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Editor's Note: The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Manager of Venture Capital. Former Editor Julie Ruvolo now publishes our global newsletter, the Global Tech Brief.

TLDR

📢 New Rounds: Movile, Xepelin, La Haus, Yaydoo, MURAL, unico, Avenue Securities, Crehana, Pipo Saúde

📢 Startup Spotlight: The IoT opportunity in Latin America: An interview with Cobli CEO Parker Treacy

📢 Exits: Tresalia Capital exits KIO Networks through a sale to I Squared Capital

📢 Startups: Nubank plans to go public by year end, acquires Juntos Global and leads a USD45m cross-border round; Kavak launches operations in Brazil

LAVCA WEEK 2021

> LAVCA WEEK is scheduled for September 20-23. This year’s agenda prioritizes targeted breakout groups and private meetings to create synergies and facilitated networking.

Program Highlights:

🔥 Fireside Chat with Nicolas Szekasy of KASZEK and Patrice Etlin of Advent International on the Future of Deal-Making in Latin America.
🔥 The Rise of SPACs in Latin America with Emiliano Kargieman of Satellogic, Dirk Donath of L Catterton and Alex Rossi of LIV Capital
🔥 CVC Breakout Session led by Mariano Amartino of Microsoft for Startups and Michel Glezer of Qualcomm Ventures
🔥 A Blockbuster Year for Exits led by Federico Antoni of ALLVP, Mauricio Salgar of Advent and Priscila Rodrigues of Crescera Capital
🌎 Global Macro Trends Keynote with Henry McVey, Head of the Global Macro and Asset Allocation, KKR

Participation is now open to LAVCA members, non-member private capital investors and qualified institutional investors.

VIEW the agenda at a glance (topics and timing subject to change) & REGISTER NOW at the early bird rate.

Access more information on LAVCA Week and/or contact LAVCA's Director of Events Kaela Kennedy with any questions.

EXITS / M&A

> #EXIT Tresalia Capital, María Asunción Aramburuzabala’s family office, exited KIO Networks, the largest data center operator in Mexico, through a sale to I Squared Capital, a US-based infrastructure investment firm.

• Co-Founder & CEO Sergio Rosengaus: “Estamos agradecidos por el compromiso y la lealtad de largo plazo de Tresalia Capital [...] confiamos en que continuaremos captando la creciente demanda tanto de nuestros centro de datos como de nuestros servicios de infraestructura de TI en México, Centroamérica, el Caribe y España.”
• KIO Networks is a member of LAVCA’s Tech Growth Coalition.

> #EXIT #CIRCULARECONOMY KASZEK, SoftBank, monashees and Canary exited Volanty, a Brazilian car resale platform, to Brazilian fintech Creditas.

• KASZEK and Softbank led a ~USD17.6m round in 2019; monashees and Canary first invested ~USD4.7m in 2018.

> #M&A Nubank acquired Juntos Global, a US-based CRM and customer engagement platform.

• Juntos Global is Nubank’s fourth acquisition in the past year. Others include Easyinvest (investment platform), Cognitec (software development platform) and Plataformatec (product design consultancy).

> #PROPTECH #M&A Brazilian proptech QuintoAndar acquired Atta Franchising, a B2B real estate lending platform offering credit products and home equity financing to brokers.

• QuintoAndar raised a USD300m Series E led by Ribbit Capital in May.

> #HEALTHTECH #M&A Proradis, a Brazilian radiology diagnostics platform, acquired LaborLIS, a Brazilian workflow operations management platform for clinics and laboratories.

• Proradis raised ~USD800k from Performa Investimentos in 2015. Wayra invested previously.

DEALS

> Brazil-based internet holding Movile raised USD200m in follow-on financing from Prosus Ventures to expand iFood (food delivery), MovilePay and Zoop (fintech), and Mensajeros Urbanos (logistics).

• Movile is a member of LAVCA’s Latin American Tech Growth Coalition.

> #LASTMILE JOKR, a Berlin-based last-mile retail delivery platform founded by SoftBank alum Ralf Wenzel, raised a USD170m Series A led by GGV Capital, Balderton Capital and Tiger Global. JOKR’s Latin American presence includes Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Bogota and Lima.

