DEALS
> Rappi reached unicorn status with an over US$200m investment led by DST Global, with participation from existing investors including Sequoia Capital, and Andreessen Horowitz.
- Other investors include Delivery Hero, monashees+, Redpoint eventures, Y Combinator, FundersClub and Foundation Capital.
- Brazilian fintech Nubank also reached unicorn status when DST Global led a US$150m Series E this year.
- 🚩JOIN Rappi Co-Founder & President Sebastian Mejia for a conversation on the battleground for the last mile at LAVCA’s Venture Investors Annual Meeting on Sept. 27 in New York.
> The Blackstone Group and Hudson Structured Capital Management led a US$60m investment in Brazilian trucking platform CargoX.
- Goldman Sachs led a US$20m Series C in 2017, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures, Soros and existing investors Valor Capital, Agility Logistics, and Uber co-founder Oscar Salazar. Goldman also led the US$10m Series B.
- Forbes says CargoX is a top 10 player in the third largest trucking market globally.
- READ The BRIEF’s interview with founder Federico Vegas about CargoX’s “bad ass team.”
> #CRYPTO BlueYard Capital led a US$7m Series A investment in AirTM, a Mexican blockchain-based fintech platform that allows people outside the US to transfer between local banks, crypto-currencies and dollars. IGNIA invested previously.
- BlueYard is a Berlin-based fund with crypto investments in Protocol Labs and Filecoin. This is their first known investment in LatAm.
- More on AirTM, which recently demoed at Mercado Libre’s pitch event in Mexico City:
Whether it’s Mexican Pesos, Venezuelan Bolivares or any of the other 100+ national currencies that consistently lose value against the U.S. dollar, the AirTeaM is committed to helping consumers and businesses access stable money that holds its value, money that is as easy to transfer as email, and that can be withdrawn as local currency whenever it’s needed.
> Prosegur Tech Ventures, the CVC of European security firm Grupo Prosegur, led a R$15m investment in Concil, a Brazilian fintech focused on sales management, with participation from DGF Investimentos and SP Ventures, who invested previously.
> Mercado Libre’s MELI Fund, Grupo Supervielle, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and Agrega Partners made a US$3m investment in Argentine fintech Increase, with participation of existing investors including Arfintech and Lucens Capital.
> Aurus made a US$2.5m investment in Copptech Apparel, a Chilean company producing a proprietary antimicrobial, copper-based material for apparel.
- Aurus Partner Victor Aguilera says Copptech Apparel products are US EPA certified to provide a 99.9% effective protection effect as antimicrobial, anti-virus, anti-fungal and anti-odor material.
> Lumia Capital, Rise Capital, FJ Labs and Hummingbird Ventures made a R$17m investment in InstaCarro, a Brazilian auto resale platform.
- This is Hummingbird’s first known startup investment in Latin America.
- InstaCarro raised R$40m from existing investors in 2017 to expand to new markets.
> German-based Global Founders Capital made an undisclosed investment in Zen Finance, a Brazilian fintech focused on credit-as-a-service. Philipp Povel, founder and CEO of Dafiti, and Carlos Eduardo Norbert of Petronia Capital also participated in the round.
> Carao Ventures led a US$800k seed investment in Singularities, an enterprise AI platform for customer behavior insights. Singularities is based in California with a presence in Silicon Valley. CEO Carlos Araya says Singularities applies AI to business solutions in finance, retail and value-chain operations, for clients including BAC-Credomatic and P&G.
> Manutara Ventures made a US$500k investment in Camel Technologies, a Chilean cyber security startup
> Criatec 3, managed by Inseed Investimentos, made a R$6m investment in BluePex, a Brazilian IT security platform.
> Brazilian IT company Accesstage made a R$5m investment in Negocie Online, a Brazilian consumer debt negotiation platform operating primarily on WhatsApp and Messenger.
- Accesstage also recently invested in Moneto, a Brazilian payment processing app for business owners.
- BR Startups recently invested in Wayra-accelerated QueroQuitar, a Brazilian debt negotiation and financial education platform.
> #DRONES 🚁Brazilian drone startup Horus raised R$2m on equity crowdfunding platform Eqseed. SP Ventures invested previously. Embrapa (The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation) and Cedro Capital also invested R$5m. 16+ startups have collectively raised over R$10m on Eqseed so far.
> Dux Capital invested MX$600k in Refly, a platform for reselling airline tickets.
> Engie Factory made an undisclosed investment in 99Minutos, a last-mile logistics startup in Mexico that is backed by 500 Startups.
- Engie is also an investor in Guatemalan solar startup Kingo and four undisclosed Mexican electrical mobility and decentralized energy startups.
> BTG Pactual set up a US$200m joint-venture with Colombia lending startup Portal Finance. Magma Partners made an undisclosed investment in Portal Finance in 2017.