Editor's Note

VC investment in Latin America continued to adjust in Q1 2023 in line with global trends. LAVCA recorded a preliminary total of USD800m, representing a 25% decline relative to Q4 2022. Notably, venture debt saw the highest investor appetite on a dollar basis, representing 51% (USD395m) of capital invested across seven deals. Venture debt also led the biggest tickets in the quarter overall, with financings for fintechs Marco Financial (USD200m) and Clara (USD90m). 

LAVCA recorded an all-time high of corporate participation in startup financings in Latin America during 2022. On average, nearly one in every four rounds included the involvement of a corporate investing from its balance sheet or CVC vehicle.



 

LAVCA Members can email Emanuel Hernandez, LAVCA’s Director of Research, at ehernandez@lavca.org for additional insights including updated figures on VC investment to women-led startups, venture debt financing, and LAVCA’s market overview presented during the 2023 VC LatAm Summit in Miami. 

Investor Spotlight

Capria Ventures just reached a first close for Capria Global South Fund II, its second flagship fund with a USD100m target to invest in startups across the Global South, with regions including Latin America, India, Southeast Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

Notable institutional investors and FOs in Capria’s second fund include OIP Investment Trust, Gates Ventures, Crystal Springs Foundation, Sall Family Foundation and the Brakeman Family Trust. 

LAVCA interviewed Senior Partner Susana Garcia-Robles on Capria’s fundraising strategy and selection of institutional partners, as well as its investment thesis differentiators for its second vehicle including generative AI and climate tech. 
 

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Startups

▸ iFood is now Movile’s parent company after a reverse takeover.

• This is the latest development of a Brazilian holding company that began focused on featured phones in 1998. 25 years later, Movile’s assets included significant stakes in well-known startups across Latin America including Zoop, Sinch, Moova, Mensajeros Urbanos, a55, Sympla and Afterverse.
• Movile announced it would be streamlining its operating structure earlier this year and just exited Mensajeros Urbanos through a sale to Moova, an Argentine route optimization platform for last-mile delivery. 
• READ LAVCA’s interview with former Movile CEO Patrick Hruby in 2021 on the vision for collaboration between iFood and Movile’s portfolio companies. 

▸ M&A | Mexican car resale platform Kavak acquired OPI Analytics, a Mexican B2B data science startup.

• NAZCA first invested in OPI Analytics in 2014. 
• Kavak secured USD675m in debt financing from HSBC and another USD135m in credit lines from Goldman Sachs and Santander in September 2022.

▸ M&A | Rappi acquired Brazilian last-mile delivery platform Box Delivery. 

• Box Delivery acquired VUXX, a Brazilian urban logistics startup, for ~USD7m in 2022.

▸ Nubank launched its payroll lending platform NuConsignado in Brazil. 

▸ CROSSBORDER | UK-based mobile banking startup Revolut launched operations in Brazil as part of its expansion strategy through Latin America. 

• Revolut’s investors include SoftBank Vision Fund, Tiger Global, DST Global and TCV. Revolut has raised USD2b+ in financing to date.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Zeely, a Ukranian mobile-first e-commerce platform for young digital creators will double-down on its operations in Brazil and Mexico after raising USD1m from Vesna Capital, Angel One Fund and Imaguru Ventures.

Funds

▸ IoT Indicator Capital reached a ~USD66.6m second close for its second fund to invest in IoT startups in Brazil.

• LPs in this ~USD18.6m fundraising tranche include Sebrae, Badesul, AgeRio and Fapesp.
• Indicator Capital’s latest investments include Beegol, Rumina, CTA Smart, IBBX, Syos and Tevec.

▸ ALIVE Ventures, formerly Acumen LatAm Capital Partners, reached a USD20m first close for its second flagship fund with a USD80m target to invest in early-stage edtech, agtech and HRtech startups in Colombia and Spanish-speaking Latin America.

• LPs in ALIVE’s second fund include Dutch Good Growth Fund, Latam Impact Fund, Acumen, Fundación Bancolombia and the WWB Foundation. 

▸ CVC | Brazilian energy distributor Copel selected Vox Capital to manage its ~USD30m CVC arm. 

• Vox Capital’s latest investments include Bitfy, Aprova Digital, Cubos Academy, Seedz, Omens, ISA Lab, Mevo and Endpoint Health.

▸ Chilean VC Manutara Ventures launched its third flagship fund with a USD28m target to invest in early-stage startups operating in Chile and Spanish-speaking Latin America. 