• JOKR raised an undisclosed round from SoftBank, HV Capital and Tiger Global earlier this year.

> #DIGITALSECURITY General Atlantic and SoftBank led a ~USD125m round for unico, a Brazilian digital identity protection platform, with participation from Big Bets and Micky Malka (Ribbit Capital), at a reported USD1b+ valuation.

• unico is the newest addition to LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard.
• unico raised a ~USD116m round from SoftBank and General Atlantic in 2020, and acquired Vianuvem, a Brazilian enterprise software platform for car sales, earlier this year.

> SoftBank led a ~USD116m Series C for Omie, a Bazilian ERP for SMEs, with participation from Dynamo, VELT, Hix Capital, Bogari Capital and Brasil Capita, and follow-on from Riverwood Capital and Endeavor Catalyst.

• Riverwood Capital made a USD20m Series B in 2019; Astella Investimentos led a ~USD5m round investment in 2018.

 

> #EDTECH General Atlantic led a USD70m Series B for Crehana, a Mexico- and Peru-based upskilling platform for corporates and retail consumers. Mountain Nazca and Acumen Latam Capital Partners also recently invested.

• This is the second largest known round for a Latin American edtech startup after Brazilian edtech Descomplica raised a USD84.5m round led by Invus Opportunities and SoftBank in February.

> #PROPTECH Acrew Capital and Renegade Partners led a USD50m round for La Haus, a Colombian residential real estate platform, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, Moore Strategic Ventures, TIME Ventures, and follow-on from KASZEK, Greenspring Associates, NFX, 75 & Sunny Ventures.

• Angels Simón Borrero (Rappi), Maluma and Gabriel Gilinski (Banco GNB), Hadi Partovi (Code.org) and David Velez (Nubank) also participated.
• Greenspring Associates led a USD35m Series B earlier this year; KASZEK led a USD10m Series A in 2020.
  

 

> #UNICORN Insight Partners and Tiger Global led a USD50m Series C for MURAL, a US-based visual collaboration software enterprise platform with operations in Argentina, at a reported USD2b valuation. MURAL was co-founded by Argentine Mariano Suarez-Battan.

• Insight Partners led a USD118m Series B and Radian Capital and Gradient Ventures led a USD23m Series A in 2020.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for a full list of 21 startups with a disclosed USD1b+ valuation.

> IDC Ventures, Digital Bridge and IDB Invest led a USD50m Series C for Colombian grocery delivery platform Merqueo, with participation from MGM Innova Group, Celtic House Venture Partners and Palm Drive Capital.

• Portland Private Equity led a USD14m round in 2019.
• Merqueo launched a marketplace for third-party sellers and expanded its product offering to include pets, pharma and liquor in 2020 and launched ten-minute deliveries earlier this year.
  

> #CROSS-BORDER Brazil-based Nubank, Global Founders Capital, Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners India led a USD45m Series B for India-based neobank Jupiter.

> KASZEK led a USD30m round for Xepelin, a Chilean accounts receivable-based lending platform for SMEs, with participation from Cathay Innovation; MSA Capital, FJ Labs and Gilgamesh Ventures, and follow-on from Picus Capital, Kayyak Ventures and Amarena.

• Angels Carlos Garcia (Kavak), Jackie Reses (Square Capital), Ricardo Weder (Jüsto), John Curtius (Tiger Global), Hans Tung (GGV) and Gerry Giacoman (Clara) also participated.
• #DEBT The round also included USD200m in credit facilities.
• Xepelin raised USD2.5m earlier this year from Picus Capital, Chile Ventures and Amarena; Impact Ideas VC led a USD2.5m round in 2020.
  

> SoftBank led a ~USD30m Series B for Avenue Securities, a US-based investment brokerage bridging US opportunities with Brazilian retail investors, with follow-on from Igah Ventures, which invested in 2020.

• #M&A Avenue acquired Brazilian securities distributor Coin in 2020.

> #CIRCULARECONOMY J Ventures, FJ Labs and Rise Capital led a ~USD23m Series B for InstaCarro, a Brazilian car marketplace connecting owners of used cars to dealerships, with participation from Spanish investors All Iron Ventures and Big Sur.

