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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

📢 LAVCA's 2021 Latin American Startup Directory includes 299 startups that raised USD1m+ in venture funding across 346 disclosed rounds in 2020-1H 2021

📢 Proptech in Focus: Rounds for Flat.mx, Kocomo, Flix, Virgo

📢 Facebook and Microsoft announce first formal partnership in Mexico

📢 El Salvador makes its first Bitcoin purchase

2021 LATIN AMERICAN STARTUP DIRECTORY

LAVCA’s sixth annual Latin American Startup Directory profiles 299 startups that raised USD1m+ in venture funding in 2020 and 1H 2021 across 346 disclosed rounds, during a time of record venture investment in the region.

NEW IN 2021:

🔥 This year’s directory profiles 52 women-led startups that raised ~USD2.7b over 53 disclosed rounds in 2020 and 1H 2021 . Women-led startups that raised rounds over USD40m include Nubank, Loft, Kavak, Habi, Kushki, Warren, Casai and PetLove.

🔥 CVC participation in disclosed VC rounds over USD1m also jumped from 16% in 2020 to 26% in 1H 2021.

🔥 LAVCA members can download an accompanying LAVCA Data Pack for additional details including startup’s founders and markets of operation, as well as a full list of women-led startups (with names and titles), repeat founders, rounds with CVC participation and more.

DOWNLOAD the Directory and Data Pack. Use your login (new members can register here for access).

Is your startup qualified to be on this list? Contact LAVCA Manager of Venture Capital Carlos Ramos de la Vega to inquire about inclusion in the 2022 directory.

The Latin American Startup Directory is made possible with support from the Latin American Tech Growth Coalition and IDB Lab.

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 facilitate networking.

Highlighted speakers and sessions include:

🔥 From Hong Kong to São Paulo: The Global IPO Market, with Nicolaz Aguzin of HKEX Group in conversation with Francisco Alvarez-Demalde of Riverwood Capital.
🔥 The Next Wave of Real Estate Investing & Proptech, led by Brynne McNulty Rojas of Habi, Laura Costantini of Astella Investimentos, Gregorio Schneider of TC Latam Partners and Elizabeth Bell of Jaguar Growth Partners.
🔥 Startup CEO Breakout Session led by Loreanne Garcia of Kavak, Florian Hagenbuch of Loft and Brian Requarth of Latitud/Grupo ZAP.

Registration end September 17. REGISTER HERE.

LAVCA members attending LAVCA Week can invite a portfolio CEO for complimentary admission. Email LAVCA's Manager of Venture Capital Carlos Ramos de la Vega for the registration code.

Contact LAVCA's Director of Events Kaela Kennedy with any questions.

DEALS

> #PETS Riverwood Capital led a USD150m round for Petlove&Co, a Brazilian products and services platform for pets, with participation from monashees, Tarpon, SoftBank, L Catterton and Porto Segur.

• Petlove&Co resulted from the merger of PetLove, DogHero, Vetus, VetSmart and Porto.Pet.
• L Catterton made an undisclosed investment in June 2020 and SoftBank invested USD48m the same year.
  

> Jeeves, a US-based expense management platform for startups with operations in Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Chile, raised a USD57m Series B led by CRV, with participation from SVB, Tencent, Alkeon Capital Management and Soros Fund Management.

• Angels participating include Adolfo Babatz (Clip), Gabriel Braga (QuintoAndar), Pierpaolo Barbieri (Ualá), Zac Prince (BlockFi), Assaf Wand (Hippo), Immad Akhund (Mercury), Pablo Gonzalez (Bitso), Tom Blomfield (Monzo Bank) and Des Traynor (Intercom).
• Andreessen Horowitz led a USD26m Series A in June.

> Lightspeed led a USD57m Series B for Flink, a Mexican consumer trading platform, with participation from Mantis Venture Capital and follow-on from ALLVP, Accel and Clocktower.

• Accel led a USD12m Series A earlier this year. Flink was co-founded by Easy Credit founder Sergio Jimenez Amozurrutia.

> #CVC #CLEANTECH Urbem, a Brazilian manufacturer of eco-friendly wood products for real estate construction, raised a ~USD20.6m round from DX Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian wood panel manufacturer Duratex.

 

> #INSURTECH Pier, a Brazilian insurtech for smartphones and vehicles, raised USD20m led by Raiz Investimentos, with follow-on from Canary, monashees, BTG Pactual and Mercado Libre.

• Raiz Investimentos is the FO of Ivan Toledo, founder of Brazilian payments company Sem Parar.
• monashees led a USD14.5m round in 2020.