▸ Brazilian fund 4Equity Media Ventures launched a media-for-equity fund through a Fundo de Investimento em Participações (FIP) with a ~USD100m target to invest in Brazilian D2C consumer startups.

▸ CLIMATE | Aurea Finvest launched CarbonCap, a USD40m fund to invest in early-stage startups building solutions for the climate impact of construction projects. 

▸ CVC | Cassio Spina of Anjos do Brasil and Robertta Mota of Criatec launched Alya Ventures, a consultancy for startups interested in raising financing from CVC vehicles in Brazil. 

▸ PERU | Qapu Ventures, a Peruvian angel investor fund, launched its first vehicle with a USD1m target to invest in seed-stage startups.

Deals

▸ WOMEN-LED | Victory Park Capital provided a USD100m credit line to Colombian residential real estate platform Habi. 

• DEBT | Habi secured a USD6.3m credit line from Bancoldex in January and a USD75m credit line from Triple Point Capital in June 2022.

▸ GGV Capital led a USD60m Series B+ for Clara, a Mexican corporate expense management platform, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, Citi Ventures, Acrew Capital, Ethos, Commerce Ventures, Goanna Capital, Bayhouse Capital and Fluente Ventures, and follow-on from monashees, Coatue, Picus Capital, DST Global, Alter Global and General Catalyst.

• DEBT | Clara secured USD90m in debt financing from Accial Capital in March; Coatue led the USD70m Series B in January 2022. 

▸ Cloud9 Capital led ~USD21.8m round for Cilia, a Brazilian autopart and car maintenance cost estimator for insurance companies, with participation from Mercado Libre. 

• Cloud9 reached a ~USD56m close for its first fund in 2022. The fund was launched by SoftBank Latin America alumnus Felipe Affonso Noah Stern.

▸ Acre Venture Partners led a USD12m Series A for Arado (formerly Clicampo), a Brazilian operations and logistics management platform connecting rural producers with restaurants and retailers, with participation from Syngenta Ventures and Globo Ventures, and follow-on from Valor Capital Group, SP Ventures and MAYA Capital.

• Valor Capital Group and MAYA Capital led a USD7.5m seed round in February 2022.

▸ L Catterton made an undisclosed follow-on investment in Ben & Frank, a Mexican D2C eyewear brand. 

• L Catterton first invested in November 2021; Dila Capital and Wollef invested in February 2018.

▸ Homebrew, Parade Ventures and Kindred Ventures led a ~USD10.8m round for Z1, a Brazilian digital bank for teenagers, with participation from Newtopia VC, Costanoa Ventures, SquareOne and The Fund, and follow-on from Clocktower Technology Ventures, MAYA Capital, YC and Gaingels. 

• KASZEK led a USD10m Series A in December 2021; Homebrew led a ~USD2.8m seed round in June 2021.

▸ INSURTECH | Brazilian car insurance platform Justos raised a ~USD6.5m round led by an undisclosed insurance company, with participation from Israel-based VC MSR Capital. 

• Justos raised a ~USD35.8m Series A led by Ribbit Capital in November 2021; KASZEK led a USD2.8m seed round in May 2021.

▸ Costanoa, MAYA Capital and Latitud invested  ~USD5.5m in Assis, a Brazilian invoice and backend operations management platform for freelancers.

▸ Redwood Ventures and Pegasus led a USD5m Series A for InstaLeap, a Colombian supply automation platform for retailers.

▸ Cometa led a USD4m round for Kala, a Colombian lending infrastructure platform, with participation from Canay, Clocktower Technology Ventures, Acrew Capital and 99 Startups.

▸ EDTECH | Valor Capital Group made an undisclosed investment in Principia, a Brazilian cash flow management platform for private universities.

▸ CVC | SRM Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian asset manager SRM, invested ~USD4m in Scalable, a Brazilian lending platform for SaaS startups. 

▸ Multi, formerly Multilaster, invested ~USD4m in ZiYou, a Brazilian sports equipment rental platform.

• Multi invested through its funds managed by Bertha Capital. 

▸ CLEANTECH | Order Venture Capital, a Brazilian consumer-focused VC, led a ~USD3m round in Água na Caixa, a Brazilian D2C startup that is reducing plastic consumption by packaging purified water in wood and sugar-cane derived containers.