• InstaCarro compares itself to Singapore-based Carro. Read our interview with Carro CFO Ernest Chew.

> #CVC Construction materials company Duratex invested ~USD20.6m in ABC da Construção, a Brazilian construction finishing company.

• Redpoint eventures, Spectra and FIR Capital invested ~USD23m in 2020.

> monashees and Base10 Partners led a USD20.4m Series A for Yaydoo, a B2B Mexican vendor payment automation platform, with participation from SoftBank and LEAP Global Partners.

• Yaydoo was one of the ten finalists in Visa’s 2020 Everywhere Initiative.

> #CROSS-BORDER #CVC monashees and Spark Capital led a USD20m Series A for Nomad, a Brazilian fintech offering US checking accounts for Brazilian residents, with participation from Propel, GFC, Abstract, Vast, ONEVC and Globo Ventures.

• monashees led a ~USD6m round in 2021 earlier this year.

> #HRTECH US-based VC Thrive Capital led a USD20m Series A for Pipo Saúde, a Brazilian employee health plan management platform, with participation from Atlantico and follow-on from monashees, KASZEK, ONEVC and angels David Velez (Nubank) and Florian Otto (Cedar).

• Pipo raised USD4.6m from monashees, KASZEK and ONEVC in 2020.

> #CRYPTO #CVC Kingsway Capital led a USD16.3m Series A for Lemon, an Argentine crypto banking platform, with participation from Valor Capital Group, Draper Associates, Cadenza Ventures, Amagis Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Borderless Capital, Reserve, Draper University Ventures, Celo, Grupo Supervielle and Andrés Bilbao (Rappi), and follow-on from Draper Cygnus.

• Draper Cygnus led a USD1m seed round earlier this year.

> #EDTECH monashees led a USD13.5m Series A for Coderhouse, an Argentine data science and app development education platform, with participation from YC and angels David Velez (Nubank) and Guillermo Rauch (Vercel).

> #CROSS-BORDER Quona Capital led a USD12m Series A for Global66, a Chilean cross-border payments platform, with participation from Magma Partners and Clocktower Technology Ventures, and follow-on from Venrex Investment Management.

• Global66 raised a USD3.25m round led by Venrex Investment Management in 2020.

 

> #HRTECH Valor Capital Group, Caravela Capital and Volpe Capital led a USD8m round for Caju, a Brazilian employee benefits management platform, with participation from Picus Capital, FJ Labs and Clocktower Technology Ventures.

• Canary and Valor led a USD2.5m round in 2020.

> #INSURTECH Cometa and F-Prime Capital led a USD5.8m seed round for Guros, a Mexican car insurance marketplace, with participation from Clocktower Technology Ventures and Insurify, and follow-on from LEAP Global Partners and Magma Partners.

> KASZEK led a USD5.25m round for Aplazo, a Mexican payment platform enabling buy-now-pay-later systems for e-commerce brands, with participation from Picus Capital and Woodson Capital.

> ALIVE led a USD3m+ round for Finaktiva, a Colombian credit and factoring platform for early-stage startups and scaleups, with participation from Switzerland-based investor Conny & Co AG, Trinity Capital, Invictum Capital and Andeo.

• #DEBT The round also included USD5m+ in debt financing from Yunus Social Business and Bancoldex.

> #HEALTHTECH Axenya, a Brazilian digital therapy platform for patients with diabetes, heart disease and mental health challenges, raised a USD3m round from Alexia Ventures, Big Bets and Igah Ventures.

> #DEBT BTG Pactual’s BoostLab invested ~USD2.4m in venture debt in Insider Store, a Brazilian e-commerce sportswear and underwear brand.

> #CVC Olaclick, a Peru-based digital menu and order placement platform for independently operated restaurants with operations in Mexico and Brazil, raised a USD2m seed round from Angel Ventures Mexico, AC Ventures, YC, Graph Ventures, SeedStars and MSA Capital.

> #EDTECH #PE XP Investimentos acquired a minority stake in Resilia, a Brazilian education platform for high school and college education.

> KPTL, ABseed and angels invested ~USD640k in GoCache, a Brazilian backend application management platform for SMEs.