 

> #PROPTECH UK-based VC Anthemis and 500 led a USD20m Series A for Flat.mx, a Mexican proptech focused on the purchase, renovation and resale of residential real estate, with participation from NY-based Expa and follow-on from ALLVP.

• #DEBT Arc Labs made a USD25m debt investment in 2020; ALLVP led a USD4.5m pre-seed round in 2019.
• Flat.mx is growing sales by 70% Q-o-Q, according to its founders.
  

 

> #HEALTHTECH General Catalyst led a USD20m Series A for Osana Salud, an Argentine infrastructure developer for telehealth, pharmacy and diagnostics platforms, with participation from Quiet Capital, Preface Ventures, FJ Labs, AforeVC and K50 Ventures.

> #DEBT Atrato, a Mexican lending platform enabling installment payments for retail brands and SMEs, secured a USD15m credit line from Architect Capital.

• Accel led a USD2.7m round in May.
• Atrato was selected to participate in YC’s 2021 Winter batch.
  

> #PE US PE Trivest Partners invested in Veritran, an Argentine developer of no-code digital wallet and authentication systems.

> KASZEK and monashees led a ~USD9m seed round for TruePay, a Brazilian vendor financing platform for small and medium retailers, with participation from GFC and ONEVC.

• TruePay was founded by former VCs Pedro Oliveira (KASZEK) and Luis Eduardo Cascao (DNA Capital).

> #ANGEL ZigPay, a Brazilian payments platform for bars and restaurants raised ~USD8m from angels Edgard and Diogo Corona (SmartFit) and Ricardo Goldfarb (Lojas Marisa).

> #PROPTECH ALLVP and Vine Ventures led a USD6m round for Kocomo, a Mexican vacation home co-ownership platform, with participation from Picus Capital, QED Investors, FJ Labs, Clocktower Technology Ventures and JAWS, the FO of Starwood Capital Chairman Barry Sternlicht.

• Angels Mate Pencz and Florian Hagenbuch (Loft), Oskar Hjertonsson (Cornershop), Carlos Garcia (Kavak) and Sergio Furio (Creditas) also participated.
• #DEBT Kocomo also raised USD50m in debt financing from Architect Capital.
• CEO Martin Schrimpff (formerly of Zinobe): “Kocomo is focused more on the cross-border vacation homes which are more like a two- to three-hour flight away from where the owners are located… Buying a whole home for just a few weeks a year feels like more hassle than it’s worth while spending money on a rental is a waste and an expense, not an asset.”
  

> #AGTECH ZoomAgri, an Argentine quality analysis platform for agricultural commodities, raised a USD3.3m Series A from SP Ventures, Glocal, Artesian and GrainInnovate.

> Tuna, a Brazilian credit card and anti-fraud provider testing platform for e-commerce businesses, raised two seed rounds totalling USD3m from Canary and Atlantico. Tuna was founded by Peixe Urbano alums Alex Tabor, Paul Ascher and Juan Pascual.

 

> #HEALTHTECH #INSURTECH Iza, a Brazilian digital health insurance provider for self-employed professionals, raised ~USD2.6m from undisclosed investors.

> ChileGlobal Ventures and Dadneo led a USD2m seed round for Wheel the World, a US-based travel booking platform for travelers with disabilities, with participation from Plug N Play Ventures and Susan Wojcicki (YouTube).

> Big Bets led a USD1.7m seed round for DataMilk, a Brazilian design optimization platform for e-commerce sites, with participation from UK VC RTP Global and angels Mariano Gomide de Faria and Geraldo Thomaz (VTEX).

> #LOGISTICS UVC, the CVC arm of Grupo Ultra, invested ~USD1.16m in RoutEasy, a Brazilian route optimization platform for last-mile delivery companies.

> Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD1.3m seed round for Klavi, a Brazilian open banking platform, with participation from Parallax Ventures.

> #INSURTECH #PROPTECH DOMO invested ~USD1m in Flix, a Brazilian digital home insurance platform.

> Brazilian MFO GHT4 invested ~USD1m in DataLand, a Brazilian urban planning platform mapping construction restrictions and public transportation access in São Paulo.

> #AGTECH #SPACETECH The Yield Lab led a USD750k seed round for Space AG, a Peruvian drone and satellite image analytics platform for crop management, with participation from Winnipeg Capital.

> Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD720k pre-seed round for Abstra, a Brazilian no-code app development environment for corporates, with participation from YC.

> #CLEANTECH #ANGEL GVAngels led a ~USD400k round for Suflex, a Brazilian waste management platform for bars and restaurants.

> #HEALTHTECH Bossa Nova Investimentos and Japan-based Incubate Fund invested ~USD300k in Dr.Cash, a Brazilian consumer lending platform for medical procedures.

