> #UNICORN 🦄 SoftBank, DST Global, and Greenoaks Capital led an undisclosed round in Kavak, a Mexican car resale marketplace, with participation from QED Investors and follow-on from KaszeK Ventures and General Atlantic, at a reported US$1.2b valuation, making Kavak the first Mexican unicorn.
> #PE Warburg Pincus acquired a US$100m minority stake in Take Blip, a Brazilian CRM that runs on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. Take Blip’s clients include Claro, Itaú Unibanco, Coca-Cola, Localiza, Fiat, and TruckPad.
> Riverwood Capital invested R$50m in a Series B extension in Cortex, a Brazilian SaaS marketing and sales platform, with participation from Redpoint eventures and Endeavor Catalyst.
- SoftBank’s Latin America Fund led the US$22m Series B in June.
> KaszeK Ventures and Qualcomm Ventures led a US$30m Series C in Tiendanube/Nuvemshop, an Argentine ecommerce platform with operations in Brazil and Mexico, with participation from FJ Labs and angel Kevin Efrusy, and follow-on from IGNIA Capital and Elevar Equity.
- Elevar Equity led a US$7m Series B in Tiendanube in 2017. KaszeK Ventures and NXTP Ventures invested previously.
> #IMPACT #LOGISTICS IDB Invest invested R$95m in FreteBras, a Brazilian freight marketplace, through its Clean Technology Fund. As part of the investment, FreteBras will improve its carrier matching process to reduce idle truck capacity.
- The Clean Technology Fund is a US$5.5b multilateral investment vehicle established in 2008 by the World Bank, the IDB, and others to provide concessional financing to public and private sector initiatives to foster development in renewable energy, low carbon technologies, energy efficiency, and clean transport.
> #DEBT Colombian restaurant management platform MUY Tech rebranded to RobinFood and raised US$16m in debt financing from Miami-based VC MGM Sustainable Energy Fund. RobinFood is founded by Domicilios.com Co-Founders Jose Guillermo Calderón and Miguel McAllister.
- In 2019, RobinFood raised a US$15m Series B led by ALLVP and a US$4m Series A led by Seaya Ventures.
> Fuse Capital, Suquet Capital Partners, and 4P Investimentos, the family office of the late plastic surgeon Ivo Pitanguy, led a R$40m Series A in Fligoo, a San Francisco-based sales data analysis platform for corporations in Brazil and Argentina.
> #CVC Brazilian shopping center managers brMalls, Cyrella Commercial Properties, and Multiplan invested R$30m in Delivery Center, a Brazilian platform connecting digital vendor marketplaces with brick-and-mortar retail stores.
> #IMPACT #CLIMATETECH Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Serena Ventures, Aglae Ventures, Air Angels, Sweet Capital, and ThirdKind Ventures invested US$5m in Pachama, a San Francisco-based marketplace for carbon offset projects with initiatives in Brazil and Peru, with participation from angels Scott Belsky (Behance), Tobi Lutke (Shopify), and Tim Schumacher (Ecosia), and follow-on from Saltwater Capital and Lowercase Capital.
- Pachama raised US$4.1m in January from Global Founders Capital, Social Capital, Lowercase Capital, and Saltwater Capital.
- Breakthrough Energy Ventures is a VC fund established by Bill Gates, Jack Ma, Jeff Bezos, John Doerr, and Vinod Khosla as part of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition.
> #CVC Bimbo Ventures and Sweet Capital, the VC fund of the co-founders of Candy Crush, invested US$5m in Jüsto, a Mexican grocery delivery startup.
- Mountain Nazca and Foundation Capital led a US$12m follow-on investment in Jüsto in July.
- Jüsto grew its revenue by 65% month-over-month in the first half of this year, according to Weder.
> #PROPTECH Global Founders Capital, Ribbit Capital, MAYA Capital, and Y Combinator invested US$3.3m in Alude, a Brazilian proptech streamlining the client management process for real estate brokers, with participation from Hugo Barra (Facebook), among other angels.