FUNDS

> Newtopia VC, an early-stage VC fund seeking to invest in pre-seed and seed stage Latin American startups, reached a USD50m close. Partners at Newtopia include local operators and investors Patricio Jutard (MURAL), Mariano Mayer (Marea Venture Partners), Sacha Pitz (Yavu Ventures), Juan Pablo Lafosse (Almundo) and Jorge Aguado, former Argentine Secretary for Science,Technology and Education.

• Newtopia has already invested in six startups: Aleph, Apperto, Choiz, Inipay, Leef, Wibson and Yerbo.

> Mexican consultancy G2 Consultores reached a first close for G2 Fintech Fund, a seed capital fund with a USD10m target to invest in early-stage fintech companies across Latin America.

> #WOMEN-LED WE Impact, a Brazilian venture studio funded by WE Ventures and focused on women founders, announced an undisclosed commitment from KPMG Brasil.

• WE Impact’s investments in 2021: Pontue (online class and assignment management) and Unbox (e-commerce sales and inventory management).

> #CVC Chilean retail company Cencosud launched Cencosud Ventures, a CVC arm focused on early-stage investments focused on e-commerce, logistics, fintech and retail services startups. Cencosud Ventures will be led by former Wayra Director Jorge Antonio Pascual.

> #CROSS-BORDER US-based VC MAGIC Fund raised a USD30m fund to invest in early-stage startups across Latin America, Africa, Europe, North America and Southeast Asia.

> #CROSS-BORDER Brazilian FCJ Venture Builder received a ~USD1.3m commitment from an undisclosed Japanese investor to support its international expansion.

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT: COBLI

                                               Cobli Co-Founder & CEO Parker Treacy 

Cobli, a Brazil-based telematics and fleet management platform founded by Parker Treacy and Rodrigo Mourad in 2017, recently raised a USD35m Series B led by SoftBank with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and follow-on from NXTP, Valor Capital Group and Fifth Wall Ventures.

LAVCA interviewed Co-Founder & CEO Parker Treacy on the current opportunity for IoT system implementations in Latin America, the company’s current go-to-market strategy, and the main challenges for providing a hardware-based solution:

In the US, the rise of IoT or telematics systems is undeniable, with companies like Samsara raising big rounds and attaining huge market penetration. The rise of telematics in Latin America is also undeniable, but as with all B2B platforms in the region, adoption typically has about a seven-year lag, compared to the US market.

If we look at Latin American companies that manage fleets, 85% of them do not use any type of system like ours. The market is really blue ocean space. However, we recognize that even if we’re currently competing with an unsophisticated incumbent – which for the most part is walkie-talkies and paper logs – we still need to remove a legacy system in order to replace it with a new one.

READ the full interview with Parker Treacy for more on the importance of “data gravity” for Cobli, and the challenges in providing a hardware-based solution in Latin America.

NEWS

> Amazon launched free one-day delivery for Prime members in 50 cities across Brazil.

• Prime members in Brazil had only previously access to free two-day shipping with the option of paying extra for one-day delivery. Free one-day delivery is also available in the US, Canada and the UK.

> Joanna Glasner of Crunchbase reviews the recent surge in unicorn startups in Latin America.

• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard with 21 known unicorns, including the latest additions Mercado Bitcoin, MURAL and unico.

> #CRYPTO Cointelegraph suggests Latin America could be the next epicenter for crypto innovation, moving away from East Asia:

• “The Latin American region could become a crypto adoption hotspot, and not only because El Salvador declared Bitcoin legal tender in June when it issued its Bitcoin Law [...] Many regional economies are sustained by remittances. Crypto and blockchain technology potentially offer a more efficient way to transfer overseas payments.”

> #OLYMPICS Bryan Walsh of Axios reviews the role of technology in enhancing human ability at the Olympics.

• “With some data suggesting that pure human athletic ability in many Olympic events may be plateauing, technology will become even more important to helping the best become better.”
• Latin American countries final rank by medal count:

Country	Medal Count	Final Rank
Brazil	21	12
Cuba	15	18
Colombia	5	42
Venezuela	4	47
Mexico	4	47
Ecuador	3	60
Argentina	3	60

> #CLIMATE Bloomberg: The Amazon Is Fast Approaching a Point of No Return:

• “A review of thousands of public documents and dozens of interviews with prosecutors, forest rangers, and members of Bolsonaro’s inner circle show that Brazil’s government is engaged in an active campaign to open up the Amazon to privatization and development—first by turning a blind eye as public and protected lands are raided and cleared, and then by systematically pardoning the people responsible and granting them legal title to the stolen lands.”

