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TLDR

📢  LAVCA 2021 Top & Emerging Women Investors in Latin America Tech

📢  Interview with WexChange finalist Tatiana Malvasio of Argentine agtech Kilimo

📢 Clara (Mexico) and CloudWalk (Brazil) reach USD1b+ in valuation, as well as US-based JOKR and InCode
📢  New Rounds for: Facily, Inspirali, Kueski, Mundi, Konfio, Chiper, Mercado Bitcoin, TruePay, Aplazo, Gorila
📢  Funds: IFC commits to Mountain Nazca; Innogen Capital holds first close for second fund

TOP/EMERGING WOMEN INVESTORS

Women in venture are as underrepresented in Latin America as they are globally. In the US, women only hold ~15% of GP positions in VC, and the majority of firms have no women partners; in other markets, reliable benchmarks for comparison are harder to come by.

In an effort to raise the visibility of women in venture, LAVCA published an updated annual list of the Top Women Investing in Latin American Tech, and our fourth annual list of Emerging Women Investors in Latin American Tech.
The 117 investors featured in the Top Women list and the 116 investors featured in the Emerging Women list in 2021 represent an 15% and 22% increase, respectively, over 2020.
Six women from last year’s Emerging Women Investors list were promoted to Partner roles and are featured in this list: Camila Sangali (Igah Ventures), Camila Petignat (The Yield Lab LatAm), Susana Espinosa de los Reyes (Dux Capital), Melissa Gomez Hindle (G2 Momentum Capital), Andrea Paz Araneda (FEN Ventures) and Maria Tellez (Variv).
LAVCA’s gender diversity content is made possible with support from IDB Lab, Member of the IDB Group. This year’s lists were composed in collaboration with WeInvest Latam.

VIEW LAVCA’s 2021 list of 117 Top Women Investing in Latin American Tech.
VIEW LAVCA’s 2020 list of 116 Emerging Women Investors in Latin American Tech.

2021 WEXCHANGE RECAP 

WeXchange, the largest forum that connects women entrepreneurs in STEM from Latin America and the Caribbean with mentors, investors, and key ecosystem players, was held virtually on December 1 and 2. Organized by IDB Lab, the ninth edition of WeXchange gathered over 500 women entrepreneurs and investors for two days full of inspirational talks, panels, and networking opportunities.

> 2021 WeXchange Panel Highlights:

Founders & Investors Zoom-In with Maricarmen Herrerias of Casai, Carlos Garcia-Ottati of Kavak, Graciela Arango of Kocomo, Ana Cristina Gadala-Maria of QED Investors and Magdalena Coronel of IDB Lab Building Startups from Emerging Ecosystems with Domenica Obando of Talently (Peru), Monique Powell of QuickCart (Jamaica), Lissette Figueroa of Lynktwo (El Salvador) and Enzo Cavalie of Reach Capital & Startupeable Rising Women-Led Startups in LAC with Komal Dadlani of Lab4u (Chile), Manoella Mitchell of Pipo Saúde (Brazil) and Mariana Castillo of Ben & Frank (Mexico). Leading Companies in Deeptech with Matias Peire of GridX, with Elisa Bertini of Kapur, Loreto Acevedo of Indimin, and Maricel Saenz of CompoundFoods.

WeXchange forum was also the scenario for the Demo Day of the first cohort of LAC Women Founders Accelerator, the acceleration program for women-led startups in LAC organized by WeXchange/IDB Lab and Google in collaboration with Centraal.
The following startups pitched their companies to attending investors and the audience of WeXchange:  Alquilando (Argentina), Apptim (Uruguay), Branddu (Colombia), Carinos (Brazil), EatCloud (Colombia), Getin (Mexico), hiSofi (Uruguay), ioio (Mexico), Kon3cta (Chile), MO Technologies (Colombia), Muda Meu Mundo (Brazil), NeuralMind (Brazil), Prometeo (Uruguay), Prosperia (Mexico), Snap Compliance (Costa Rica), TiendaDa (Peru), Tipti (Ecuador), UpGirl (Chile), Vinco (Mexico) and Wit Advisor (Argentina).

NUBANK

Nubank lists in the NYSE today at a reported USD40b+ valuation in what is reported to be one of the biggest IPOs in 2021.

BIG TICKETS

> Cloudwalk and Clara both joined LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard with rounds led by Coatue and Mercado Bitcoin cashed up after reaching a USD2.1b valuation in July.

