School, a live coding program for kids and teenagers.

• Byju’s raised ~USD810m in disclosed financing so far in 2021 and is reportedly valued at USD16.5b.

> #SPACETECH #EDTECH Mexican space exploration companies Space JLTX and NanoAvionics partnered with SpaceX to launch D2/AtlaCom-1, a nanosatellite for imaging analysis training for students at the Universidad Politécnica de Atlacomulco and Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México.

> Rappi partnered with Visa to launch credit cards in Brazil after launching credit products in Mexico, Colombia and Peru.

> Eduardo Paulsen of Mexican eyewear startup Ben & Frank shares his perspective on how to blend retail and e-commerce strategies in Latin America.

INVESTORS

> SoftBank plans to double its commitment to Latin America, according to Bloomberg. SoftBank launched its USD5b Latin America Fund in 2019.

• Protocol: Tiger vs. SoftBank: Inside the investing playbooks that upended Silicon Valley

> Doug Leone and Sonya Huang of Sequoia reflect on the current tech landscape in Latin America in The Latin American Startup Opportunity.

• “We are not opening an office on the ground in Latin America just yet, but we do plan to visit every month or two in order to meet entrepreneurs. When we’re in town, we plan to host events that bring together the startup community.”

> ALLVP launched the ALLVP Operator Network, a platform for ecosystem operators to co-invest alongside their funds as angels.

• Federico Antoni: “Whenever we partner with a team, we might as well bring our gang of like-minded operators. In the past few years, every successive round we’ve led includes more and more angel investors in our network. They have skin in the game and help out. We will invite our network to co-invest in deals, so that not only will they be rooting for you from the sidelines but they will be helping you build. You get to choose who you want on your cap table.”

> Romero Rodrigues of Redpoint eventures shares his optimism on the current maturity of the Brazilian tech ecosystem.

• “Capital precisa entrar e sair. É preciso ser uma profecia auto realizável. Se Méliuz, Passei Direto e RD Station já mostraram os frutos dos seus primeiros investimentos de oito anos atrás, imagina o que já temos plantado e esperando a colheita para os próximos sete anos?”

> El Clarín reviews Marta Cruz’s journey from founding NXTP to investing in Argentine spacetech Satellogic and US-based identity authentication platform Auth0.

> Jackie Carmel of Endeavor Catalyst reviews the development of the Mexican tech ecosystem since 2012 in Mexico’s Tech Moment or Tech Movement: A Retrospective of Mexico’s Entrepreneurial Tech Ecosystem. 

> LAVCA WEEK is scheduled for September 20-23. The 2021 agenda will be organized around a series of private meetings and breakout sessions for private capital investors from Latin America and around the globe. Member registration is now open.

> KASZEK is looking for Analysts and Associates for its São Paulo office. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> Chilean accelerator Impactus Ventures partnered with Fundacion FEMSA, Amalfi, IDB Lab and Fundacion Mustakis’ +Global to launch Childtech Challenge, a competition for startups developing solutions for health, education and family protection in Latin America, Europe and the US. Registration for the program launch event on July 15 is open.

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is the VC/tech newsletter and content platform of
The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America.

Have news we should include? Please email news@lavca.org.