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LATAM VENTURE BULLETIN
A must read roundup of startup deals and news on emerging technologies in Latin
America, delivered to over 7,000 investors, entrepreneurs and corporates bi-weekly.
23 March 2023 |
Editor’s note: The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Director of Venture Capital. | TLDR
📣 New rounds for: Clara, SkyOne, Quality Software, Aghora, Avista, Voicemod, zMatch, Toku, Jungle, Wheel the World, Vermiculus and Cometa
📣 M&A | Solfácil acquires Solar Inove; Arquivei aquires ConexãoNF-e; Teamcore aquires Tech-K
📣 News | Mercado Libre to make record investments in Mexico and Colombia
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| | ▸ DEBT | Clara, a Mexican corporate expense management platform, secured USD90m in debt financing from Accial Capital. Clara secured a credit line of up to USD150m from Goldman Sachs Asset Management in August 2022, eight months after Cotaue led its USD70m Series B at a USD1b valuation. ▸ Spectra Investments and Invest Tech will invest a collective ~USD56.8m in Brazilian companies SkyOne, a cloud computing platform, Quality Software, an IT consulting firm and Aghora, an employee management platform.
▸ DEBT |Colombian credit placement platform Avista secured a USD22.5m debt facility from Accial Capital.
Avista secured a USD20m credit line from Accial in May 2021 and a USD75m credit line from undisclosed investors in 2020. ▸ Spanish VC K Fund led a USD14.5m round for Voicemod, a Spain-based voice modification software for live streamers with operations in Brazil.
▸ CLEANTECH | zMatch, a Brazilian subscription-based EV fleet for consumers, raised a ~USD10m round from Canary, Revolution and IGF.
▸ WOMEN-LED | F-Prime led a USD7m round for Toku, a Chilean recurring payments automation platform for SMEs, with participation from Wollef and Honey Island Capital, and follow-on from Clocktower and FundersClub.
Angels participating included Matias Muchnik (NotCo), Santiago Lira (Buk), Sebastian Kreis (Xepelin) and Daniel Guajardo (HealthAtom). Funders Club and Clocktower led a USD2m seed round in October 2021. Toku was co-founded by Francisca Noguera. ▸ WEB3 | SF-based VC Bitkraft Ventures and Framework Ventures led a ~USD6.4m round for Jungle, a Brazilian web3 gaming studio, with participation from Norte Ventures, Delphi Digital, Karatage, Fourth Revolution Capital, Monoceros, 32bit Ventures, Stateless Ventures and Snackclub.
▸ Kayyak Ventures led a USD6m pre-Series A for Wheel the World, a US-based travel booking platform for travelers with disabilities, with participation from Detroit Venture Partners, Path Ahead Ventures, CLIN Fund, Amarena, WeBoost and angel Gillian Tans (Booking.com).
ChileGlobal Ventures and Dadneo led a USD2m seed round in September 2021. ▸ CROSSBORDER | L4 Venture Builder, the CVC arm of the B3, invested USD5.5m in Vermiculus, a Swiss developer of backend software infrastructure for stock exchanges.
▸ EDTECH | Cometa, a Mexican cash flow management platform for private schools, raised a USD5m round from KASZEK, Salkantay Ventures, 500 Global, Latitud, Homebrew, Investo VC and Reach Capital.
Angels participating included Courtney McColgan (Runa), Sebastian Kreis (Xepelin), Diego Olcese (Crehana), Jorge Mazal (Duolingo) and Sebastian Monsalve (Roble Ventures). ▸ Solum Capital invested ~USD5m in Brazilian skincare brand Anna Pegova.
▸ CROSSBORDER | UK-based investor Force Over Mass Capital and NXTP led a ~USD3.2m round for Barte, a Brazilian B2B online payments platform for SMEs, with follow-on from VentureFriends.
GFC, Flash Ventures and VentureFriends invested ~USD1.3m in December 2021. ▸ FOODTECH | Eurofarma, a Brazilian pharmaceutical multinational, invested ~USD3m in Ocean Drop, a Brazilian sea-based food supplements brand. Eurofarma first invested in Ocean Drop in 2021 through its CVC arm Neuron. ▸ EDTECH | Brazilian VC Square Knowledge Ventures led a ~USD1.6m pre-seed round for Proesc, a Brazilian finance management platform for educational institutions.