> Coatue led a USD150m Series C for CloudWalk, a Brazilian POS and blockchain-based payments platform for entrepreneurs and SME, with participation from, DST Global, A-Star, Plug and Play Ventures, and angel Gokul Rajaram (DoorDash), and follow-on from Valor Capital Group and The Hive Brazil at a reported USD2.15b valuation.

Coatue led a USD190m Series B in May.

> Coatue led a USD70m Series B for Clara, a Mexican startup offering corporate expense management startups, at a reported USD1b valuation, with participation from A*, ICONIQ Growth, Box Group and Gaingels, and follow-on from monashees, DST Global, Picus Capital, GFC, Avid Ventures, General Catalyst and Alter Global at a reported USD1b valuation.

Clara raised a USD30m Series A in May and a USD3.5m pre-seed round in March. Clara just launched operations in Brazil.

> 10t and Tribe Capital led a USD50m Series B+ for Brazilian crypto exchange Mercado Bitcoin.

Softbank invested USD200m in July at a reported USD2.1b valuation; GP Investimentos and Parallax Ventures led a ~USD40m round in January.

> Three US-based, LatAm-focused startups also just reached unicorn valuations: JOKR, InCode and Jeeves.

> JOKR, a NY- and Berlin-based last-mile retail delivery platform founded by former SoftBank Managing Partner Ralf Wenzel, raised a USD260m Series B led by GGV Capital, Balderton and Tiger Global, with participation from KASZEK, monashees, Activant Capital, Greycroft, G-Squared, HV Capital, Mirae Asset and Moving Capital at a reported USD1.2b valuation.

JOKR raised USD170m Series A in August. JOKR’s Latin America operations include São Paulo, Mexico City, Bogota and Lima.

> Incode, a San Francisco-based authentication platform with operations in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, raised a USD220m round from SoftBank, JP Morgan Technology Ventures, Coinbase Ventures and General Atlantic.

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

DEALS

> DX Ventures and Delivery Hero led a USD250m Series D for Facily, a Brazilian social commerce marketplace, with participation from Citius, at a reported USD850m valuation.

Facily just announced three other rounds this year: a USD63m Series C led by US-based investor Glade Brook in June; a USD41m Series B led by Luxor Capital in April; and a USD12m Series A led by Quona Capital and monashees in December 2020.

> HEALTHTECH DNA Capital acquired a 25% stake in Inspirali, the medical education arm of Brazilian education conglomerate Anima Educação, for ~USD200m.

> StepStone Group led a USD102m Series C for Kueski, a Mexican consumer lending platform, with participation from One Prime Capital and Glisco, and follow-on from Cometa, Angel Ventures, Altos Ventures, Cathay Innovation, Richmond Global Ventures, Rise Capital and Tuesday Capital.

DEBT Kueski raised USD100m in debt financing from Victory Park Capital as part of the round.

> DEBT Mundi, a Mexican lending platform financing imports/exports for SMEs, secured a USD100m debt facility from SVB.

Base10 Partners led a USD7.8m round in February. SVB launched a USD30m Latin America-dedicated venture and growth debt fund in July 2020 in partnership with Partners for Growth and IDB Invest.

> DEBT Mexican lending platform Konfío secused a USD80m credit line from Community Investment Management (CIM).

Konfio raised a USD110m Series E+ led by Tarsadia Capital and QED Investors in October.

> UK-based VC Nosara Capital led a USD53m Series B for Chiper, a Colombian supplier management platform for independent merchants, with participation from Tiger Global, Endeavor Catalyst, InQlab, Alter Global and Interpay.

Chiper raised a USD12m Series A in October 2020 from KASZEK, monashees and WIND Ventures, the CVC fund of Chilean energy company Copec.

> NY-based VC Addition led a USD32m Series A in TruePay, a Brazilian vendor financing platform for small and medium retailers.

KASZEK and monashees led a ~USD9m seed round in September. TruePay was founded by former VCs Pedro Oliveira (KASZEK) and Luis Eduardo Cascao (DNA Capital).

> Oak HC led a USD27m Series A for Aplazo, a Mexican payment platform enabling BNPL systems for e-commerce brands, with participation from Picus Capital and follow-on from KASZEK.

KASZEK led a USD5.25m round in August.

> Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD20m round in Gorila, a Brazilian investment management platform for independent financial advisors, with participation from monashees, 2TM (Mercado Bitcoin’s parent company), Ribbit Capital and Apis Partners.

> Cometa led a USD20m seed round for Quinio, a Mexican e-commerce aggregator, with participation from DILA Capital, GBM Ventures, AlleyCorp, Western Technology Investment and angel Adalberto Flores (Kueski).

