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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 Week 2021: Member registration is now open for the 2021 virtual program on September 20-23. More information below...

📢 Listings: VTEX lists on the NYSE; Zenvia lists on the NASDAQ

📢 Exits for monashees, Endeavor Catalyst, Redpoint eventures, KASZEK, Ribbit Capital, Vostok Emerging Finance, QED Investors, Omidyar Network, and IFC

📢 New Rounds: Rappi, NotCo, VALOREO, Cobli, Mobees, Buenbit, Celcoin, Klar, Marco Financial, Asistensi

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.

🌎 A conversation with Martin Escobari of General Atlantic and Sebastian Kanovich of dLocal on Local Talent in the Global Stage.

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 / IPOs

> #IPO Brazilian e-commerce platform VTEX listed on the NYSE on July 21 at a USD3.5b+ valuation, after filing to go public and raising USD236m one week earlier.

• VTEX raised a ~USD250m Series D led by Tiger Global and Lone Pine Capital in 2020 at a reported USD1.7b valuation; SoftBank led a USD140m round in 2019. Riverwood was one of the early investors; Naspers invested previously.
• This is SoftBank Latin America’s first public listing.
• Francisco Alvarez-Demalde of Riverwood: “It is amazing to see a company built out of Brazil becoming a global leader in digital commerce and completing a successful public debut. It is especially exciting to be a part of scaling VTEX as the sole institutional investor 2015-2019, during a period of incredible growth, and then 2019 to today as VTEX has emerged as one of the region’s top tech companies.”
• CEO Mariano Gomide de Faria: “VTEX is leading the way for Latin America to become the world’s benchmark for enterprise digital commerce.”
  

> #IPO Zenvia, a Brazilian customer management and communications platform, raised USD150m in an IPO on the NASDAQ at a ~USD400m valuation.

• Oria Capital first invested in 2014.

> #EXIT monashees and Endeavor Catalyst fully exited Brazilian cashback platform Méliuz through a ~USD230m follow-on offering on the B3.

• Méliuz listed on the B3 in 2020, providing a partial exit for monashees, Endeavor Catalyst, Lumia, Graph Ventures, FJ Labs and Social Capital.

> #EXIT #CIRCULARECONOMY Redpoint eventures exited Repassa, a Brazilian clothing resale marketplace, through a sale to Lojas Renner, a Brazilian retail conglomerate.

• Redpoint led a ~USD2m Series A in 2020 and first invested in 2018.

> #EXIT Redpoint eventures exited Minuto Seguros, a Brazilian digital insurance company, through a sale to Brazilian fintech Creditas.

• Creditas and Minuto Seguros are both backed by Redpoint.

> #EXIT PicPay, a Brazilian payment and installment platform for retail and e-commerce, acquired Brazilian personal finance management platform GuiaBolso through a cash-and-stock sale, providing an exit for KASZEK, Valor Capital Group, Ribbit Capital, Vostok Emerging Finance, QED Investors, Omidyar Network and IFC.

• Vostok Emerging Finance led a USD39m round in 2017. Valor, Igah Ventures and KASZEK invested previously.

> #EXIT GP Investimentos exited Blu, a Brazilian receivables prepayment platform for SMEs, through a secondary sale to Warburg Pincus as part of a ~USD60m Series B.

• This exit represents a 4x return for GP Investimentos, according to Valor Econômico.

DEALS

> T. Rowe Price led a USD500m Series F for Colombian super app Rappi, with participation from SoftBank, Baillie Gifford, Third Point, Octahedron and GIC, at a reported USD5.25b valuation.

• T.Rowe Price led a USD300m round in 2020 at a reported USD3.5b valuation.
• Previous investors include Redpoint eventures, monashees, Endeavor Catalyst, Andreesen Horowitz, DST Global, Sequoia and YC.
  
• VIEW LAVCA’s Latin American Unicorn Leaderboard for our full list of 18 unicorns.

> #UNICORN #FOODTECH Tiger Global led a USD235m Series D for Chilean foodtech NotCo, with participation from DFJ Growth Fund, ZOMA Lab and athletes Lewis Hamilton and Roger Federer, at a reported USD1.5b valuation, making NotCo the first Latin American foodtech unicorn.

• L Catterton and Future Positive led a USD85m Series C in 2020; The Craftory led a USD30m Series A in 2019. MAYA Capital invested previously.
• NotCo is on track to reach 8,000 retail outlets across the US and Latin America by the end of 2021.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Latin American Unicorn Leaderboard for our full list of 18 unicorns.

> Tiger Global and Insight Partners led a USD50m Series C for Mural, a US-based visual collaboration software enterprise platform with operations in Argentina, at a reported USD2b valuation.

• Insight Partners led a USD118m Series B and Radian Capital and Gradient Ventures led a USD23m Series A in 2020.