• Order Venture Capital committed ~USD1.4m of the total round. 
• Água na Caixa raised ~USD600k from friends and family in 2021. 

▸ BDN Ventures and Agunsa Labs led a USD2.8m pre-Series A for Instance, a Chilean e-commerce enabler for brick-and-mortar retailers, with participation from Chilean retail distributor Espol, and angels Eduardo Novoa (Endeavor), Diego Fleischmann (Migrante), Tomas and Sebastián Ibañez (Kayyak Ventures) and Trevor Zimmerman and Philip O’Connor (Blackhorn Ventures). 

▸ HEALTHTECH | Albert Einstein Hospital led a ~USD2.6m round for Eyecare Health, a Brazilian backend management platform for eye clinics, with participation from Parceiro Ventures. 

• Albert Einstein Hospital led the transaction through its funds managed by Vox Capital.

▸ Canary led a ~USD2m seed round for Brandlovrs, a Brazilian influencer marketing platform connecting small creators with retailers, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, The Venture City and 4Equity. 

• Brandlovrs is a spinoff of Brazilian digital brand developer Adventures. 

▸ HRTECH | Alaya Capital, FJ Labs, Mr. Pink and Opera Ventures led an undisclosed seed round invested in Teamcubation, an Argentine upskilling platform for junior software developers.

▸ Globant Ventures invested in Fivvy, a US- and Argentina-based data analytics and customer experience platform for traditional financial institutions. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | RBS Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian media conglomerate Grupo RBS, invested ~USD2m in Salute, a Brazilian network of health clinics for the uninsured.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Chile Ventures led a USD1.8m seed round for Nutrix, a Chilean B2C diabetes monitoring platform, with participation from Polaco Simpact and AD Ventures. 

▸ DOMO Invest led a ~USD1.6m round for Magroove, a Brazilian independent music distributor and streaming placement agent. 

▸ CVC | Nexpon, the CVC arm of Brazilian media outlet NSC Total, invested ~USD1.3m in ClickSuper, a Brazilian supermarket price aggregator. 

▸ BakeryTech, a Brazilian data analytics platform for small bakeries, raised ~USD1.1m from DOMO Invest, CRIVO and Harvard Angels.

▸ Cedro Capital invested ~USD1.1m in Trampay, a Brazilian payroll management platform for ride-sharing and last-mile delivery workers.

• Trampay raised an additional USD100k from undisclosed angel investors.

▸ EDTECH | Dux Capital invested in Innovare, a US- and Mexico-based student information management platform for K-12 schools. 

• This is Dux Capital’s first investment out of DXII, the firm’s second flagship fund investing in Latin founders in Latin America and the US.

▸ LOGISTICS | Brazilian VC Citrino Ventures led a ~USD1m round for Infleet, a Brazilian fleet operations management platform for logistic companies.

• DOMO Invest and BossaNova Investimentos made a ~USD520k follow-on investment in June 2022 and led a ~USD240k round in October 2021.
• Infleet was selected to participate in Endeavor Brasil’s Scale Ups 2023 acceleration program. 

▸ HEALTHTECH | Argentine-based PE investor Lucens Capital led a USD1m pre-seed round for Ellie Care, an Argentine wearable technology and rewards program for senior preventative care. 

• This is Lucens Capital's first known investment in an early startup, according to LAVCA Data.

▸ ACE Startups and TM3 Capital led a ~USD720k round in Speedio, a Brazilian sales lead automation platform for enterprises. 

▸ Chilean VC Südlich Capital invested USD700k in Rubisco Biotechnology, a Chilean cell culture developer.

• Südlich Capital launched Exploradores I, its first flagship fund with a USD10m target to invest in early-stage foodtech startups in January.

▸ HRTECH | Katalista, a Brazilian professional development resource platform, raised ~USD300k from undisclosed angels.

▸ AGTECH | Fundo Gazebo, the CVC arm of Brazilian fertilizer company Koppert, invested ~USD200k in AgroBee, a Brazilian on-demand pollination service for agricultural producers.

▸ Brazilian incubator Grupo Sai do Papel invested ~USD200k across Brazilian startups Meu Vista, a workflow platform for independent financial planners, Plano, a consumer financial education platform and E-lastic, a data management platform for health clinics. 

▸ CRYPTO | Qinv, a Brazilian pre-launch quant trading crypto platform, raised ~USD200k from undisclosed investors. 

