LAVCA Q2 2024 Prelim Numbers

LAVCA recorded a preliminary total of USD956m invested across 98 deals in Q2 2024. Notably, late-stage investments have seen a slight recovery compared to the most recent quarters. 

Highlighted VC Transactions in Q2 2024

• Summit Partners and an undisclosed fund invested USD125m in Brazil-based fintech Celcoin
• Morgan Stanley Tactical Value led a USD100m round for Mexico-based fintech Clip
• Fasanara Capital led a USD100m warehouse facility for Mexico-based fintech Plata
• Gramercy and JP Morgan closed a USD80m credit facility for e-commerce aggregator Merama
• BOND led a USD78m Series B round for Brazil-based loyalty startup CRMBonus, with a USD10m extension by Vivo and Industry Ventures
• General Atlantic and Across Capital invested in a USD50m Series B round for Brazil-based fintech QI Tech

LAVCA Members can email Emanuel Hernandez, LAVCA’s Director of Research, at ehernandez@lavca.org for additional insights.

Stay tuned for our official figures and the launch of our annual Startup Directory & Ecosystem Insights report in mid-August.

LAVCA Tech Brasil

We look forward to seeing venture investors on August 21 in São Paulo for this year’s meeting. The program is designed to build meaningful relationships amongst investors active in the region. 

Featured speakers include:

• Nicolas Szekasy (Co-Founder & Managing Partner, KASZEK)
• Fabio Coelho (President, Google Brazil)
• David Xu (Head of Capital Markets, DiDi Global)
• Carlo Dapuzzo (Partner, monashees+)

LAVCA Members are welcome to join us for a member-only dinner right after the program. 

Stay tuned for additional program details in the coming weeks. Contact Marcelo Pizzato at mpizzato@lavca.org with questions.

LAVCA Tech Brasil 2024 is made possible with support from LAVCA’s Tech Growth Members. Special thanks to Google for hosting, along with AWS, Qualcomm Ventures, MercadoLibre, Riverwood Capital and SVB, for their continued partnership.

Deals

▸ Warburg Pincus invested ~USD100m in Matera, a Brazilian core banking solutions provider for financial institutions.

• Kinea Investimentos invested ~USD20m in 2020. 
• Side note: Waburg Pincus just named Jeffrey Perlman as new CEO, succeeding Chip Kaye. 

▸ OCN (formerly OneCarNow), a Mexico-based rental car startup for gig workers, raised a USD86m equity and debt Series A from Caravela Capital, Collide Capital, Great North Ventures and i80 Group. 

▸ DEBT | Merama, a Mexico- and Brazil-based e-commerce brand aggregator, secured a USD80m credit facility from Gramercy Funds Management. 

• Advent International and SoftBank led a USD60m Series B+ in December 2021 and a USD225 Series B in October 2021; Valor Capital Group, monashees and Balderton Capital led a USD60m round in May 2021. 

▸ Riverwood Capital led a USD24m round for netLex, a Brazilian contract lifecycle management platform. Canary and Parceiro Ventures invested previously.

• netLex is used by legal, procurement and sales teams to manage all company contracts. 
• netLex operates in Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, USA, England, Spain, France and Portugal. 

▸ KASZEK led a USD22m Series A for Tapi, an Argentina-based payments processor, with follow-on from Andreessen Horowitz.

• Tiger Global, Newtopia, Latitud and H20 Capital invested previously. 

▸ AGTECH | Mitsubishi led ~USD12.5m round for Gênica, a Brazilian vaccine developer for crop pesticides, with participation from Banco do Brasil and follow-on from SP Ventures. 

• Gênicaraised an undisclosed round in May 2022; SP Ventures invested ~USD1.2m in January 2018.

▸ L4 Venture Builder, the CVC arm of the B3, led a ~USD12.4m Series B for Monkey Exchange, a Brazilian financial marketplace enabling enterprises to purchase receivables from SMEs, with participation from DEG, the German development bank, and follow-on from Quona Capital and Kinea Ventures. 

• Quona Capital and Kinea Ventures led a USD6m Series A in February 2021; Monkey Exchange raised ~USD1.5m from Wayra Brasil and Parallax Ventures in 2019. 

▸ AGTECH | Farmtech, a Brazilian agricultural digital credit startup, raised USD10m from Bewater. 

▸ Initialized led a USD8.5m round for Caliza, a US-based startup that provides dollar-denominated transaction services to Brazilian financial institutions.

• Better Tomorrow Ventures and Abstract Ventures led a ~USD6m seed round in September 2023; Caliza raised a ~USD5m round in August 2021.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Saison Capital, the venture arm of Credit Saison, led a USD7m round for Alume, a Brazilian higher education financing platform for medical professionals. 

• Credit Saison is the third largest consumer credit business in Japan. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | FinTech Collective led a BRL32m (~USD5.7m) seed round for Tivita, a Brazil-based financial management platform for healthcare professionals. 

▸ CLEANTECH | Vammo (formerly Leoparda Electric), a Brazilian battery-swapping startup for electric bikes, raised ~USD5.5m from EXT Capital. 

• monashees led a USD30m equity and debt round in December 2023; monashees and Construct Capital led a USD8.5m round in September 2022.

▸ Accion Venture Lab and Chile Ventures co-led USD2.1m seed round for Moffin, a Mexico-based credit analysis and client screening platform.