> #PE XP Private Equity and Atmos Capital acquired a ~USD50m stake in Brazilian digital bank Will Bank.

> Presight Capital and Kingsway Capital led a USD30m Series A for VALOREO, a Mexico-based e-commerce brand aggregator, with follow-on from KASZEK, Upper90 and FJ Labs.

• Angel Ventures, FJ Labs and Presight Capital led a USD50m seed round in February, the biggest seed round for a Latin America-based startup, according to LAVCA Data.
• Other recent rounds for e-commerce aggregators: Merama (USD60m) and Wonder Brands (USD20m).

> #CVC #IoT SoftBank led a USD35m Series B for Cobli, a Brazil-based telematics and fleet management platform, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures and follow-on from NXTP, Valor Capital Group and Fifth Wall Ventures, which led a USD10m round in 2019.

> General Atlantic led an undisclosed Series B for Klar, a Mexican personal finance management and lending platform with follow-on from Prosus Ventures, Quona Capital, Mouro Capital, IFC and WTI.

• Prosus Ventures and IFC led a USD15m Series A in 2020; Quona Capital led a USD7.5m seed round in 2019.

 

> #PROPTECH #CVC EmCasa, a Brazilian platform for buying and selling residential real estate, raised a ~USD22m round from Globo Ventures, Igah Ventures, Flybridge Capital, monashees, MAYA Capital, Pear VC, NBV and ONEVC.

• monashees led a ~USD4m round in 2020.
• EmCasa was founded by former Easy Taxy COO Gustavo Vaz.
  

> #INSURTECH 468 Capital led a ~USD10.5m Series A for Asistensi, a Spain-based insurance and telemedicine service provider to families of migrant workers, with follow-on from Mountain Nazca and Alma Mundi Ventures, who led a USD3m round in 2020.

• Proceeds will be used to double down on Asistensi’s current markets – Mexico, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic – and to open two new markets in Central America and one in Southeast Asia, according to CEO Armando Baquero.

 

> #CVC Torq Ventures led a ~USD11m round for Celcoin, a Brazilian open finance infrastructure developer for fintechs targeting the underbanked, with follow-on from Vox Capital and BTG Pactual’s innovation hub boostLab.

• Vox led a ~USD4.6m round in 2020 and invested ~USD1.2m in 2019.
• This is the first investment out of Torq Ventures’ ~USD10m CVC fund launched by Brazilian software developer Sinqia.
  

> #CRYPTO UK-based VC Libertus Capital led a USD11m Series A for Buenbit, an Argentine crypto platform, with participation from Galaxy Digital, FJ Labs and angels.

> Marco Financial, a Miami-based lending platform for Latin American SMEs conducting international trade, raised a USD7m seed round from Kayyak Ventures, Village Global, Flexport Ventures, Tresalia Capital, 342 Capital, Struck Capital, Antler, Florida Funders, Fox Ventures, Arpegio and angels Phil Bentley (Mitie) and Naman Budhdeo (TripStack).

• #DEBT The round also included a USD75m expanded credit facility.

> Clara, a Mexican startup offering corporate expense management and credit cards for Mexico-based startups, raised a USD5m Series A+ from undisclosed investors.

• General Catalyst and DST Global led the USD30m Series A in June at a reported USD130m valuation.

 

> #FOODTECH SP Ventures led a USD5m Series A for Frizata, an Argentine frozen food producer and distributor including fruits, vegetables, meats and appetizers, with participation from Norte Ventures and angels Marcos Galperin (Mercado Libre), Jaime Soler (Cencosud) and Gonzalo Ramirez (Louis Dreyfus).

> Flybridge Capital invested USD4.5m in Famosos.com, a Miami-based app for personalized videos from celebrities with a growing presence in Mexico and Brazil.

> #LOGISTICS Freto, a Brazilian freight marketplace that spun out of Edenred, an international corporate services platform, raised a ~USD4.5m seed round from undisclosed investors to begin operating independently from Edenred.

> #VENEZUELA Yummy, a San Francisco-based ridesharing and food delivery app with operations in Venezuela, raised a USD4m round from YC, Canary, the Hustle Fund, Necessary Ventures and Justin Mateen (Tinder). Yummy was founded by Postmates and Wayfair alum Vicente Zavarce.

• This is the third known VC investment in Venezuela, after Coco in 2019 and Asistensi in 2020.

> Accion Venture Lab and K50 Ventures led a USD3.8m round for Dinie, a Brazilian lending platform, with participation from Flourish Ventures, DOMO Invest, Tribe Capital and Capital Lab.

• Dinie recently partnered with Uruguayan fintech dLocal to offer installment payment products for Brazilian SMEs.