> HEALTHTECH Galapagos Capital invested ~USD20m in MedBeauty, a Brazilian D2C skincare cosmetic products brand.

> Valor Capital Group and EMLES Ventures led a USD15m Series A for Meru, a Mexican wholesale e-commerce platform connecting SMEs in Latin America with suppliers in China.

Mountain Nazca led a USD2.3m pre-seed round in April.

> Hubla, a Brazilian group chat payment management platform for digital creators, raised a ~USD12m Series A from KASZEK, FJ Labs, Big Bets and Kevin Efrusy (Accel).

> Zeev Ventures led a USD11m round for Whatslly, an Israeli-based CRM analytics platform for WhatsApp looking to expand into Latin America, with participation from Base Partners.

> KASZEK led a USD10m Series A for Beer or Coffee, a Brazilian workspace marketplace, with participation from Valor Capital Group.

> KASZEK led a USD10m Series A for Z1, a Brazilian digital bank for teenagers, with follow-on from MAYA Capital, Homebrew, Clocktower Technology Ventures and the US music band The Chainsmokers.

Homebrew led a ~USD2.8m seed round in June.

> INSURTECH Azos, a Brazilian life insurance platform, raised a USD10m Series A from KASZEK, Prosus Ventures, MAYA Capital and Propel Venture Partners.

> HEALTHTECH Valor Capital Group led a ~USD9m Series A for Klivo, a healthcare monitoring platform for chronic diseases, with participation from Canary, Norte Ventures, Civilization Ventures, Tau Ventures and Reaction.

> LOGISTICS Nowports, a Mexican automated freight platform, raised a USD8m Series A+ from Bristlecone Ventures, Investo VC and Justin Mateen (Tinder) to launch operations in Brazil.

Mouro Capital led a USD16m Series A in July.

> EDTECH Peruvian investment manager Enfoca led a USD5m seed round for Griky, a Colombian aggregator for online courses.
> Valor Capital Group and ONEVC led a USD4.5m seed round for Clubbi, a Brazilian B2B commerce platform for small food retailers, with participation from Canary, Better Tomorrow Ventures and Latitud.

> SV Latam led a USD4m seed round for Cubbo, a Mexico-based e-commerce fulfillment startup, with participation from Bragiel Brothers, BluStone and angels Federico Malek and Nicolas Gonzalez Luna (Wonder Brands), Alexis Patjane (99 Minutos), Ricardo Weder (Jüsto), Florian Hagenbuch (Loft) and Tono Mandly (RioGrande).

CEO Brian York (previously of Liftit) on the challenges of operating a same-day delivery model: “Doing same-day fulfillment well requires committing to finding a space in the city, choosing a vertical, using a good tech product and focusing on a specific niche – small non-perishable products, in our case. The main marketplaces have warehouses outside the city and are not prioritizing D2C shipping; 3PLs are stronger at storage and replenishing into retail stores and generally lack modern technology; and other startups in the ecommerce fulfillment space are trying to do other logistics services, like transportation, or quick commerce with perishable items.”

> GFC led a ~USD3.4m round for VELVT, a Brazilian liquidity platform for late-stage VC financing, with participation from Headline, Yolo Ventures and Armyn Capital.
> Portuguese VC Valutia led a ~USD3m round for Canal Dstak, a Brazilian wholesale marketplace for small clothing retailers, with participation from SV Latam, Shilling VC, Allievo Capital, Verve Capital, Rhombus VC, Crivo Ventures and XP Investimentos.

> California-based Costanoa Ventures led a USD2.7m seed round for Plug, a Brazilian payment processing platform, with participation from Norte Ventures, Verve Capital, QED Investors and Latitud.

This is Costanoa Ventures’ first known investment in a Latin American startup.

> Floid, a Chilean open banking platform, raised a USD2.25m seed round from Carao Ventures, Amarena, and an undisclosed fund linked to Grupo Santander.
> ABSeed Ventures led a ~USD2.2m in SafeSpace, a Brazilian compliance platform for anonymous harassment reporting, with participation from DGF Investimentos.
> FOODTECH DXA Investments and Lever VC invested ~USD2m in NoMoo, a Brazilian foodtech making cashew-nut-based cheese.

> PROPTECH Igah Ventures invested ~USD2m in CondoConta, a Brazilian banking platform for condominium management.

Redpoint eventures led a ~USD1.3m seed round in March and a ~USD1.2m seed round+ in September.

