TLDR

📣 LAVCA Data | VC Q1 2022 Quarterly Update

📣  Colombian proptech Habi reaches USD1b+ valuation

📣 New rounds for Solfácil, Mosyle, Xepelin, Solinftec, Inventa, Minka, Henry, Rumina and Bankingly

📣 Funds | IGNIA Partners reaches first close for Fund II; 1200VC commits to NXTP

📣 Crypto rounds for Snackclub, TravelX, Ola GG, YoCripto, Littio and DUX

📣 Cross-border Expansion | Didi Food, Ualá, Tractian and Finnerio Connect

LAVCA Q1 2022 Quarterly Update

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 USD2.8b invested across 190 transactions, according to LAVCA Data. This is the fourth largest quarter on record for investment in Latin America.

The USD2.7b invested represents a 67% increase compared to Q1 2021 (USD1.7b) and a 375% increase compared to Q1 2020 (USD582m).


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LAVCA Members: Stay tuned on May 19 for exclusive access to underlying data, including fundraising and disclosed fund closes; exit totals and highlighted exits; all disclosed investments, sortable by stage, sector and HQ; and sector breakouts with year-over-year growth.

VC is also up in India, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. Subscribe to GPCA's Global Tech Brief for details.

Deals

🦄 PROPTECH | Homebrew and SoftBank Latin America led a USD200m Series C for Colombian proptech Habi at a reported USD1b+ valuation, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, Tiger Global, Inspired Capital, Clocktower Ventures and Henry Kravis. 

• SoftBank led a USD100m Series B in July 2021 in the largest known Series B for a Colombian startup at the time.
• Habi acquired OKOL, the parent company of Mexican proptech Propiedades.com, and Tu Canton, a Mexican residential real estate broker in January.

▸ Insight Partners led a USD196m Series B for Mosyle, a Brazil- and US-based MDM (Mobile Device Management) platform for Apple devices, with participation from StepStone Group, and follow-on from Elephant and Album VC. 

• Elephant and Peak Ventures led a USD16m Series A in February 2019. 

▸ KASZEK and Avenir Growth led a USD111m Series B for Xepelin, a Chilean payments and lending platform for SMEs, with participation from PayPal Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, DST Global, Wellington, Picus, Battery Ventures, MSA Novo, FJ Labs, Amarena, Gunderson, Cathay-Seaya Latam, Gilgamesh, and angel Carlos Garcia (Kavak). 

• Xepelin secured USD80m in debt from Community Investment Management in January and USD200m in credit facilities in 2021; KASZEK led a USD30m round last August.
• This is the largest known Series B for a Chilean startup, according to LAVCA Data

▸ SOLAR | QED Investors led a USD100m round for Solfácil, a Brazilian solar energy financing platform, with participation from Valor Capital Group, SoftBank and VEF. 

• Solfácil raised a USD30m Series B led by QED in 2021.

▸ AGTECH | NY-based PE Lightsmith Group led a USD60m round for Solinftec, a Brazil- and US-based farm analytics and operations management platform, with follow-on from Unbox Capital and Circularis Partners.

• Unbox Capital led a USD40m Series B in February 2020; Agfunder and TPG invested previously.

▸ Greylock led a USD55m Series B for Inventa, a Brazilian marketplace connecting regional wholesalers with local retailers, with participation from monashees, NXTP, ONEVC, MAYA Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, Founders Fund, Tiger Global, Pear VC, Avenir Growth and A* Capital. 

• This is Inventa’s third round in 12 months, after raising a USD20m Series A in January and a ~USD6m seed round in November 2021. 
• Inventa is Greylock’s first portfolio company in Latin America.

▸ Tiger Global and KASZEK led a USD24m round for Minka, a Colombian API payment network, with follow-on from Fintech Collective. 

• Minka raised USD3m from Fintech Collective, Colle Capital Partners and the Collaborative Fund in May 2020. 

▸ EDTECH | Kayyak Ventures and Seaya-Cathay led a USD10m Series A for Henry, an Argentine coding program covering students’ tuition costs through Income Share Agreements (ISAs), with participation from DILA Capital and Amarena, and follow-on from Accion Venture Lab. 

• Participating angels include: Eduardo della Maggiora (Betterfly), Facundo Garreton (Terraflos), Gaston Frydlewski (Hickies), Sebastian Stranieri (VU Security), Santiago Bibiloni (COR), Tim Draper, Matias Woloski (Auth0), Patricio Jutard (MURAL), and Martin Varsavsky (Myelin). 
• Henry raised a USD1.5m round in December 2020. 

