LatAm Venture Bulletin November 16, 2016

UNCHARTED TERRITORY
I’m not the only one who woke up in an alternate reality on November 9. As Americans collectively process our Black Swan moment, a lot of questions are being raised, and plans laid.

Questions: Did the internet break democracy? Kind of.

What was Facebook’s influence on the election? Obama says Facebook created a dust cloud of nonsense by sharing fake news. Mark Zuckerberg says 99% of the news on Facebook is real news, but that the “truth” is complicated. Some of his employees disagree. So does Tim O’Reilly, who blames Facebook’s focus on maximizing engagement and refusal to hire a proper editorial staff.

What’s going to happen with cybersecurity? TechCrunch says Trump’s plan "is incredibly and perhaps dangerously vague." The Intercept published a guide to surveillance self-defense against the Trump administration.

What happened with the Latino vote? The New York Times dissects the data.

And what is going to happen with Peter Thiel on Trump’s transition team? Even Thiel’s partner at Founders Fund is scared.

Plans: Uber investor and Hyperloop co-founder (and Iranian immigrant) Shervin Pishevar says he is “very serious” about leading a campaign for California to secede from the US.

Food for Thought: The majority of American counties along the Mexico border voted against Trump.

DEALS

> TPG Growth led a R$62m investment in Resultados Digitais (RD), a Brazilian automated marketing platform, with participation from Redpoint e.Ventures, DGF Investimentos, and Endeavor Catalyst. TPG’s portfolio includes Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, SurveyMonkey, and Azul. Redpoint e.Ventures, DGF Investimentos, and Astella Investimentos invested in RD previously.

> Altivia Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) invested US$5m in Porto Alegre-based communications platform Rocket.Chat.

> IGNIA and Gerbera Capital made an undisclosed investment in Underdog Media, a Mexican tech company and creator of digital distribution platforms featuring soccer highlights.

> Check out LAVCA’s recap of 20+ venture investments announced in October.

FUNDS

> The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), in partnership with impact advisory firm Acrux Partners, is looking for a General Partner for a new impact fund for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. The MIF will anchor the fund. Interested fund managers can get in touch before December 15. Details here.

> Anteris Capital launched Mexico’s first venture debt fund, with a MX$400m first close.

EXITS

> FIR Capital BZPlan partially exited Brazilian e-commerce startup MyReks, sharing stock to Grupo Nexxera and Widerpool.

> Rocket Internet is reducing its exposure to Brazil by selling off much of its Brazil portfolio, while maintaining investments in Dafiti, Mobly and Easy (formerly Easy Taxi).

M&A

> Brazilian payment platform Vindi invested R$500k in fintech startup Aceita Fácil. Vindi closed a R$1.6m Series A with Bonzano Investimentos’ Fundo Criatec2 in September.

> Brazilian healthcare startup Pixeon purchased Digitalmed, a lab analysis software. Pixeon investors include Riverwood and Intel Capital. This is the company’s fifth M&A deal to date.

> Brazilian retail software platform Linx acquired Intercamp, a software platform for gas stations and convenience stores, for R$28m.

> Miami-based Motor1.com acquired Carplace.com.br to expand into Latin America.

PEOPLE & PROGRAMS

> ARCAP (The Argentine Association of Private Equity, Venture and Seed Capital) has officially relaunched under the leadership of NXTP Labs' Marta Cruz, with board members Hernán Kazah (KaszeK Ventures), Carlos J. García (Victoria Capital Partners), Diego González Bravo (Cygnus Capital), Dr. Alejandro D. Fiuza (Brown Rudnick), and Jorge Matheu (Linzor Capital Partners).

> Join LAVCA, and speakers including Richard Branson and Tim Draper, at The Mexico Venture Capital Conference and INCmty starting tomorrow, November 17.

> Brazilian fund managers are invited to participate in LAVCA’s next private program, VC in São Paulo, on November 29 at Cubo. For more information or to see if you qualify to attend, please contact crosenbloom@lavca.org.

> RSVP for the MassChallenge Mexico Awards, the culmination of the MassChallenge Mexico Startup Accelerator Program, on December 1 in Mexico City. For information on other accelerator programs in the region, check out the LAVCA Accelerator Directory.

> December 1-3 is Tech Beach Retreat, a gathering of global tech entrepreneurs, executives, angel investors and VCs, in Montego Bay, Jamaica.

> Copacabana House Ventures is hosting Happy Hour Venture Women Brasil on December 14 in São Paulo.

> Congratulations to Komal Dadlani for winning the pitch competition at yesterday’s WeXchange, hosted by MIF/FOMIN and NXTP Labs in Buenos Aires. Check out profiles of past year’s winners here.

DATA

> Finnovista breaks down 219 Brazilian fintech startups into 16 verticals in their most comprehensive startup map to date.

> Over 70 million Mexicans have smartphones, and millennials comprise the majority of Mexico’s digital population, according to TechCrunch contributor Ira Brodsky in How Mexico went from telecom laggard to mobile trailblazer.

> Arielle Schwartz at Twitter talks about how Mexican startups Sinnia, Sentisis, and Karma Pulse are leveraging their data platform for customer insights.

> The Wharton Social Impact Initiative (WSII), together with Wharton finance faculty, are researching funds around the globe that seek positive financial returns as well as social and environmental impact. To learn more, please click here or email impactinvesting@wharton.upenn.edu.

NEWS

> Uber, Mexican digital bank Bankaool, and Mastercard, partnered to launch the Uber Bankaool Debit Card, available to Bankaool users in Mexico.

> Valor Econômico digs into the transportation wars in Brazil and says Easy hit break-even in September, and 99Taxis is close.

> Fortune profiles Rappi co-founder Simon Borreo in Colombian Startup Rappi Wants to Deliver 'Everything'.

> Valor Econômico says Banco do Brasil has opened shop in Silicon Valley.

> Plus55 has a roundup of Brazilian startups that presented at last week’s Web Summit in Lisbon.

> Meet the 23 startups that presented at 500 Startups’ Demo Day last week in Mexico City.

INVESTOR POV

> Forbes profiles 500 Startups co-founder Christine Tsai in The Top Silicon Valley Woman VC You've Never Heard Of.

> Rodrigo Martinez at Point Nine Capital outlines important factors to keep in mind when building a startup’s “A-team” in the early stage in The Right Team & Roles.

> Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures on distraction and discipline:

Many of USV’s portfolio companies are mission driven. That’s not our investment strategy per se, but it seems to be an output of our investment strategy. We have portfolio companies trying to democratize access to healthcare, education and financial services. We have portfolio companies trying to make it easier to be an artist, an entrepreneur, a freelancer, or an author. We have portfolio companies trying to make it safer to use the Internet without being spied on… If you are upset with the world, then one of the most therapeutic things you can do is try to change the world to be a better place.

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is a news platform of the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

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Contact LAVCA: editor@lavca.org

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