▸ MAYA Capital led a USD2m round for Avra, a Brazilian SME credit risk analysis startup, with participation from Norte Ventures.

• Angels participating included André Street (Stone), Eduardo Pontes (Stone), Dorival Dourado (Serasa), Daniel Cassiano (AB Inbev) and Doug Scherrer (Nubank). 

▸ AGTECH | ProNuvo, a Costa Rican insect-based animal feed startup, raised USD2m from the IFC.

▸ Hi Ventures led a USD1.7m pre-seed round for Perhaps, a Chilean AI workflow integration platform, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners. 

• Hi Ventures just launched their 2024 State of AI in Latin America report.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Fracción,a Chilean pharmaceutical delivery startup, raised a USD1.7m round with participation from Manutara Ventures. 

▸ AGTECH | ByBug, a Chilean insect-based fertilizer manufacturer, raised a USD1.4m seed round with participation from Südlich Capital, Arpegio, Halcyon Venture Partners, Atento Capital and follow-on from GridX. 

• GridX invested USD200k in February 2023.

▸ iThink VC and BuenTrip Ventures co-led a USD1m pre-seed round for Bucksapp, a Paraguayan-Bolivian transactional data analysis platform for banks, with participation from Escalatec and undisclosed angels. 

▸ PROPTECH | DOMO led a ~USD450k pre-seed round for Pipelmob, a Brazil-based real estate management startup. 

▸ AGTECH | Tracestory, a Brazilian production management platform, raised USD300k from Xperiment Ventures.

▸ CVC | RX Ventures invested in Topsort, a US-based advertising solutions platform.

• Upload Ventures led a USD20m round in March.
• Topsort was founded by Chilean Francisco Larraín.

▸ Chilean-based VC Magical invested in Batech, a Mexican security monitoring startup for businesses. 

▸ EL SALVADOR | Second Century Ventures invested in Propi, an El Salvador-based residential real estate marketplace.

• Propi raised a USD2.5m pre-seed round in March 2023.

▸ EDTECH | Realize, a Brazilian distance learning platform, raised ~USD260k via a crowdfunding platform. 

▸ EDTECH | Edupulses, a Brazilian interactive presentation development startup, raised ~USD120k from undisclosed angels.

Exits and M&As

▸ EXIT | Chilean VC Manutara Ventures exited GoQuantum, a Chilean provider of secure data transmission solutions for IoT devices from telecom companies.  

• Manutara invested USD300k in 2019. 

▸ M&A | Nomad, a Brazilian fintech offering US checking accounts for Brazilian residents, acquired Melhor Câmbio, a Brazilian currency exchange house price comparison platform for travelers.

• Tiger Global led a USD61m Series B for Nomad in August 2023; monashees, Spark Capital, Globo Ventures and others invested previously. 

▸ M&A | Chazki, a Peruvian urban delivery startup, acquired Lok, a Mexican smart locker rental platform. 

talipot led a USD7m Series A for Chazki in 2021; NXTP invested in 2018.

Funds

▸ INSURTECH | The AECID (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo) made a ~USD27.2m commitment to Spain-based VC Mundi Ventures to invest in early-stage insurtech startups. 

• Mundi Ventures invests across Europe, Latin America, the US and Asia; the firm’s portfolio in LatAm includes Sami, Olé and Betterfly. 

▸ Canastra Ventures launched its inaugural fund with a ~USD4m target to invest in early-stage Brazilian AI startups.

• WOMEN LED | Canastra was co-founded by Larissa Bomfim, Pedro Dias and Artur Dias. 

▸ CVC | Bluebox Ventures, a Mexico-based CVC manager, and Innova360, a Chilean consulting group, merged to create Innova360 powered by Bluebox, a CVC manager overseeing USD15m across eight CVC funds from Sura, Comfenalco, BCI and others.

News

▸ CloudWalk, a Brazilian POS and blockchain-based payments platform for startups and SMEs is in talks to raise USD400m+ at a USD4b valuation, per The Information. 

• Coatue led a USD150m Series C in November 2021 and a USD190m Series C in May 2021; CloudWalk also just raised ~USD313m through a FIDC (Fundo de Investimentos em Direitos Creditorios) from Itaú BBA, Bradesco BBI and Banco Votorantim.
• DST Global and Valor Capital Group are also investors.

▸ Mexico-based fintech Stori announced a USD383m investment from its balance sheet over the next two years in Mexico for product development, digital infrastructure, and financial inclusion. 

• Stori secured a USD50m credit line from Community Investment Management in July 2023 and raised a USD150m equity and debt round at a USD1.2b valuation in 2022. 

▸ AI | Hi Ventures published its 2024 report on the State of AI in Latin America. 

• Key takeaways include a review of the impact of AI on manufacturing, commerce, the future of work and collaboration, and financial freedom. 
• Of note: 
  • “Although 60% of startups consider AI as core when pitching to VCs, compared to 45% in 2023, only 8% report receiving help from investors to deploy AI”
  • “78% of VC funds consider it important that startups use AI and 36% have AI experts in the team”

▸ AI | Rest of World reviews how the lack of AI regulation might drastically impact artists in Spanish-speaking Latin America in Meta is training its AI with public Instagram posts. Artists in Latin America can’t opt out.

People & Programs

Global Tech

▸ Sign up for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief, a monthly newsletter that 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.