▸ AGTECH | Barn Investimentos led a ~USD5m Series A for Rumina, a Brazilian livestock health and credit management platform, with participation from Indicator Capital. 

• Rumina was born out of the merger of OnFarm, Ideagri, Volutech and Rumicash.

▸ BLOCKCHAIN | Snackclub, a Brazilian blockchain-based gaming platform raised a ~USD10m round from Animoca, Ascensive Assets, Formless Capital, Jump Crypto, Mechanism and OP Crypto.
 

▸ BLOCKCHAIN | Boston-based VC Borderless Capital led a USD10m round for TravelX, a blockchain-based distribution protocol for the travel industry, with participation from Draper Cygnus, Myelin Capital, Monday Capital, Algorand and GoldenTree. 

▸ URUGUAY | Dalus Capital led a USD10m round for Bankingly, a Uruguay-based digital banking platform, with participation from IDB Lab, IDC Ventures, iThink VC, Athos Group, Kube Ventures, Grupo Finacess, Sonen Capital and Oikocredit. 

• Elevar Equity led a USD5.3m round in November 2018.

▸ NFTs | Ola GG, an Argentine Play-To-Earn and NFT education platform, raised a USD8m round from TheVentureCity, Galaxy Interactive, BITKRAFT, Arca, Com2Us, Cultur3d, Huobi Ventures, Spark Capital, Blocktower, IVC, Morningstar, Sngha Capital, Mentha, Actai Ventures, Valhalla Ventures, Polygon, Crypto.com, YGG SEA, IndiGG, Bitscale and FIR Capital. 

• WOMEN-LED | Ola GG was founded by TheVentureCity co-founder Clara Bullrich. 

▸ Transition Global led a USD7m seed round for Waterplan, an Argentine water management platform for corporates, with participation from Giant Ventures. 

• YC, Newtopia VC, L2 Ventures, Climate Capital, Jetstream and MCJ Collective invested previously. 
• Waterplan’s clients include Coca-Cola, Colgate and McCain Foods. 

▸ Bullpen Capital led a USD6.5m seed round for Autolab, a Colombian car maintenance platform incubated at Polymath Ventures, with participation from Proeza Ventures, VU Venture Partners, 10X Capital and Western Tech Investments, and follow-on from Polymath. 

• Autolab raised USD525k in February 2018.

▸ DXA Investimentos led a ~USD6m Series A for B4A, a Brazilian influencer marketing platform for the beauty sector. 

• B4A raised ~USD2m led by AcNext Capital in June 2021. 

▸ Canary and NFX led a USD5.5m round for UME, a Brazilian BNPL platform, with participation from Clocktower Ventures, Norte Ventures and BigBets. 

• DEBT | UME also secured USD4.5m in debt as part of the transaction. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | SV Latam led an undisclosed Series A for Prixz, a Mexican digital pharmacy. 
 

▸ CVC | Worky, a Mexican recruiting automation platform, raised an undisclosed round from ARC Group Ventures, the CVC arm of Australian recruiting company ARC. 

• Worky raised a USD3m round from QED Investors and LEAP Global Partners in July 2020. 
• READ LAVCA’s interview with CEO MAYA Dadoo. 

▸ CVC | SP Ventures led a ~USD4.5m+ round for Decoy, a Brazilian developer of environmentally friendly fertilizers and pesticides, with participation from Farmabase. 

▸ Gradient Ventures led a USD4.2m round for Mentum, a San Francisco-based developer of equity investment APIs for Latin American banks and retail companies, with participation from GFC, Soma Capital and YC. 
 

▸ CRYPTO | DILA Capital led a USD4m round for YoCripto, a Mexican credit card issuer offering Bitcoin payment cashback rewards. 

▸ Crescera Capital invested ~USD4m in Leads2B, a Brazilian sales management and performance platform. 

▸ FOODTECH | Brazilian early-stage VC Solum Capital led a ~USD4m Series A for Raízs, a Brazilian farm-to-table fruits and vegetables platform, with participation from KPTL and angel Marcelo Bazzali (Extrafarma). 

▸ CRYPTO | Littio, a Colombian developer of crypto tokens pegged to the US dollar (stablecoins), raised a USD3.7m pre-seed round led by JAM Fund and 1662nd, Adam Neumann’s FO, with participation from GFC, AngelList and Orange DAO.

▸ BLOCKCHAIN | Valor Capital Group leads USD3.5m post-seed round for Ribon, a Brazilian blockchain-based donations platform for food and health security, with participation from 2TM Ventures, Bitkraft, Kenetic and Flori Ventues, and angels Gabby Dizon (YGG) and Fernando Martinelli (Balancer). 