▸ SECURITY | Google for Startup Latino Founders Fund invested USD150k in Kriptos, an Ecuadorian cybersecurity attack prevention platform for enterprises. 

• Act One Ventures led a USD3.1m round in June 2022; BuenTrip Ventures led a USD1.25m round in January 2021.

▸ Guardadoria, a Brazilian antemortem estate and financial planning platform focused on succession, raised USD150k from an undisclosed investor. 

▸ Techstars invested USD120k in Kuadra, a Colombian back office management platform for SMEs as part of its accelerator program. 

▸ HRTECH | Brazilian accelerator Ventiur Smart Capital invested ~USD50k in WorkHub, a Brazilian employee management platform. 

▸ ANGEL | EmpreX, a Brazilian consumer credit platform, raised ~USD2.2m from undisclosed angel investors. 

▸ ANGEL | BR Angels invested ~USD240k in EPIC Digitais, a Brazilian influencer marketing platform.

Exits​​

▸ HRTECH | KASZEK and Riverwood Capital exited GOIintegro, an Argentine corporate benefits platform, through a sale to Edenred, a French corporate services platform. 

• KASZEK and Riverwood first invested in GOintegro in 2012.
• Edenred acquired 75% of the share capital in GOintegro as part of the transaction. 

▸ EDTECH | Criabiz Ventures and Anjos do Brasil exited Witseed, a Brazilian corporate education platform, through a sale to Brazilian media company Grupo Exame.

• Criabiz Ventures and Anjos do Brasil invested ~USD180k in Witseed in June 2021.

▸ TC Latin America Partners exited Zetta Center Complex, a Colombian data center focused on big data and streaming services, through a sale to Mexican digital infrastructure provider KIO Networks.

▸ LAVCA publishes an annual directory of its VC/Tech members, with profiles on 75+ firms active in Latin America.

News​​

▸ WhatsApp launched in-chat business payments in Brazil. 

• Before this rollout, WhatsApp users were only able to make peer-to-peer transactions through WhatsApp Pay.

▸ Mercado Libre plans to hire 13k new employees across Latin America, a countertrend to recent streamlining efforts from other companies in the region. 

• While the initiative will include recruiting in six countries, 11,150 of the positions will be based in either Mexico or Brazil.

▸ CRYPTO | Visa partnered with Microsoft, Sinqia and Agrotoken to participate in LIFT Challenge, the Brazilian Central Bank’s initiative to develop use-cases for its digital real. 

• The Brazilian Banking Federation Febraban launched a working group with 15 financial institutions to begin testing the digital real within their own product suite.

▸ CLEANTECH | Uber partnered with Tembici, a Brazilian micro-mobility platform to make electric and traditional bikes available on its app in Latin America. 

• Tembici raised ~USD32m from BNDES in February and a ~USD10.6m round from Itaú, MasterCard and Colombian natural gas company Vanti in October 2022.

▸ Brazil and China will no longer need the US dollar as an intermediate currency to settle international trades. 

• The deal will enable China and Brazil to conduct their massive trade and financial transactions directly, exchanging the RMB for reais and vice versa.

▸ McKinsey published its latest study on the state of the Latin American startup ecosystem.

People & Programs

▸ REGISTRATION OPEN | LAVCA Tech Brasil 2023 (formerly LAVCA Encontro Anual Brasil) will convene leading VCs active in Brazil for a half-day program focused on networking and discussions on 28 June in São Paulo. Qualified investors can register now.
 

▸ LTF | Congratulations to Riverwood Capital for another successful edition of the Latin America Tech Forum. 

• This year convened 370 GPs, CEOs and senior operators across Latin America in Miami for close conversation and high-quality networking. LAVCA looks forward to strengthening our long-standing partnership in 2024.

▸ Congratulations to the six startups selected to participate in Endeavor Argentina’s 8th edition of the ScaleUp program: Agree, Celeri, Fidu, Kids Corp, Menta and Seeds.

▸ Finnovista will host FINNOSUMMIT 2023 on 26-27 September in Mexico City. Registration is now open.

▸ Quona Capital is looking for an Investment Associate to join its Latin America investment team. Interested candidates based in Mexico City or open to relocating are welcome to apply.

▸ DILA Capital is looking for a Senior Investment Analyst to join its team in CDMX. Interested candidates are welcome to apply. 

▸ ALLVP is looking for a Senior Investment Analyst to join the team. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

Global Tech

▸ SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. 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.