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Editor's Note:The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by LAVCA’s VC team, Julie Ruvolo and Carlos Ramos de la Vega. Carlos is set to take over as Editor of the newsletter in the near future — get ready to see his name in your inbox!
📢 VC Momentum: VC investment in Latin American startups is on track to exceed USD2b for Q1 2021. 📢 New Rounds for Nubank, MeuTudo, Clip, GBM, Buser, 99 minutos, Jeeves, NotCo, LAIKA, Alameda, Fracttal, Food for the Future (F4F)
VC investment in Latin American startups is on track to exceed USD2b for Q1 2021, making it the strongest quarter on record after Q2 2019 (USD1.9b), which included SoftBank’s USD1b investment in Rappi. Some of the largest known rounds in 2021 to date: Nubank’s USD750m Series G+; Loft’s USD525m Series D; QuintoAndar’s USD300m Series E; Clip’s USD250m Series D; Bitso’s USD250m Series C; Loggi’s ~USD205m Series E; MadeiraMadeira’s USD190m Series E; Cloudwalk’s USD190m Series B.
> Berkshire Hathaway led a USD750m Series G+ for Nubank, with participation from Sands Capital, Verde Asset, Absoluto Partners, MSA Capital, CPP Investments and Sunley House at a reported USD30b valuation.
Nubank raised a USD400m Series G led by GIC, Whale Rock and Invesco at a reported USD25b valuation in January. The valuation has more than tripled since TCV led a USD400m Series F in 2019 at a USD10b valuation.
> #CREDIT Goldman Sachs Asset Management announced an investment of up to ~USD400m in MeuTudo, a Brazilian consumer credit platform, with follow-on from DOMO Invest.
MeuTudo will structure seven new FIDC (Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditórios) vehicles with the new investment.
> SoftBank Latin America and Viking Global Investors led a USD250m round for Clip, a Mexican digital payment platform for SMEs at a reported USD2b valuation.
General Atlantic and SoftBank invested in 2019 at a reported USD400m valuation.
Previous investors include Ribbit Capital, Goldman Sachs, Dalus Capital, Banort and Amex Ventures.
> SoftBank invested up to USD150m in Grupo Bursátil Mexicano (GBM), a 35-year-old Mexican investment brokerage platform for local institutions now offering its services to retail investors, at a reported valuation of ~USD1b.
>Lightrock led a ~USD140m Series C for Buser, a Brazilian bus ticketing platform, with participation from Iporanga Ventures, and follow-on from SoftBank, monashees, Valor Capital Group, Globo Ventures and Canary, who invested in 2019.
>Prosus Ventures and KASZEK invested USD40m in 99 minutos, a Mexican last-mile delivery company for e-commerce platforms.
99 minutos acquired Chilean last-mile delivery startup MuvSmart in 2020; Engie Factory invested that same year.
>#PETS LAIKA, a Colombian e-commerce platform for pet goods and services, raised a USD12m Series A from YC, InQlab, Streamlined Ventures and Justin Mateen (Tinder).
LAIKA raised USD5m from Soma Capital, InQlab and Palm Drive Capital in 2020, and participated in YC’s 2019 Summer Batch.
>Grupo Bolivar invested in Alameda, a Mexico- and Colombia-based furniture and home decor marketplace.
Angel Ventures and DILA Capital invested in 2019 after Alameda (Mexico) and Mubler (Colombia) merged under the Alameda brand.
CEO Juan Carlos Velázquez compares Colombian and Mexican consumer preferences: “Pain points are similar but markets are actually quite different. One interesting distinction is that the Colombian consumer is more comfortable acquiring ready-to-assemble products whereas the Mexican consumer skews towards the fully finished item. For us, having centralized data analytics but also local founders in both countries, has been key to tailor the business offerings to each specific market.â€
>XP acquired a minority stake in Capitânia Investimentos, a Brazilian real estate financing, infrastructure and private credit platform.
Capitania’s current portfolio includes 30 investment funds, 80 institutional investors and 140k retail investors.