> #LOGISTICS Cedro Capital led a ~USD300k round for Everlog, a Brazilian freight management platform, with participation from 100 Open Angels and Australian VC Artesian.

> #DRONES Aeroscan, a Brazilian security drone platform for company asset safe keeping, raised ~USD260k through equity crowdfunding platform EqSeed.

> #AGTECH #CVC Manfing, a Brazilian customer analytics platform for agribusinesses, raised a ~USD200k seed round from Meta Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian enterprise software developer Meta.

> #CROWDFUNDING TrackerUp, a Brazilian technical customer support platform, raised ~USD200k through equity crowdfunding platform EqSeed.

• TrackerUp’s clients include Mitsubishi, GE and tembici.

> #PROPTECH #CVC Virgo Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian brokerage Virgo, invested ~USD100k in Hent, a Brazilian residential sale management platform.

• Hent raised ~USD1m from Canary in 2020.
• Hent was founded by Leonardo Pinho, co-founder of Kaplen (sold to Itaú), David Aragao, Partner at Motonow (sold to Loggi), and Thiago Diniz, co-founder of Eventick (sold to Sympla).
  

> GR8 Ventures led an undisclosed pre-Series A for Mediar, a US- and Brazil-based sales and inventory analytics platform for brick-and-mortar retailers.

EXITS / M&A

> #SPAC AgileThought, a Miami-based enterprise software consulting firm, raised USD91.5m through a merger with LIV Capital Acquisition, a SPAC formed by LIV Capital.

• LIV Capital Acquisition filed for a USD60m IPO on the NASDAQ in 2019.
• Nexxus Capital invested in 2015 in AgileThought and followed on in 2019; Credit Suisse Asset Management Mexico invested previously.

> #EXIT IGNIA Partners exited Sr. Pago, a Mexican mobile payments provider, through a sale to Mexican lending platform Konfío.

• Lightrock led a USD125m Series E for Konfio in July.

> #EXIT Canary exited Spin Pay, a Brazilian instant payments platform that leverages Brazil’s open banking system PIX for e-commerce transactions, through a sale to Nubank.

• Nubank represents 30+% of all transactions made with PIX in Brazil, according to the company.

> #EXIT NXTP exited Kangu, a Brazilian delivery logistics platform for e-commerce vendors, through a sale to Mercado Libre.

• Mercado Libre’s MELI Fund acquired a minority stake in 2020; NXTP Ventures invested ~USD1.2m earlier that year.

FUNDS

> Atlantida Capital launched FINCRA, El Salvador’s first private capital fund to invest in early- and late stage Latin America-based companies

• FINCRA will be publicly listed in El Salvador’s Stock Exchange with a USD300m target.

 

> #CVC Irani Papel e Embalagem, a Brazilian paper manufacturer, launched Irani Ventures, a CVC fund to invest in early-stage startups focused on technologies to improve the paper manufacturing process.

> #PROPTECH Vedacit, a Brazilian construction products company, announced an undisclosed commitment to Terracotta Warriors I, Terracotta Ventures’ VC fund investing in proptech and construtech startups.

> VC firm Myelin launched Myelin II with a USD25-50m target to invest in early-stage startups in North America, Europe and Latin America focused on biotech, fintech, proptech, femtech and foodtech.

• Myelin was founded by Matias Nisenson (Tiempy), Martin Varsavsky (Goggo Network) and Alec Oxenford (letgo).

> NeoFeed interviews the founders of Redpoint eventures after a string of successful exits.

• Redpoint eventures exited Brazilian healthtech Memed through a sale to DNA Capital, Brazilian healthtech Gesto Saúde through a sale to Dasa, Brazilian insurtech Minuto Seguros through a sale to Creditas and Brazilian edtech Passei Direto through a sale to UOL EdTech.

> SoftBank Group announced it achieved carbon neutrality in 2020.

• SoftBank relocated its head office building in January 2021, installing energy-saving technologies such as LED lighting with motion sensors for automatic brightness adjustment, blinds with automatic open/close functions, and using electricity generated by rooftop solar panels.

STARTUPS

> Brex launched Brex Venture Debt, an on-demand debt lines product backed by USD150m to provide capital with minimal dilution to early-stage founders.

• Brex was founded by Brazilians Henrique Dubugras and Pedro Franceschi.

> #LAST-MILE Mexican grocery delivery platform Jüsto launched operations in Brazil with a USD40m investment from its balance sheet.

• Jüsto launched a USD20m warehouse operation in Mexico and raised a USD65m Series A earlier this year.

> #INSURTECH Betterfly, a Chilean certified B-Corp insurtech providing life insurance for employees of SMEs and incentivizing policyholder’s wellbeing with subsidized coverage, partnered with Brazilian insurance company Icatu to launch operations in Brazil.