• Redpoint eventures invested ~USD230k in February 2019. 

▸ HRTECH | HoyTrabajas.com, a Colombian recruiting platform for blue collar workers without a professional degree, raised a USD3.5m seed round from YC and angel Arash Ferdowsi (Dropbox). 

▸ BIOTECH | Biomarkers, an Argentine developer of oncology tests, raised USD3m from undisclosed investors. 

▸ SECURITY | Brazilian consulting firm Visagio invested ~USD3m in Clavis, a Brazilian cybersecurity platform for SMEs. 

▸ CRYPTO | DUX, a Brazilian crypto gaming platform, raised ~USD2m from Animoca Brands and Old Fashion Research, a crypto fund launched by Binance. 

▸ INSURTECH | Astella Investimentos led a ~USD1.26m round for Zipia, a Brazilian consumer insurance marketplace for insurance brokers. 

• Canary invested in May 2021. 

▸ COSTA RICA | Canadian early-stage investor Loyal VC led a USD1m pre-seed round for Zunify, a Costa Rica-based e-commerce and POS payment network.

▸ LOGISTICS | Magma Partners led a USD1m seed round for DeltaX, a Bolivian freight forwarding platform, with participation from Cibersons, Duro Ventures, 99 Startups and angel network SC Angeles. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | Angel Ventures led a USD700k pre-seed round for Midoconline, a Mexican telemedicine platform, with participation from SOSV and angels John Farrell (Google Mexico) and Sebastian Siebert (Medicruiter). 

▸ EV | Lume Robotics, a Brazilian EV manufacturer for corporates, raised ~USD480k from Seed4Science and logistics platform VIX Logistica. 

• Lume Robotics’ clients include Petrobras and Vale. 

▸ PROPTECH | TM3 Capital led a ~USD440k pre-seed round for Spotlar, a Brazilian residential real estate platform for pre-sales. 

▸ Brazilian angel investment platform Investidores.vc invested ~USD260k in Viralize, a Brazilian content marketing platform for SMEs.

▸ DOMO Invest and BossaNova Investimentos invested ~USD230k in SolarZ, a Brazilian solar energy monitoring platform.

▸ GD Fintech Fund invested in DOLLARIZE, a Mexican foreign exchange and remittance platform. 

▸ ANGEL | Veci, a Colombian payment platform for SMEs, raised USD2m from angels. 

▸ ANGEL | Anjos do Brasil and CK Investments Brazil invested USD150k in Sofi, a Brazilian consumer debt management platform. 

​​​​▸ ANGEL/EDTECH | Anjos do Brasil and Malbec Angels invested in Mooney Edu, a Brazilian gamified finance education platform.

🦄 View LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard
for the latest list of LatAm unicorns. 
 

Funds

▸ LAVCA Member | IGNIA Partners reached an undisclosed first close for IGNIA VC Fund II, their second early-stage fund with a USD150m target. 

• IGNIA’s public investments in 2021 include Visor, ProducePay, Sr.Pago, Abra, Arcus, Takeoff and Lentesplus. 

▸ LAVCA Member | 1200VC made a USD5m commitment to NXTP. 

• 1200VC is an early-stage investment fund spun out by Mexican alternative asset investor Talipot Holdings to invest in funds and startups in the Americas.
• 1200VC is led by Adriana Tortajada.

▸ ABSeed, a Brazilian early-stage fund founded by RD Station operators to invest in B2B SaaS, raised ~USD20m for Fund II.

• ABSeed exited Movidesk, a Brazilian multi-channel help-desk platform, through a ~USD80m sale to Brazilian CRM Zenvia earlier this year.
• ABSeed was founded by Geraldo Melzer, Franco Zanette and Felipe Coelho.

▸ Brazilian accelerator Ventiur launched PradoTech, a ~USD4m fund targeting investments in early-stage Brazilian startups. 

▸ Alsotech, the accelerator arm of Brazilian shopping mall holding Aliansce Sonae, made a ~USD2m commitment to Hi Partners, an early-stage fund investing in retail startups. 

• Hi Partners was founded by Walter Sabini, founder of Brazilian email marketing platform Virid which was sold to data analytics platform Experian in 2007.

▸ Barn Investimentos launched Barn GreenTech LatAm Fund IV, an early-stage fund with a USD100m target to invest in agtech and cleantech startups.

• Barn’s portfolio includes Agrolend, Grao Direto, Agrotoken and Rumina.