>#IOT Seaya Ventures led a ~USD6m round for Fracttal, a Brazilian IoT asset management platform with operations in Chile, Brazili, Mexico and Colombia, with participation from GoHub Ventures.
>#FOODTECH Kayyak Ventures led a USD4.5m Series A for Food for the Future (F4F), a Chilean manufacturer of fish feed derived from insects, with participation from the family offices of Patricia Angelini and Andrónico Luksic, multifamily office Inversiones Moncuri and LDG Inversiones.
F4F plans to expand its alt-protein offering to humans in the near term.
>Kredito, a Chilean credit platform for SMEs, raised a USD4m pre-seed round from Link Capital Partners.
Kredito raised an undisclosed round in 2019; Cornershop co-founders Oscar Hjertonsson and Daniel Undurraga invested previously.
>DGF Investimentos led a ~USD3.4m round for Tractian, a Brazilian industrial equipment maintenance management platform, with participation from multifamily office Citrino.
Tractian raised ~USD400k from YC, Norte Ventures and angels earlier this year.
>KPTL and Mantiqueria Participações invested ~USD2.16m in Mark to Market (M2M), a Brazilian corporate finance management platform.
Mark to Market’s clients include Burger King, EcoAgro, Natura, CCR and Alpargatas.
>#HEALTHTECH KPTL and Interplayers will invest up to ~USD1.8m in SÃntese B2B, a Brazilian marketplace connecting healthcare supply vendors with local hospitals.
>#HEALTHTECH ALLVP led a USD1.5m round for Yana, a Mexican mental health and wellness platform.
Yana raised USD315k from Magma Partners, Hustle Fund, and 500 Startups earlier this year.
Yana (an acronym for “You Are Not Aloneâ€) went from ~80k to ~1m users in 2020 in the midst of the C19 crisis.
CEO Andrea Campos on her experience growing the app for the LatAm mental health market: “In Latin America, we do not have the culture of prevention, we usually approach a doctor or a psychologist when we are already on the brink of catastrophe.â€
Federico Antoni of ALLVP on the opportunity: “We're lucky to work with talented and driven entrepreneurs across Latin America. Rarely do you have the opportunity to collaborate with such a thoughtful, mission-oriented and daring leader.â€
>#PROPTECH acasa, a Colombian real estate financing and home purchase platform, raised a USD1.2m pre-seed round from Jaguar Ventures, Plug & Play, Bridge Partners, Inca Ventures, Latitud and Jonathan Wassertrum (SquareFoot).
>DOMO Invest led a USD1m seed round for Semexe, a Brazilian bike and cycling accessories marketplace.
>RunOps, a Brazilian collaboration platform for software developers, raised a USD1m seed round from Valor Capital Group, Global Founders Capital, YC, Liquid2, Quiet Capital and Share Capital.
>#ROBOTS #ANGEL DOMO Invest and Urca Angels invested ~USD240k in Brisa Robótica, a Brazilian developer of automated vehicle solutions for industrial supply chains.
>#CORRECTION In the last issue we reported on Brazilian authentication platform idwall’s ~USD42m Seres C led by Endurance Investments. The round was led by Brazilian family office Endurance, and not Chilean VC fund Endurance Investments, as we indicated previously.
> Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based asset based lender, launched a USD100m fund to provide non-dilutive financing to US- and LatAm-based startups.
Architect Capital has already invested in PayJoy (Mexico) and ADDI (Colombia).
> Roble Ventures reached a USD20m first close on its debut fund to invest in early-stage SaaS companies in the US and Latin America.
Roble Ventures was founded by Sergio Monsalve, formerly of Norwest Venture Partners.
>SIGN UP for EMPEA’s Global VC Cache. Edited by LAVCA Manager of Venture Capital Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers cross-border tech transactions in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East.
>#CRYPTO El Salvador approved the Ley Bitcoin, making it legal for Salvadoreans to transact with Bitcoin.