• Betterfly raised a USD60m Series B in July.

> #CROSSBORDER Shopee, one of Southeast Asia’s largest e-commerce platforms with a market capitalization of USD185b, is Brazil’s most downloaded shopping app, according to Reuters.

> #FOODTECH #AGTECH LABS profiles Demetria, a Colombian agtech that can determine the taste of green coffee beans and predict how roasted coffee will fare with consumers.

• Demetria’s investors include Mercantil Colpatria and Celeritas.
• CEO Felipe Ayerbe: “We were able to prove we can measure taste in green beans before roasting…We are over 90% accurate, which is comparable to what an individual cupper is… At the end of the day, the taste is a representation of chemistry, but it’s the representation that we have as humans.”

NEWS

> #CRYPTO Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announced El Salvador just bought its first 200 Bitcoins.

• Bukele: “Our brokers will be buying a lot more as the deadline approaches.”
• FT reviews the role of crypto in developing countries with a history of financial instability including Brazil, Nigeria and Vietnam.

> #CRYPTO TGU Consulting installed Honduras’ first Bitcoin ATM.

• The ATM is locally called La Bitcoinera and allows users to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum using local currency.

> Facebook and Microsoft announced their first formal partnership to launch digital marketing education modules catered towards SMEs and business owners in Mexico.

• Facebook Country Manager Marco Casarin: “Durante la pandemia vimos que 36% de las pymes entraron por primera vez a nuestra plataforma y tres cuartos de ellas lo hicieron sin apoyo de expertos de tecnología, por lo que vemos una enorme oportunidad para ayudarlas a crecer.”
• Facebook and Microsoft are members of LAVCA’s Latin American Tech Growth Coalition to support high-growth startups in the region.

> #DIVERSITY Mexican Stock Exchange BIVA launched the first gender equality index for publicly traded companies in Mexico.

• The launch follows a broader trend of global exchanges: NASDAQ just received regulatory approval to require more diverse corporate directors and the Tokyo Stock Exchange will adopt new measures in 2022 to ensure gender diversity amongst senior leadership in its listed companies and the Honk Kong Stock Exchange is looking to eliminate all-male company boards.

> #AGTECH Isabela Fleischmann of LABS reviews the current opportunities for Latin American agtechs in Which startup will be the first LatAm agtech unicorn?.

> LABS interviews Latin American founders on the opportunity for Miami to become a soft landing city for international expansion in Ascensão de Miami transforma cidade em hub para startups latino-americanas de olho nos EUA.

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.

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. Participation is open to LAVCA members, non-member private capital investors and qualified institutional investors. REGISTER HERE. Registration ends September 17.

> #VIRTUALTRAINING LAVCA, in collaboration with GPCA, is pleased to announce Increasing Participation of Women in Private Capital in Latin America, the third virtual training in the Inside Private Capital series, taking place on October 14, 11:00am - 2:00pm ET. LAVCA members are invited to participate in module three at the discounted rate.

• The virtual training will explore leadership’s role in attracting and retaining female talent, discuss practical systems and processes that support women in the workplace, and provide context in terms of industry best practices and LP expectations.
• Session 1: First-Hand Insights from Industry Veterans
• Session 2: Leadership's Role in Attracting and Retaining Female Talent
• Session 3: Overcoming Unconscious Bias at the Organizational Level
  

REGISTER here. For questions, contact education@lavca.org.

> IDB Lab’s WeXchange partnered with Google to launch LAC Women Founders Accelerator, an accelerator program for women-led STEM startups. Application deadline is September 12.

> Kamay Ventures will host a conversation around the future of branding and customer engagement with former Disney executive Ezequiel Abramzon on September 14. Registration is now open.

> Facebook partnered with Colombian journalist foundation Fundación Gabo to launch Crece Digital 2021, a mentorship and upskilling program for Ibero-American journalists interested in learning digital skills to reach a wider audience. Candidates are welcome to register and attend starting September 15.

> Congratulations to Colombian supply management platform Tul and Mexican freight marketplace Nuvocargo for being selected to join the Endeavor’s network.

> Canary is looking to grow its investment team. Interested candidates can contact Partner Henrique Leite directly.

> NXTP is looking for an Investment Analyst. Interested candidates based in Mexico City, São Paulo or Buenos Aires are welcome to apply.

> Wayra Brasil is looking for a Head of Open Innovation to lead its portfolio management operations.

> Wayra Hispam partnered with Peruvian agriculture company Danper to launch DanperChallenge, a startup competition to find solutions for the agribusiness space in Peru. Founders are welcome to apply.

• Wayra Hispam is also looking for an Open Innovation & Partnerships Manager based in Colombia. 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.