> WOMEN LED Jefa, a Costa Rica-based digital bank for women, raised a USD2m seed round from Amador Holdings, The Venture Collective, Foundation Capital, The Fund, FINCA Ventures, Rarebreed VC, Siesta Ventures, Springbank Collective, Bridge Partners, The Hustle Fund, Latitud, J20 and Magma Partners.
> Brazilian accelerator InPulse invested ~USD2m in Blips, a Brazilian printing equipment leasing platform for SMEs.
> CYBERSECURITY Cometa led a USD1.5m seed round for Hackmetrix, a Chilean cybersecurity platform for startups, with participation from Amador Holding, Hero Capital, Rally Cap Ventures and Ark.
> FOODTECH Chilean VC Invexor Venture Partners led a USD1.5m round for Hey Foodie, a Chilean digital food brand franchisor for brick-and-mortar restaurants.
> Carao Ventures and Prodigio Capital invested USD1.2m in WeKall, a Colombian cloud-based corporate telephone service.

> CVC CashWay, a Brazilian fintech service white label platform for credit issuers, raised ~USD1m from Torq Ventures.

Torq Ventures is the CVC arm of Brazilian financial software platform Sinqia.

> PROPTECH Gojom, a Peruvian residential real estate marketplace, raised USD1m from undisclosed investors.
> WOMEN-LED WE Ventures invested ~USD920k in Smarkets, a Brazilian BPO automation platform.

> Angel Ventures and GFC led a USD611k pre-seed round for Retrypay, a Mexican e-commerce payment processing platform.

> Onedoor, a Brazilian last-mile logistics management platform, raised ~USD500k from undisclosed investors.
> Phyllon Bank, a Brazilian consignment platform, raised ~USD400k from undisclosed investors.
> MatterScale Ventures led a USD275k pre-seed round for Aptugo, an Argentine no-code app development platform.

> Kamay Ventures invested in RetryPay, a Mexican e-commerce payment processor platform.

RetryPay’s clients include Nuvemshop, VTEX and Shopify.

> ANGEL Harvard Angels invested in zazuu, a Brazilian healthcare platform for pets.

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT: KILIMO

Kilimo, an Argentine agtech using satellite-based analytics to optimize water irrigation systems in crops, was selected as one of the 12 finalists of the Women STEMPreneurs Competition 2020, an initiative founded in 2013 by IDB Lab to unleash the growth potential of women entrepreneurs in STEM in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Kilimo’s operations are led by COO Tatiana Malvasio, who also is responsible for the company’s educational platform for farmers across Latin America. LAVCA interviewed Tatiana for additional insights into the problem the team is trying to solve and how they approach gender inclusion from within the company both at an employee- and client-level.
LAVCA: What problem is Kilimo trying to solve?

Tatiana Malvasio: Water scarcity is an issue for all economic sectors. Half of the world’s population will live in cities with severe water restrictions within the next nine years. Agriculture consumes 70% of water per year in order to produce food to feed a rapidly growing population. Agriculture water consumption coupled with the climate crisis affecting regions prone to drought means food production needs to be more efficient than ever.

LAVCA: What are notable barriers to entry for other agtech players bringing tech innovation to the fields?

Tatiana: On the one hand, Kilimo has the largest soil moisture dataset in the region, which makes our model very precise; on the other hand, there is a big issue regarding technology adoption in the agricultural sector, and we are playing a very important role as educators by sharing first-level free educational content in our Academia de Riego for Latin American farmers.
The psychological challenge of technology adoption in the agriculture sector has been the biggest challenge for us. This is why we invest a lot of money in generating water management content for farmers, as well as in onboarding and customer care.

READ about Tatiana’s experience during WeXchange, Kilimo’s approach to gender inclusion, and her advice to women growing businesses in Latin America.
READ more content on Latin American women in private capital here.

M&A / EXITS

> SPAC Semantix, a Brazilian provider of big data solutions, announced a merger with Alpha Capital, a SPAC led by Rafael Steinhauser formerly of Qualcomm Latin America and Alex Oxenrod of Argentine software company letgo, at a reported USD1b valuation.

> EXIT KPTL and Antera Capital exited Imeve, a Brazilian biotech developing probiotics for animal nutrition, through a ~USD9.4m share repurchase from the company’s founders.

> M&A Omie, a Brazilian ERP for SMEs, acquired Linker, a Brazilian neobank for SMEs, for ~USD24m.

> M&A Alice, a Brazilian healthcare provider, acquired Cuidas, a Brazilian enterprise primary care platform for employees.

> M&A Homely, a Mexican home and business cleaning marketplace, acquired Aliada, a Mexican home cleaning marketplace.

