> GIC, Whale Rock, and Invesco led a USD$400m Series G in Nubank at a USD$25b valuation, with participation from Tencent, Dragoneer Investment Group, Ribbit Capital, and Sequoia Capital.
- Nubank’s reported valuation has more than doubled since TCV led a US$400m Series F in 2019 at a US$10b valuation.
- CEO David Vélez shares: “We’ve gone from 12 million customers in 2019 to 34 million solely based on word of mouth.”
- This round makes Nubank the most valued startup in Latin America. View LAVCA's Latin American unicorn leaderboard.
> #CRYPTO GP Investimentos’ Inova Fund and Parallax Ventures led a R$200m round in Brazilian bitcoin exchange Mercado Bitcoin, with participation from Evora Fund, HS Investimentos, Banco Plural, and Gear Ventures.
- Mercado Bitcoin is one of Brazil’s biggest Bitcoin exchanges, along with Foxbit and Bitcambio, according to the FT.
> General Atlantic led a US$65m Series A in Jüsto, a Mexican grocery delivery platform, with follow-on from Mountain Nazca and Foundation Capital. Jüsto was founded by former Cabify President Ricardo Weder.
- Bimbo Ventures and Sweet Capital led a US$5m round in October 2020; Mountain Nazca and Foundation Capital led a US$12m round in June 2020.
- Jüsto is General Atlantic’s fifth investment in Mexico.
- Jüsto will continue to expand throughout Mexico, and is considering launching in Colombia, Chile, and Brazil, according to CEO Ricardo Weder.
- Weder: “Our mission at Jüsto is to become Latin America’s favorite supermarket within this decade.”
> #DEBT IDB Invest provided US$30m in debt financing to Brazilian fintech Creditas.
- Creditas reached unicorn status in December 2020 with a US$255m Series E led by LGT Lightstone at a reported US$1.75b valuation.
- Creditas acquired Brazilian mortgage financing platform Bcredi in January 2021.
> US-based VC Five Elms Capital invested US$25m in Playvox, a Colombian customer service performance monitoring platform focused on chat and email.
- Five Elms Capital also led a US$7m investment in 2019.
- Playvox just acquired Agyle Time, an Australian customer service workforce scheduling platform.
- Playvox’s clients include Dropbox, Electronic Arts, and Wish.
> Valor Capital Group led a US$19m Series A in Rocket.Chat, a Brazil-based open-source platform for team collaboration and customer service, with participation from Greycroft, monashees, NEA, e.ventures, Graphene Ventures, ONEVC, and DGF Investimentos.
- This is Greycroft’s first known transaction in Latin America, according to LAVCA Data.
> Accel led a US$12m Series A in Flink, a Mexican consumer trading platform, with participation from ALLVP, Clocktower, and angels Kevin Efrusy (Accel Partners) and Oskar Hjertonsson (Cornershop), and follow-on from Raptor Financial Group. Flink was co-founded by former Easy Credit founder Sergio Jimenez Amozurrutia.
> #LOGISTICS US-based PE fund Northgate Capital made an undisclosed investment in iVoy, a Mexican last-mile delivery platform, with participation from Mexico Ventures.
> #CLEANTECH Edmond, a Brazilian enterprise payments platform for solar energy companies, raised R$40m from undisclosed investors.
> Igah Ventures led a R$38m Series A in Bxblue, a Brazilian payroll lending platform, with participation from Iporanga Ventures, FJ Labs, and FundersClub.
- CEO Gustavo Gorenstein: "We are working on making the wide variety of options from banks that offer payroll loans truly accessible for 34 million retirees and government workers anywhere in Brazil, in a fast, transparent, and reliable manner. According to data from the Central Bank, there is as much as a 80% spread between the lowest and highest loan APRs currently in the market.”
> #DEBT Women’s World Banking Capital Partners led a US$6.6m convertible debt round in Aflore, a Colombian lending platform focused on microentrepreneurs and underbanked consumers, with participation from Amador Holdings and Unreasonable Capital, and follow-on from Polymath Ventures.
