> #DEBT Colombian credit placement platform Avista raised a US$75m credit line led by undisclosed financial institutions. Avista was founded in 2019 and previously raised US$2m in seed funding.
- Avista provides credit lines to under-banked Colombians and has a current loan portfolio of US$30m, focused on pensioners and government employees.
- Avista launched a credit line of up to COP$120b to support the elderly during the 🦠 😷 COVID-19 crisis.
> ALLVP and NFX led a US$5.3m seed round in Nuvocargo, a Mexican freight transportation marketplace managing Mexico-US routes, with participation from Maya Capital, Magma Partners, One Way Ventures, and angels. CEO Deepak Chhugani shares:
"It feels odd to share good news amidst one of the world's most unprecedented crises, but we hope this announcement adds a small dose of hope and optimism in these strange times."
> #CVC DNA Capital led a US$4.5m Series B in Memed, a Brazilian provider of digital drug prescriptions, and followed on in Feegow, a Brazilian medical clinic software provider.
> TheVentureCity led a US$3m Series A in SimpliRoute, a Chilean logistics intelligence platform, to strengthen its presence in Mexico, Colombia, and Uruguay. ChileGlobal Ventures, Wayra Chile, and 500 Startups invested previously.
> Accion Venture Lab made an undisclosed investment in R5, a Colombian credit provider and financial education platform focused on under-banked Colombians.
> Colombian motorcycle manufacturer Auteco led a US$2m round in Muvo, a Colombian micromobility startup, to expand its bicycle fleet in Bogotá and Medellín.
> Mexican vocational training platform Aprende Institute raised a US$1.6m seed round with participation from Angel Ventures, Artisan Venture Capital, 500 Startups, and Claure Group.
- Aprende Institute is headquartered in Miami, has operations in Bogotá and Mexico City, and serves students across Spanish-speaking countries, as well as US Hispanics.
- CEO Martin Claure says: "Aprende Institute has served more than 25,000 students across Latin America and the US, and is enrolling ~3,000 new students per month."
> UK-based real estate crowdfunding platform Bricksave raised a US$1.4m Series A from Seedrs, Kinled Holding, and Lab Ventures to expand operations from Argentina to Brazil.
- Bricksave has a female founder and was a WeXchange finalist in 2019.
> KPTL made an undisclosed investment in Agrotools, a competitive intelligence platform for Brazilian agribusiness.
- This is KPTL’s inaugural investment from Fund V, and Agrotools’ first external capital after self-financing for the past thirteen years.
- Agrotools monitors over 200m+ hectares (including soy, cotton, coffee, cattle) and produces big data insights for corporate clients including McDonalds, Carrefour, Itaú, Cargill, and others. Agrotools also works with clients on supply chain compliance.
> Brazilian customer service automation platform Genoa Performance raised R$2.5m from Verus Group.
> #M&A Magma Partners acquired Mexican accelerator Rampa Ventures. Pedro del Campo of Magma Partners shares: “Our Guadalajara office will help startups from both South America and the US accelerate their expansion into the Mexican market.”
> #M&A New York-based fitness platform unicorn ClassPass acquired MuvPass, and Clickypass, two regional fitness platforms operating in the Chilean and Argentinian markets, respectively. ClassPass entered the Brazilian market in December 2019.
> #ANGEL GVAngels led a R$1.3m investment in Sigalei, a Brazilian provider of big data focused on legislative monitoring.
> #CROSS-BORDER Hong Kong-based recruitment platform Talkpush raised an undisclosed amount from Latin Leap to bring its talent acquisition technology to Latin America.
> CORRECTION: Last issue we reported on Mozper’s US$770k from DUX Capital and angels. Mozper is a digital financial education platform, and not a consumer lending startup as we indicated previously.
> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$4.6b in 2019, according to LAVCA data.