▸ ROBOTS | MSW Capital, the CVC fund of Banco do Brasil, invested ~USD1.1m in Automni, a Brazilian autonomous system developer for warehouses, with participation from Viaduto, a Brazilian industrial equipment leasing company.
Automni was selected to participate in Randon Ventures and Gerdau Next Ventures’ accelerator program in November 2022. Automni’s clients include Danone, Dell and Nestlé. ▸ ECUADOR | Aora, an Ecuadorian home and office repair and maintenance platform, raised a USD850k pre-seed round from Wayra Hispam, 500 Global, New Ventures and Fondation Botnar. Aora was selected to participate in 500 Global's Batch 15 Somos Lucha program. ▸ Costa Rica-based VC Caricaco led a pre-seed round in Listo, a Costa Rica-based supply management platform for restaurants, with participation from Ulua VC and undisclosed angels. Caricaco’s only LP is Costa Rican FO El Trueno. ▸ CROWDFUNDING | Quadrado Express, a Brazilian network of grocery mini markets for residential condominiums and office spaces, raised ~USD220k in equity crowdfunding.
▸ ANGEL | APTK Spirits, a Brazilian D2C artisanal liquor brand, raised ~USD1.8m from angels Marcello Gonçalves (DOMO Invest), Carlos Moura (Campari Group Brazil) and Ricardo Natale (Experience Club), among others.
▸ ANGEL | MeuChope, a Brazilian craft beer marketplace, raised a ~USD1.7m seed round from angels Michael Nicklas (Valor Capital Group), Carlos Gros (Grupo Gera), Thiago Rodrigues (The Craftory) and Júlio Barbosa (BRZ Advogados).
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| Funds ▸ Latin Leap reached a USD25m final close for its first flagship fund to invest in early stage fintech, healthtech, edtech, proptech and mobility startups in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile.
▸ CVC | Brazilian stock exchange B3 was approved by CVM to launch L4 Venture Builder, a ~USD120m CVC arm to invest in Brazilian decentralized finance, carbon, blockchain and payment startups.
L4 Ventures just invested USD5.5m in Vermiculus, a Swiss developer of backend software infrastructure for stock exchanges. ▸ IMPACT | Promotora Social Mexico rebranded to Impact Ventures PSM and launched an impact-focused growth stage fund. PSM’s portfolio includes Someone Somewhere and Medica Santa Carmen. ▸ Angel Ventures launched its third flagship fund with a USD120m target to invest in US-Hispanic and Latin American startups and opened an office in Austin, Texas. The US office will be led by Partners Elisa Sepúlveda and Marcelo de la Garza. ▸ YC reduced its team by 20% and shut down YC Continuity Fund, its growth investment vehicle, to focus on early stage investments. Continuity Fund heads Anu Hariharan and Ali Rowghani are reportedly launching a new growth fund. YC President Garry Tan: “… late stage investing turned out to be so different from early stage that we found it to be a distraction from our core mission.” ▸ LAVCA publishes an annual directory of its VC/Tech members, with profiles on 75+ firms active in Latin America. |
| Startups ▸ M&A | Solfácil, a Brazilian solar energy financing platform, acquired Solar Inove, a Brazilian solar energy equipment distributor. Fifth Wall led a USD30m Series C+ in September 2022; QED Investors led a USD100m Series C in May 2022 and a USD30m Series B in 2021. ▸ M&A | Arquivei, a Brazilian fiscal management platform, acquired ConexãoNF-e, a Brazilian fiscal and accounting management platform. Riverwood Capital led a ~USD52m Series B for Arquivei in January. ▸ M&A | Teamcore, a Chilean sales analytics platform for retailers, merged with Tech-K, a Chilean business analytics platform for CPG brands. Accel-KKR and SVB invested in Teamcore in August 2022. ▸ Latitud launched Meridian, a cross-border business account and cash flow management solution for Latin American VC-backed startups that are incorporated in Delaware or the Cayman Islands. Latitud CEO Brian Requarth: “O maior desafio para fundadores neste momento é que não existem boas opções desses serviços financeiros para companhias latino-americanas com estruturas jurídicas internacionais.” ▸ INSURTECH | Chilean insurtech Betterfly launched Betterfly Legacy, a charitable equity plan allowing non-profit customers to become shareholders in the company.