> #HRTECH Valor Capital Group led a USD3.6m round for Quansa, a Chile- and Brazil-based corporate benefits platform focused on employee financial wellbeing, with participation from Canary, Sequoia, Norte Ventures, Pear VC, Magma Partners and angels Ariel Lambrecht (99) and Mada Seghete (Branch Metrics).

> #EDTECH Imaginable Futures led a ~USD3.1m round for Árvore Educação, a Brazilian digital library service for public and private schools, with participation from MSW Capital and Potencia Ventures.

• Árvore participated in LAVCA’s 2021 Edtech Startup Survey alongside 31 other Latin American startups. View the full report here.

> #INSURTECH Duxx Capital and Ivisto led a ~USD2.2m seed round for Darwin, a Brazilian pre-launch consumer insurance platform.

> Astella Investimentos invested ~USD1.4m in Croct, a Brazilian sales and marketing platform for tailoring company websites to individual consumers, with follow-on from Felipe Almeida (Zup).

• Croct’s clients include Sem Parar, Descomplica and Warren.

> #WOMEN-LED We Ventures invested ~USD1.1m in Mobees, a Brazilian marketing intelligence platform installing ads in ride-sharing and last-mile delivery vehicles.

> #BOLIVIA #PROPTECH IDB Lab led a USD1.1m round for Ultra, a Bolivian consumer lending and residential real estate discovery platform, at a reported USD21m valuation.

• Orbis Ventures led a USD440k round in 2018.
• This is the largest round for a Bolivian-based startup, according to LAVCA Data.

> #M&A Chilean robo-advisor Fintual acquired Invermérica, a Mexican investment fund manager, to replicate its Chilean operations in the Mexican market.

• KASZEK invested USD15m earlier this year; ALLVP, YC and Oskar Hjertonsson (Cornershop) invested previously.

> #CIRCULARECONOMY DOMO invested ~USD1m in Usadosbr, a Brazilian car resale marketplace.

> Sequoia invested USD1m in a seed extension for Pomelo, an Argentine payments infrastructure platform enabling fintechs to fast-track the launch of prepaid and credit cards.

• monashees and Index Ventures led a USD9m seed round in May.

> #HRTECH Plerk, a Mexican employee benefits platform, raised a USD1m pre-seed round from YC, 500, Peak Capital, Horseplay.ventures and MGV Capital Group.

> GamerSafer, a US-based cybersecurity and identity authentication platform for gaming communities, raised a ~USD640k round from Indicator Capital, Wayra Brazil, TheVentureCity, Harvard Angels, GV Angels and Kerpen Ventures.

• GVAngels and Harvard Angels invested ~USD300k in May.

> DOMO Invest led a ~USD200k round for NuVidio, an e-commerce platform enabling D2C sales through video calls, with participation from Urca Angels.

> #FOODTECH UK-based foodtech VC Veg Capital made an undisclosed investment in Super Vegan, a Brazilian plant-based chocolate brand, with participation from angel Crica Wolthers (Zen Wellness).

• This is Veg Capital’s first investment in Latin America, according to LAVCA Data.

NEWS

> Peru has a new President six weeks after the presidential election.

• Pedro Castillo, a provincial school teacher, has been appointed President after obtaining 50.13% of the vote over 49.87% for Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori.

> #C19 YouTube removed Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaros’ C19 videos.

• Bolsonaro has spoken against lockdowns, masks and vaccinations since the beginning of the pandemic.
• YouTube: “Our rules do not allow content that states that hydroxychloroquine and/or ivermectin are effective in treating or preventing C19, that states there is a cure for the disease, or says that masks do not work to prevent the spread of the virus.”

> Mercado Libre partnered with BigCommerce, a US-based publicly listed outsourcing developer of e-commerce sites, to enable BigCommerce merchants to sell directly to Latin American consumers.

• “Between shipping challenges, currency conversion and language barriers, cross-border ecommerce can be incredibly challenging for retailers to navigate, especially small and mid-sized merchants, to capitalize on.”

> #INFRA KKR entered into an agreement with Telefonica Colombia to develop Colombia’s first independent open access fiber optic network. The initiative comes after KKR pursued a similar agreement with Telefonica Chile in February.

> #DRONES XMobots, a São Paulo hardware facility, is now the biggest drone manufacturer in Latin America.

• Giovanni Amianti of XMobots: “[The drone market demand] started in the military area, then entered the mapping area and is now very strong in agribusiness. The perspective is that new markets will emerge, such as inspection and logistics.”

> Rest of World reviews current government actions to crack down on activist movements in Police in Latin America are turning activists’ phones against them.

• “Authorities handcuffed her, took her cellphone, and then left her with a group of other detainees. At some point, a police officer returned and offered to loosen the woman’s handcuffs. As they did so, the protestor realized the officer was pressing her fingertips to her phone in order to open it. To break into devices more easily, a number of Latin American countries have contracted cybersecurity firms that make software allowing authorities to bypass encryption and other protections.”