Startups

▸ CRYPTO | Bloomberg: Coinbase Ends M&A Talks With Brazilian Crypto Firm 2TM

• Latest reporting valued 2TM at USD2.2b.
• CBInsights erroneously included this transaction as closed in their Q1 data; LAVCA members will receive confirmed Q1 2022 figures next week. 

▸ M&A | Medallia, a US-based custom survey software platform, acquired Monkey Learn, an Uruguay-based no-code data analytics platform. 

• Uncork Capital and Bling Capital led a USD2.2m seed round for Monkey Learn in July 2020. 

▸ DELIVERY | Didi Food launched operations in Chile and the Dominican Republic, growing its geographical footprint from Colombia, Brazil and Costa Rica.

• Uber Eats announced the closing of its Brazilian operations in March. 

▸ Argentine fintech Ualá launched its POS payment terminals for Mexican SMEs. 

• Other VC-backed startups offering POS payment solutions in the Mexican market include Clip, Sr. Pago, Konfio and Tienda Pago. 

▸ Tractian, a Brazilian industrial equipment maintenance management platform, launched operations in Mexico. 

• Tractian raised ~USD3.4m led by DGF Investimentos in June 2021; Norte Ventures and YC invested previously. 

▸ Finerio Connect, a Mexican API provider for enterprise account management, launched operations in Colombia. 

▸ SPACE | Colombian edtech Platzi will launch a satellite into orbit in 2023 as part of its aerospace engineering course offering. 

▸ FOODTECH | Congrats to Colombian foodtech Foodology for joining Endeavor’s Network.

• Foodology just launched operations in Peru after raising a USD15m Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz and Base Partners in November. 

▸ DEBT | LABS: Brazilian entrepreneurs start falling for Venture Debt.

News

▸ Cross-border payments platform dLocal is actively looking into its acquisition pipeline to expand in Africa and Asia. 

“These won’t be billion-dollar deals. We are going to be very disciplined about what we acquire." - Sumita Pandit, COO

• dLocal sits on USD336m in cash as of December, per public filings. 

▸ Nubank is hiring for 500 new staff positions in Mexico City. 

• David Velez sat down at Stanford GSB last week to talk about his current focus and philanthropic vision:

“Maria and I don’t need the money. We are focused on maximizing our impact per unit of time; and want the last check we issue to bounce.”

▸ CRYPTO | Visa's latest study on digital asset adoption finds that the majority of crypto owners see traditional banking and crypto as complements, not substitutes.

Most crypto owners would be interested in buying cryptocurrency from their bank (85%) and many are ready to move their business to banks that have jumped into crypto. More than a third of current owners indicate that they plan to switch to a bank that offers crypto products within the next 12 months (39%).

▸ FT: LatAm will squander pandemic gains without digital infrastructure push. 

▸ Rest of World reviews the implications of having English as the predominant language for programming courses in Latin America.

As Latin America pushes to build a self-reliant, robust tech sector, the language barrier will remain a major obstacle, especially for high-quality positions.

Investors

▸ Volpe Capital hosted its first annual meeting Volpe Day. Marcelo Claure and Jorge Paulo Lemmann joined for a conversation on their experience attracting talent and the state of the market. 

Lemmann: "I don’t think I’m a people person, but when I bought a brokerage house in 1971 in Rio in 1971 I had no capital and the only way I could compete was by attracting the best possible talent. I did so by offering a place in the partnership to these new decision markets something not so common in Brazil at the time. As we grew,  from 325 at the brokerage house to 20k at Brahma, our focus shifted to refining our 'picking system' for talent. [When it comes to potential investments] I am looking for fanatics who recognize that as long as you’re not totally wiped out, a crisis is always a great opportunity.”

Claure: “Founders need to be conscious about showing their investors a clear path to profitability. While capital might become more scarce, there will always be resources for great companies. The 'growth at all costs' mentality is over; now it’s the time to think about what profitable growth could mean in the current context.”

▸ Weny Cai of Polymath Ventures shares her outlook on the local venture ecosystem for the rest of 2022. 

In 2022, there will be a trend against this illusion of “overall exuberance.” The curve will flatten, with a substantial space opening for pre-Series A investments in the region. The ecosystem will record fewer jumbo “outlier” deals, but many deals will get done nevertheless. There is a lot of dry powder left with regional and international funds. Some funds were actually waiting for valuations to become more rational.

▸ Tiger Global has lost ~USD17b YTD in public equities, according to FT.
 

People & Programs

▸ Congratulations to LAVCA Board 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. 

Advent International will kick off this year's event with an evening reception for LAVCA Members and Limited Partners at Tribeca 360° on October 11 from 6:00-9:00pm. 

▸ 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. 

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’sGlobal Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA’s Julie Ruvolo, 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.