- Founder Alexandre Duburgas: “...we are now offering traditional brokers all the tools they need to do online rentals for free... the reason we want to empower [brokers] rather than recruit them into an end-to-end solution is that this is not a winner-takes-all market – the largest current players all have less than 1% of the market combined.”
> Impact Ideas VC led a US$2.5m seed round in Xepelin, a Chilean account receivable-based lending platform for SMEs, with participation from Manutara Ventures, FJ Labs, and Cornershop Co-Founders Oskar Hjertonsson and Daniel Undurraga.
> E3 Negocios, a Brazilian innovation consultancy, invested US$2m in a55, a Brazilian revenue-based lender focused on SMEs in Brazil and Mexico.
> #DEBT SP Ventures, through its Brazil Venture Debt Fund, invested R$6m in debt financing in Ambar Tech, a Brazilian real estate developer providing digitization services for construction projects.
- In 2019, Igah Ventures (formerly e.Bricks Ventures) made a R$14m follow-on investment in Ambar Tech, after investing R$40m+ in the company.
> Igah Ventures led a R$6m round in Dr. Jones, a Brazilian DTC brand for men’s beauty products, with participation from Norte Ventures and angels Bruno Nardon (Rappi) and Gabriel Benarros (Ingresse).
> #HEALTHTECH #DRONES CITES invested a total of US$1.75m in three Argentine early stage startups: Stradot, a maker of drones to lift and organize parked vehicles in outdoor parking lots; Clover, a biotech developing artificial heart valves; and Bionirs, a healthtech developing radiation-free scanners for breast cancer detection.
> #AGTECH Capria Ventures invested US$1m in Agrofy, an Argentine marketplace for agricultural supplies, with follow-on from SP Ventures.
- SP Ventures led a US$23m Series B in 2019 and led a US$6m Series A alongside Syngenta, Bunge Ventures, and Endeavor Catalyst in 2018.
- This represents Capria’s first direct co-investment in a Latin American startup.
> #ADTECH KPTL (formerly A5 and Inseed Investimentos), through BNDES’ Criatec 3, invested R$5m in Alright, a Brazilian adtech marketplace connecting large advertisers with SMEs looking to monetize their online presence.
> #CLEANTECH #CVC Z-Tech, AB InBev’s CVC fund, made an undisclosed investment in Lemon Energy, a Brazilian solar panel rental platform providing clean energy for bars and restaurants, with participation from Brazilian clean energy management company Capitale Energia.
- Canary and Big Bets invested R$1m in 2019.
> #CVC Unipetro, a Brazilian fuel and gas reseller, invested R$1m in Ativa Resultados, a Brazilian startup incubator, to expand its fuel tank monitoring system.
> #PROPTECH Wiggot, a Mexican transaction management platform for real estate agents, raised US$800k from undisclosed investors.
> #LEGALTECH KPTL invested R$3m in Preâmbulo Tech, a software development platform for law firms.
> #PROPTECH Bossa Nova Investimentos invested R$400k in Communy, a Brazilian residential rental management platform.
> #DEBT Fuse Capital made an undisclosed debt investment in Vexi, a Mexican credit card app for millennials.
> #CRYPTO Innogen Capital Ventures made an undisclosed investment in Koibanx, an Argentine blockchain-based fintech offering cash management and investment services for SMEs.
> #CRYPTO Baltimore-based VC Squadra Ventures and TreeCorp Investimentos made an undisclosed investment in Wibx, a Brazilian blockchain-based customer loyalty and rewards management platform.
> #CRIMETECH Propel Ventures made an undisclosed investment in Tierra, a Mexican risk and safety data assessment platform based on geolocation technologies.
> #ANGEL ArkFund, US-based hedge fund 10X Fund, and Peruvian angel investor networks SC Angeles and Enlaces invested US$800k in Vozy, a Miami-based customer service management platform with operations in Mexico and Colombia.
> #AGTECH Anjos do Brasil and Poli Angels invested R$1m in Bebida na Porta, a Brazilian on-demand beverage delivery startup.
> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$4.6b in 2019, according to LAVCA data.