Ley Bitcoin also stipulates the creation of a USD150m vehicle under the Salvadorean Development Bank to operate as a market maker and settlement entity for Salvadoreans and SMEs to conduct business in Bitcoin.
>#POLICY Brazilian President Bolsonaro approved the Marco Legal das Startups, which was introduced to Congress in 2020.
Brazil passed its first major internet legislation in 2014 with Marco Civil, which established provisions for net neutrality, user privacy and freedom of speech.
PayPal partnered with Mercado Pago in 2020 to enable online checkout using their platform in Mexico and Brazil.
PayPal currently has 15m accounts across Latin America, concentrated in Mexico and Brazil.
>#CLEANTECH XP launchedTrend Carbono Zero, an carbon-credit focused investment index open to retail investors that tracks the performance of future contracts traded in the US and Europe.
>#M&A Credijustoacquired Mexican bank Banco Finterra. Through the acquisition, Credijusto will become the first known fintech to acquire a banking license in Mexico.
>#M&A MadeiraMadeira, Brazilian home goods e-commerce startup, acquirediTrack Brasil, a Brazilian last-mile delivery tracking platform.
This is MadeiraMadeira’s first known acquisition since raising a USD190m Series E at a reported USD1b valuation.
>Itaú Unibancopartnered with Brazilian ERP platform Omie and launched Itaú Meu Negócio, Itau’s platform for sales management and automated invoicing for SMEs.
>Courtney McColgan of Mexico-based payroll platform RunaHRshares her views on the interdependence of diversity and innovation in the workplace.
>Luis Garza of Mexican edtech Kinedu, in conversation with Fabrice Serfati of IGNIA Partners, shares his views on the importance of having a strong board that is actively engaged in giving feedback to senior leadership.
> New Venturesannounced the spin-off of Adobe Capital.
Adobe Capital will partner with Canadian impact fund Deetken Impact.
> Barn Investmentsshares the fund’s greentech investment thesis and their perspective on how to steeply grow food production while reducing GHGs emissions.
> Julia Figueiredo of SVBshares her perspective on the current state of fintech in Mexico and Brazil post-C19.
“...while Brazil may grab most of the headlines, increasingly positive trends are also developing in Mexico. Investors are starting to notice pattern recognition in the country — with most comparing Mexico to what Brazil was three to five years ago... Wherever there is an opportunity, capital will follow. Growth equity has started to consistently find its way into Mexico and Brazil — with major players such as Tiger Global Management, Coatue Management, SoftBank and General Atlantic participating in rounds. This has helped fill the gap that Latin American startups historically faced when raising post-Series B.â€
>Wayra Hispam is looking for a Head of Portfolio for Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile. Candidates with a minimum of two years of experience in VC or PE are welcome to apply.
>Astella InvestimentosnamedCarolina Pascowitch, formerly of EBANX, Endeavor and Mastercard, as the fund’s newest Partner focused on international expansion.
>KASZEK is looking for Analysts and Associates for its São Paulo office. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.
>Congratulations to Brazilian startups Digitalk, Grão Direto, Cinnecta, Agrobee, DigiFarmz and Rock Content for being selected to participate in BB Seguros’ Impulso Open initiative.
>500 launched applications for its 14th startup acceleration program, Somos Lucha. Founders can apply by June 20.
>PECAP will host the Peru Venture Capital Conference on June 22-24. Registration is now open. If you are a startup CEO apply to the Pitch Competition.
>Wayra Brasil and Telefónica Vivo launched an antifraud- and cybsersecurity-focused challenge for startups developing solutions for B2B e-commerce solutions. Applications close July 11.
>InverTUR will host the Turtech LatAm Investment Forum 2021 on July 13-14 with discussions between fund managers, CVCs and public sector entities to explore tech-enabled opportunities in the tourism industry. IDB Lab and Wayra will be among the participants sharing their in-region experience. Registration is now open.
>#SAVETHEDATE LAVCA Week is scheduled for September 20-23, 2021. Stay tuned...