STARTUPS

> Nubank plans to go public by the end of the year or early 2022 with an implied USD40b valuation, according to Reuters.

• Nubank has raised ~USD1.45b in disclosed announcements and two other undisclosed deals in the past 18 months, with the latest USD720m Series G+ led by Berkshire Hathaway in June.

> Mexican car resale marketplace Kavak launched operations in Brazil and announced a USD500m investment off their balance sheet to support it.

• Kavak raised a USD485m Series D in April at a reported USD4b valuation; Softbank, DST Global and Greenoaks Capital invested in 2020 at a reported USD1.2b valuation.

> Monkey Exchange, a Brazilian receivables financing platform, partnered with Petrobras to enable working capital solutions for Petrobras’s suppliers.

> #CROWDFUNDING M2Crowd is the first real estate crowdfunding platform to receive regulatory approval to operate in the Mexican market under the Ley Fintech.

> #CROSS-BORDER UK-based Mobile banking startup Revolut launched a US-Mexico cross-border payment platform focused on enabling expats and Mexican immigrants living in the US to execute no-fee transfers.

> #CROSS-BORDER Indian edtech giant BYJU’s launched Future School, a one-to-one live coding platform in Mexico and Brazil.

• BYJU’s recently raised a USD350m Series G led by UBS and Blackstone at a reported USD16.5b valuation.

 

> #CROSS-BORDER Nium, a Singapore-based B2B payments platform that just raised a USD200m+ Series D led by Riverwood Capital at a reported USD1b+ valuation, plans to relocate to the US and expand into Latin America.

GLOBAL TECH

SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA’s Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers tech activity in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East.

EMPEA is now the Global Private Capital Association (GPCA). LAVCA is thrilled to be part of the GPCA network and will continue to operate as a parallel membership organization with its own dedicated team and board. VISIT the website.

INVESTORS

> Mountain Nazca published Insights, a first edition report analyzing the current state of the Mexican VC ecosystem including valuation, stage and round dilution analysis.

> Henrique Leite of Canary reviews the opportunity to connect the Latin American tech ecosystem with international markets.

• “We are still in the first chapters: Despite its recent growth, Latam’s tech companies market cap, as a GDP percentage, is still a fraction of what is seen in US, China and India. In the last few months, I’ve heard from my peers abroad that something that excites them about the entrepreneurs here is their ambition. And like they say, the bigger the ambition, the higher is the potential of a business to attract capital.”

> Luis Arbulú of Salkantay Partners cites LAVCA’s 1H 2021 preliminary data in a post on the latest surge in VC investment in Latin America.

> Jackie Carmel of Endeavor Catalyst reviews the development of the Mexican tech ecosystem since 2012 in Mexico’s Tech Moment or Tech Movement: A Retrospective of Mexico’s Entrepreneurial Tech Ecosystem.

PEOPLE & PROGRAMS

> LAVCA WEEK is scheduled for September 20-23.This year’s agenda prioritizes targeted breakout groups and private meetings to create synergies and facilitate networking. REGISTER here.

> Join GPCA on September 9 for a timely webcast on Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation: What You Need to Know to Raise Capital in Europe. Patricia Volhard and Jin-Hyuk Jang from Debevoise & Plimpton and Phil Davis from Helios Investment Partners will discuss:

• Key elements of the SFDR and how funds have been managing the new requirements
• The impact of the reporting for fund managers in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East
• Expected changes in ESG reporting
• How ESG reporting may evolve beyond Europe
  

LAVCA Member GPs & FoFs receive complimentary registration. REGISTER here.

> Adobe Capital is looking for an Investment Officer. Candidates with an interest in impact investment themes with relevant work experience can apply here.

> KASZEK is actively recruiting for its Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay offices. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is the VC/tech newsletter and content platform of
The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America.

Have news we should include? Please email news@lavca.org.