FUNDS

> IFC made a USD15m commitment in Nazca Fund III, Mountain Nazca’s third fund targeting early-stage startups in Latin America.

> EL SALVADOR Innogen Capital, a VC fund founded in El Salvador, held a first close for ICV II, its second fund to invest in early stage startups in Central America, Mexico, Colombia and the Caribbean.

> AGTECH The Yield Lab Latam launched an opportunity fund with a USD50m target to invest in early stage farm-to-fork startups in Brazil, Argentina and Chile.

US-based farmland asset manager Optimum Agriculture made an undisclosed commitment to the fund.

> French insurer AXA Group acquired a 20% stake in Blue Like an Orange Sustainable Capital Latin America Fund II, Blue Like an Orange’s second fund to invest in companies offering social impact in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

> Spain-based Seaya Ventures and France-based Cathay Innovation launched Seaya Cathay Latam Fund, a Latin America-dedicated fund with a USD125m target to invest in Series A and Series B startups in Latin America.

Federico Gomez Romero, former Senior Investment Officer at Accion Venture Lab, will lead the fund’s regional operations from Mexico City.

> FEN Ventures launched FEN Ventures III, its third fund with a USD80m target to invest in early stage startups in Latin America.

> PROPTECH Alvarez & Marsal launched a fund with a ~USD10m target to invest in early stage proptech startups in Brazil.
> EV Grupo Emasa, a Chilean vehicle parts manufacturer, launched Emasa Ventures, a USD30m fund to invest in early stage startups manufacturing electric vehicle technology in Latin America.

STARTUPS

> LOGISTICS Brazilian delivery logistics platform Loggi invested ~USD30m out of its balance sheet to launch a new warehouse in Brazil to fulfill 1 million orders per day.

> Nubank partnered with retailers AliExpress, Magalú and Dafiti to launch an international e-commerce platform within their personal finance app.

> INSURTECH Chilean insurtech Betterfly partnered with Swiss insurance group Chubb to offer each others’ products through their distribution channels in Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina.

> Petlove&Co, a Brazilian products and services platform for pets, announced a ~USD1.2m stock distribution to all of the company’s employees.

> Stanford GSB hosted a conversation on the state of the Latin American tech ecosystem moderated by Mickly Malka of Ribbit Capital, and with the participation of Gabriel Braga of QuintoAndar, Marcos Galperin of Mercado Libre, David Vélez of Nubank, Loreanne Garcia of Kavak and Jerónimo Uribe of La Haus.

NEWS

> CRYPTO Mercado Libre announced Mercado Pago began including crypto investing for a select group of users in Brazil last month enabled by US-based blockchain startup Paxos exchange functionality.

> Wayra partnered with IDB Lab and IBD Invest to launch CIV-LAC, an open innovation and corporate entrepreneurship platform for companies in traditional sectors in Ecuador and Colombia.

> Latin America is PayPal’s fastest growing region, according to Federico Gomez Schumacher, VP of Latin America.
> Movile announced all employees will be working remotely permanently.
> The Economist: Adventure capitalism – The venture capital industry is being supersized. Good.

INVESTORS

> WOMEN LED Susana Garcia-Robles of Capria Ventures shares her view on the need to demystify the path for women to get into investing in No hay un solo camino para volverse emprendedora and the role of the new investor generation changing the landscape for gender inclusion.

> WOMEN LED Patricia Saenz of Colombian VC EWA Capital shares the gender-focused best practices embedded into their investments due diligence process.

> Izabel Gallera of Canary reviews the state of the healthcare system in Brazil in Healthcare in Brazil: after the storm, a field of opportunity.

> Astella Investimentos published a SaaS Playbook, a summary of the fund’s due diligence practices when analyzing a potential investment.

> Emerging Venture Capital Fellows (EVCF), a Brazilian junior-level investment professional community, published a comprehensive mapping of active VC investors in Brazil.

GLOBAL TECH

SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global 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.

> SVB is looking for a Vice President to join their Latin America-focused practice based out of San Francisco. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> KASZEK is looking for a Principal to join their investment team based out of São Paulo. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> Andreessen Horowitz is looking for a Fintech EIR. The selected operator will receive compensation in the form of funding for their venture. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> SoftBank announced the content of the SoftBank Operator School is now available to the general public. The curriculum includes sessions with founders such as Sebastián Mejía of Rappi, Marco Fishben of Descomplica, Sergio Furio of Creditas, Brynne McNulty of Habi, among others.
> Distrito partnered with Via and Unilever to launch Black Scale, an accelerator program for startups founded by afrodescente founders in Brazil. Applications close December 17.

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.