> #PE TreeCorp Investimentos invested R$100m in Zee.Dog, a Brazilian marketplace for pet goods. Zee.Dog has plans to launch in the US as its first international market of expansion in the coming months.
- Rival pet marketplace Petlove raised a US$48m round led by SoftBank earlier this year.
> #DEBT Accial Capital led a US$21m debt round in ePesos, a Mexican fintech providing payroll advances. ePesos raised a US$6m Series A in 2017 from Santander InnoVentures, with participation from Fiinlab, Pomona Impact, Sorenson Capital, and VilCap Investments.
- CFO Ariel Olaiz shares his view on ePesos’ advantage over traditional players: “Their cost structure is not set up to serve underbanked users… This is also not a priority for them. At ePesos… our business model and our use of technology has allowed us to offer products to employees from all income ranges, including workers at the Base of the Pyramid.”
> Canary, KaszeK Ventures, and MAYA Capital invested US$16m in Alice, a Brazilian healthcare provider. Alice was founded by Andre Florence and Matheus Moraes, alums of Brazilian rideshare 99 (acquired by Didi in 2017), and Guilherme Azevedo, co-founder of Brazilian healthtech Dr. Consulta.
> Mountain Nazca and Foundation Capital led a US$12m follow-on investment in Jüsto, a Mexico-based grocery delivery startup founded by Cabify alum Ricardo Weder, with participation from #CVC FEMSA Ventures, H20 Capital, SV Latam, and S7V. Quiet Capital, Vas Ventures, and 500 Startups invested previously.
- Beyond delivering groceries, CEO Ricardo Weder says Jüsto has its own fulfillment centers operated by its own tech to prepare and deliver orders, and sources food directly from Consumer Packaged Goods and local producers, “but we also have an important percentage of our catalogue sourced directly from SMBs and small farmers.”
- Jüsto says revenue is growing 65% month-over-month and plans to expand in Mexico and launch operations in Colombia.
> General Atlantic and e.Bricks Ventures led a R$40m Series B in Conexa Saúde, a Brazilian telemedicine marketplace, with participation from Luiz Fraga of Gávea Investimentos. e.Bricks led the seed round in February.
- Conexa has 1m+ active patients and ~6,000 doctors on the platform. Usage jumped from 20,000 consults per month to 5,000 consults per day in recent days, according to Co-Founders Guilherme Weigert and Fernando Domingues: “The C19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated both the patient adoption of digital medical appointments, and the regulatory framework of telemedicine... to allow for wider use for most medical appointments.”
> Movile made an undisclosed investment in Mensajeros Urbanos, a Colombian delivery startup focused on convenience stores and pharmacies.
- Movile CEO Patrick Hruby tells Forbes that “the moment of absurd uncertainty” that prompted preserving cash and reducing the pace of investment has passed and that now it’s time to move from protecting the portfolio to assessing new opportunities.
> #CVC Chilean insurance conglomerate HDI Seguros made a R$27m follow-on investment in Zoox, a Brazilian internet provider for hotels and public spaces, following an undisclosed investment in 2018.
> Aeroespacial, a Fundo de Investimento em Participações (FIP), invested R$20m in Kryptus, a Brazilian data security startup focused on cryptography solutions for the civilian and military markets. Aerospacial is an initiative from BNDES, FINEP, and the Agência de Desenvolvimento Paulista.
> #CVC Embraer invested an undisclosed amount in Tempest Security Intelligence, a Brazilian cybersecurity company focused on the aerospace, aeronautics, and defense industries. Tempest is backed by the Fundo de Investimento em Participações (FIP) Aeroespacial.
> Karün, a Chilean recycled eyewear manufacturer, raised US$4m from undisclosed investors. Swedish impact investor Blue AB and Luna, the philanthropic organization of Lucy Ana Walton, invested previously.
> QED Investors and LEAP Global Partners invested US$3m in Worky, a Mexican HRtech automatization platform. Worky’s startup clients include Kavak and La Haus; they are expanding their focus to businesses with 200+ employees, according to TechCrunch.
- Co-Founder and CEO Maya Dadoo shares: “Our first version of Worky was helpful for companies that had ~20 employees… we realized that SMEs that have over 200 employees still manage their HR functions in Excel, even with pen and paper. Every churned employee represents at least 6 months' wage. As these companies realize the effect that faulty HR management has on their bottom line, they seek to digitalize.”
> #CVC Banco BV led a R$15m Series A in Carflix, a Brazilian used car marketplace focused on regional transactions.
> Apex Partners led a R$8m round in Spark, a Brazilian influencer marketing platform. The round comes after founders Raphael Pinho, Marcus Buaiz, and Rafael Coca repurchased their shares from Colombian marketing group Fluvip, which had initially acquired a stake in 2016.
> ACE led a R$1.3m investment in Deskfy, a marketing startup focused on brand management, with participation from Diego Gomes of Rock Content.
> Global Founders Capital, ONEVC, and Flourish Ventures made an undisclosed investment in Swap, a Brazilian fintech services provider for enterprises, with participation from angels Brad Flora (YC) and Patrick Sigrist (iFood).
- Founder Ury Rappaport shares: “Our issuing platform is unique in the Brazilian market because it has a direct connection with the card network and its own card processor. This changes the game for startups, reducing setup costs and velocity to go live. Clients can have multiple balances per card, customize authorization parameters, and create spending restrictions, such as merchants whitelists and velocity controls, depending on use cases.”
> #ANGEL GVAngels and BR Angels invested R$2m in Chiligum, a Brazilian adtech focused on video production automation.
> G2 Momentum Capital made an undisclosed investment in Finerio Connect, a Mexican fintech offering businesses an API for enterprise account management.
> Platform Capital made an undisclosed investment in SafeRoom, a US-based secure enterprise messaging platform for employee communication serving the Mexican market.
> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$4.6b in 2019, according to LAVCA data.