> Bloomberg: How Climate Change Can Bring Latin America Back:

• “The region starts with one of the cleanest energy matrices around, almost half of its electricity coming from green sources. It has huge solar, wind, hydro and geothermal potential, from the Atacama Desert of Chile to the windswept sertao of northeast Brazil and the gales off Colombia’s northern shores. It is also home to shale gas reserves that could bridge the transition from oil and coal to renewables. Latin America’s low emissions and future clean energy potential should entice global manufacturers and service providers looking to meet their climate pledges.”
• Highlighted 1H 2021 cleantech investment activity in LatAm:
  • Solfácil, a Brazilian solar energy financing platform, raised a USD30m Series B led by QED Investors.
  • Erco Energía, a Colombian startup developing electric vehicle charging and solar energy storage facilities, raised a USD6m round led by FCP Innovación.

GLOBAL TECH

EMPEA recently rebranded to become 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.

SIGN UP for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief. Edited by LAVCA’s Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers global tech transactions and innovations with cross-border applications.

VIEW the archive of previous editions and sign up here.

STARTUPS

> #EDTECH Brazilian online coding school Trybe partnered with XP to train 300 developers who will be recruited by XP later as full-time employees.

• Atlantico led a ~USD8.4m round for Trybe in 2020.

> #HEALTHTECH SocialDiabetes, a Spain-based diabetes treatment and monitoring platform with operations in Mexico, partnered with Innovation Zed, a Spain-based developer of insulin pen technology that collects users data and informs them of their injection history.

• ALLVP invested in SocialDiabetes in 2018. Read our interview with SocialDiabetes CEO Maria Salido.

> 99 Minutos, a Mexican last-mile delivery platform for e-commerce startups, launched operations in Colombia as its fourth market in Latin America after Mexico, Chile and Peru. 99 Minutos Colombia will be led by former Geelbe CEO Diego Guzman.

• Prosus Ventures and KASZEK led the latest USD40m round in 99 Minutos in June.

> Mexican grocery delivery platform Jüsto announced the launch of its operations in Puebla as part of its expansion through Mexico, after focusing in Mexico City as its primary market.

• Jüsto raised a USD65m Series A in 2021.

> #FOODTECH Goomer, a Brazilian restaurant operations management platform, partnered with Facebook and Instagram and launched GoomerGo, a food delivery service.

• Goomer raised an undisclosed venture debt round from SP Ventures in 2020.

> #EDTECH Freddy Vega of Colombian edtech Platzi shares his views on the importance of training and education for the current tech momentum in Latin America to thrive.

• “Despite [the] infusion of capital [...] a principal factor is still missing in the region: education. Without training for the challenges facing startups, it will not be possible to grow at the right pace. Or, at least, the one desired by venture capital investors. Creating this new breed of exponentially minded specialist professionals will completely change the perspective of the region, precisely now, when the eyes of the world are on our ability to get into debt and succeed triumphantly.”

INVESTORS

> Pedro Sirotsky Meltzer of Igah Ventures shares his perspective on how to understand current startup valuations in the Brazilian market.

• "When you have a market with plenty of capital – which is what we are experiencing – it is normal for valuations to become more aggressive. What sustains these valuations is a market with a great appetite for good assets".

> Laura Constantini and Carolina Pascowitch of Astella Investimentos launched Astella Around the World, a bi-weekly podcast interviewing international investors with an interest in the Latin American tech market.

> #CVC #CLEANTECH Bob Ma of WIND Ventures, the CVC fund of Chilean energy company Copec, shares his perspective on the current opportunity for last-mile delivery in the region in Last-mile delivery in Latin America is ready to take off.

• “Retailers are missing an opportunity to give customers what they want. Customers today expect free, reliable same- or next-day delivery — on-time, all the time, and without damage or theft. All of these are challenging in LatAm.” 

PEOPLE & PROGRAMS

> LAVCA WEEK is scheduled for September 20-23. 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.

> #WOMEN-LED  Karina Saade was appointed Country Manager for BlackRock. This is the first time a woman occupies this position at the asset manager.

• Saade on the intersection of sustainability and portfolio construction: “Climate risk and social risk are investment risk. To the extent that you price that appropriately, it’s going to lead to transition and a big flow of capital. That’s a dislocation that serves as an opportunity for Brazilians and others.”

> #WOMEN-LED  Forbes Mexico published its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful Women in Mexico.

• Congratulations to Maria Ariza of BIVA, Liliana Reyes of AMEXCAP, Anna Raptis of Amplifica Capital and Gina Diez Barroso of Grupo Diarcq for their inclusion in this year’s edition.

> 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.