- Accial Capital invested US$10m in debt financing in 2020.
- LAVCA first interviewed Aflore CEO Ana Barrera when the company raised its Series A led by Fiinlab in 2017.
> Quona Capital and Kinea Ventures led a US$6m Series A in Monkey, a Brazilian financial marketplace enabling enterprises to purchase receivables from SMEs.
- Monkey raised US$1.7m from Wayra Brasil and Parallax Ventures in 2019.
- CEO Gustavo Müller on navigating the current C19 crisis: “Monkey is experiencing increased demand from receivable sellers looking for additional liquidity, receivable buyers looking for payment extensions of more than 60 days, and banks looking to share the risk with other financial institutions. In terms of growth, we wanted to reach R$20b in trading volume by the end of 2021; by the end of January we had already reached that goal.”
> QED Investors led a US$6m round in Milo, a Colombia- and Miami-based fintech platform focused on mortgage lending for international buyers of US real estate, with participation from MetaProp and 10X Capita.
- CEO Jospi Rupena: “A private wealth client with a seven-figure net worth was hoping to secure a US home loan. Because of traditional banks' domestically focused processes, this financially sound individual couldn't secure a loan – and he's not alone.”
> #LOGISTICS FEMSA Ventures and Mountain Nazca invested US$4m in Cargamos, a Mexican e-commerce and last-mile delivery logistics platform.
> Alere Advisors led a US$3.3m Series A in Superfüds, a Colombian grocery delivery platform, with follow-on from Kairos and Siddhi Capital.
> #AGTECH #BLOCKCHAIN Closed Loop Partners and The Yield Lab invested US$1.1m in ucrop.it, an Argentine blockchain-based platform for crop management, with participation from Yugen Partners and Argentine agriculture conglomerate Red Surcos.
> KPTL led a R$6m investment in MindMiners, a Brazilian consumer rewards platform for crowdsourced user experience feedback, with participation from Darwin Startups and Maua Capital.
- MindMiners’ clients include Ambev, Nestlé, Samsung, McDonald's, Seara, Hersheys, and UOL.
> Iporanga Investimentos led an undisclosed investment in Gonddo, a Brazilian B2B marketplace for SMEs, with participation from Verve Capital and angel investors Brian Requarth (VivaReal) and Thiago Dalvi (olist).
> #GOVTECH Astella Investimentos invested R$4m in Aprova Digital, a Brazilian govtech helping local authorities digitize their licensing processes.
> #BIOTECH Draper Cygnus invested US$640k in Panarum, an Argentine biotech developing nano capsules to replace the use of needles with pill-based treatments.
> #HRTECH Alaya Capital Partners, Potencia Ventures, Mr. Pink, and Winnipeg made a US$600k investment in Talently, a Peruvian platform connecting freelance software developers with international companies.
- Talently’s clients include Rappi and Globant.
> Redpoint eventures led a R$3m seed round in Peerdustry, a Brazilian on-demand manufacturing platform for heavy machinery parts, with participation from São Paulo-based Silver Angels.
> #AGTECH Seed4Science invested R$1.6m in Tarvos, a Brazilian crop pest control platform, with participation from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP).
> Canada-based VC GR8 Ventures invested R$1m in Ali Credito, a Brazilian payroll platform.
> Bossa Nova Investimentos made an undisclosed investment in Stark Capital, a Brazilian platform connecting PE and VC investors with curated M&A opportunities.
> #FOODTECH Angel Ventures made an undisclosed investment in Done Properly, a Chilean biotech developing a protein through fermentation that enhances the natural flavor of food and reduces the use of added salt.
> #EDTECH #CROSSBORDER ELSA, a Vietnam-based edtech focused on English learning, raised a US$15m Series B from Vietnam Investments Group and SIG, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and Globant Ventures, and follow-on from Monk’s Hill Ventures, Google’s AI-focused Gradient Ventures, and SOSV.
- Endeavor Catalyst and Globant Ventures will help ELSA expand to Latin America.