▸ Brazilian founders are struggling to transfer FDIC-insured capital from SVB to a domestic account due to additional international wire restrictions imposed by the US government.
More than USD200m in deposits were transferred to LatAm-based accounts before the collapse, according to Bloomberg Línea. Axios Pro Rata: A Bank Collapse in Three Acts. ▸ Brazilian home goods e-commerce startup MadeiraMadeira reduced its workforce for a second time, after laying off 60 employees six months ago. |
| News ▸ LOGISTICS | Mercado Libre will invest a record USD3.6b and USD1.6b in Brazil and Mexico during 2023, respectively. Investments will primarily be targeted at launching new distribution centers and growing the company’s airplane fleet. ▸ Meta laid off 102 employees in the region as part of a new 10k workforce reduction. Meta announced its first restructuring last December, reducing its workforce by 11k employees. ▸ CRYPTO |Brazilian Central Bank launched a pilot program for Real Digital, a central bank digital currency (CBDC). The final rollout is expected in 2024.
▸ CRYPTO | Argentine travel platform Despegar partnered with Binance to offer crypto payments for bookings in Argentina.
▸ BBVA launched BBVA Spark, a financing, banking and card issuance solution for startups in Colombia, after launching in Spain and Mexico in 2022.
▸ BIOTECH | Nature magazine covers the threat of sustainable funding for genomic research in Mexico and Brazil in How Latin America’s genomics revolution began — and why the field is under threat.
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| Investors ▸ Monica Brand, Jonathan Whittle and Michel Zaidler of Quona Capital share their views on the increased sophistication of the fintech landscape in Brazil Is Not for Beginners.
▸ Francisco Alvarez-Demalde of Riverwood Capital shares his view on some learnings from the SVB collapse:
"The biggest lesson to take from SVB’s sudden collapse is that events are unfolding at an ever-faster pace in digital banking, and that companies need to be nimble with a solid risk-management strategy when sitting on a lot of capital." |
| People & Programs ▸ MARK YOUR CALENDARS | LAVCA Tech Brasil 2023 (formerly LAVCA Encontro Anual Brasil) will take place in São Paulo in June 2023. Stay tuned for additional details.
▸ Congrats to the startups selected to participate in Endeavor Brasil’s Scale Ups 2023 acceleration program:
CRYPTO | Credix, Digitra, Kill B and Cryptum B2C | Appito, Quaddro, Doji, Tipspace, Food to Save, Obvious and B4 Waste B2B ENTERPRISE | Cash.in, Ada, Easy B2B, Linkana, BotCity, Anthor, Kestraa, Amicci, Infleet, Flourish, Lexter.ai and Lastro FINTECH | alt.bank, Credere, Trace Finance, NG.Cash, Malga, Klavi, Turn2C, Zarv, Vixtra, Destaxa, DeLend, Darwin Seguros, Velotax, Homelend and Bamboo Capital Markets HEALTH | Telavita, Liti, EaseLabs, Oya Care, SleepUp, Bloom Care, Mevo and Cannect GREENTECH | Edmond, Nextron Energia and Origem SMEs | Coodesh, Eatopia, Praso, Unbox, Leadster, Flieber, HubLocal, Scaleup, Zig and Sinapse ▸ Quona Capital is looking for an Investment Associate to join its Latin America investment team. Interested candidates based in Mexico City or open to relocate are welcome to apply.
▸ AMEXCAP will host Cumbre de Capital Privado 2023 in Mexico City 28-29 March. Learn more.
▸ Kamay Ventures is hosting Kamay Code Buenos Aires 2023 on March 29-30, a program focused on connecting CVCs and startup founders in Argentina. Registration is now open.
▸ The third edition of the VC LatAm Summit will be hosted 19-20 April in Miami in partnership with eMerge Americas.
Organizing local associations include: ARCAP, ABVCAP, AMEXCAP, ACVC, ColCapital, ECUACAP, PARCAPY, PECAP and Uruguay XXI. LAVCA Member GPs and LPs are welcome to register; organizers will offer a limited number of complimentary passes to qualified LPs. |
| Global Tech ▸ SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA Senior Advisor Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers tech activity in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East. Recent issues covered breastmilk innovation and China’s growing EV investment.
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.
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