> EDITOR’S Note: This is the first time two companies join the unicorns club in the same month: Brazilian VTEX and Uruguayan dLocal. View LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for an updated list of known LatAm tech unicorns.
> #UNICORN Rappi raised US$300m from T. Rowe Price Associates and other undisclosed parties.
- The company is currently valued at US$3.5b, according to Reuters.
- Previous investors in Rappi include Redpoint eventures, monashees, Endeavor Catalyst, SoftBank, Andreesen Horowitz, DST Global, Sequoia Capital, and Y Combinator.
- Rappi recently partnered with Mexican bank Banorte to launch a financial services firm.
> #UNICORN Tiger Global and Lone Pine Capital led a R$1.25b Series D in Brazilian ecommerce SaaS platform VTEX, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, and follow-on from SoftBank and Japanese VC fund Constellation Asset Management, at a reported valuation of US$1.7b, making VTEX the newest Brazilian unicorn.
- SoftBank led a US$140m investment in VTEX in 2019, with participation from Gavea Investimentos and Constellation Asset Management, after Riverwood Capital acquired Nasper’s stake in the company in 2015.
- VTEX was selected as the fastest growing e-commerce platform in the world in July, according to a new IDC report.
- VTEX will be launching a new software development hub in Mexico in November.
> #UNICORN General Atlantic led a US$200m investment in dLocal, a Uruguay-based cross-border payment platform, with participation from Addition, at a reported valuation of US$1.2b, making dLocal the first known Uruguayan unicorn.
- Addition is a new VC fund founded by former Head of Private Equity at Tiger Global Lee Fixel. dLocal also received an undisclosed investment from General Atlantic in 2019, according to LAVCA Data.
- Luiz Ribeiro, Principal of General Atlantic, will join dLocal’s Board as part of the transaction.
- CEO Sebastián Kanovich: “We think there is huge potential in Africa as well as the few holes left in Latin America.”
> General Atlantic and SoftBank’s Latin America Fund led a US$108m Series B in Acesso Digital, a Brazilian digital identity and facial recognition company.
- This is the largest Series B round to date in a SaaS company in Latin America, according to LAVCA Data.
- Acesso Digital acquired computer vision startup Meerkat in August.
- Igah Ventures (formerly e.Bricks Ventures) led a R$40m round in Acesso Digital in January in the company’s first disclosed financing.
- Igah Ventures on the impact of C19 in Acesso Digital’s core business: “... the company has doubled its monthly revenues between December 2019 and July 2020.”
> #FOODTECH L Catterton and Future Positive, the investment firm of Fred Blackford and Biz Stone, led a US$85m Series C in Chilean foodtech NotCo, with participation from General Catalyst, and follow-on from KaszeK Ventures, The Craftory, Bezos Expeditions, Endeavor Catalyst, IndieBio, Humbolt Capital, and MAYA Capital.
- The Craftory led NotCo’s US$30m Series A in 2019, with participation from Bezos Expeditions, MAYA Capital, and KaszeK Ventures, in The Craftory and Bezos’ inaugural investment in a Latin American startup.
- NotCo launched an ecommerce site in Sao Paulo as its first digital direct-to-consumer distribution channel for its Not Mayo, Not Milk, and Not IceCream products.
- Nicolás Szekasy of KaszeK Ventures: “...COVID has allowed us to see that meat production is not only environmentally harmful and inefficient, but also that its supply chain is fragile. So we are happy to witness an inflection point where plant-based products are becoming an increasing proportion of a new normal, once they can actually taste amazing...”
- NotCo CEO Matias Muchnick spoke about the accelerating evolution of consumer behavior alongside L Catterton partner Farah Khan during LAVCA Week.
> SoftBank invested US$75m in India-based hotel unicorn Oyo through its US$5b LatAm fund to launch Oyo LatAm, a joint venture that operates 1,000+ hotels in Brazil and Mexico and has served over 2 million guests.
> #DEBT BID Invest granted a line of credit of up to ~US$60m to Konfio, a Mexican lending platform for SMEs. Konfio will have access to an initial ~US$36m in credit capacity.
- In 2019, Konfio raised US$250m in a credit facility from Goldman Sachs and Victory Park Capital, and US$100m in equity financing from SoftBank, KaszeK Ventures, QED Investors and Vostok Emerging Finance.
> Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking led a R$120m Series A in iugu, a Brazilian finance automation and payment platform for SMEs, with follow-on from Indicator Capital, and angel Fabio Povoa (Movile).
- Goldman Sachs has also backed fintechs Ualá (venture), Konfío (debt), Credijusto (venture and debt), and Nubank (debt).
- Indicator Capital previously invested R$5m in 2012 and 2014.
- iugu was granted the BACEN license in August by the Brazilian Central Bank, enabling the platform to operate as a Payment Institution.
> KaszeK Ventures led a R$100m Series A in Ideal, a fully digital Brazilian broker dealer for institutional investors.
- The round will enable Ideal to expand its offering to retail customers.
- CEO Nilson Monteiro: “Having achieved acknowledgement and respect in the institutional market, Ideal now wants to reach retail customers.”
> #FOODTECH BTG Pactual, ENFINI Investments, and Turin MFO led a ~US$25m round in Fazenda Futuro, a Brazilian startup making plant-based meat alternatives, with follow-on from monashees and Go4it Capital, at a reported valuation of R$715m.
- monashees and Go4it Capital first invested US$8.5m in Fazenda Futuro in 2019.
> #CVC Bradesco’s InovaBra Ventures and Itaú Unibanco led a US$15m round in Quanto, a Brazilian open banking platform for retailers, with participation from KaszeK Ventures and hedge fund Coatue.
> monashees and San Francisco-based SV Latam led a US$14m round in Oyster, a Mexican digital banking platform for SMEs and startups, with participation from Redpoint eventures, FJ Labs, Fintech Collective, S7 Ventures, Ulu Ventures, and angel Kevin Efrusy. Oyster is founded by Clip Co-Founder and former CTO Vilash Poovala.
- This is the largest known seed round in Latin America, according to LAVCA Data.
- CEO Vilash Poovala: “Mexico is far behind most of the world in terms of extending access to basic financial services, especially for entrepreneur-led businesses that have been completely overlooked by traditional banks. We can open business accounts for customers in 24 to 72 hours instead of waiting the typical four to six months… [additionally,] with the current pandemic, who wants to spend hours in line at a physical bank instead of signing up with us online so quickly?”
> Movile led a R$60m round in Zoop, a Brazilian white label fintech platform for SMEs and startups, with participation from Qualcomm Ventures, Avalancha Ventures, and Darwin Capital.
- Movile invested US$18.3m in Zoop in 2019.
- Since January, Zoop has increased its total payment volume by 140%, reaching R$1.6m, and attracted 40 new partners, according to CEO Fabiano Cruz.
> #AGTECH Aquabyte, a Norwegian aquaculture monitoring startup with operations in the UK and Chile, raised US$10m from undisclosed investors.
> #PROPTECH monashees led a R$20m round in EmCasa, a Brazilian proptech for buying and selling residential real estate, with participation from Caravela Capital, Mercado Libre’s MELI Fund, Pear Ventures, and Washington-based Next Billion Ventures. EmCasa is founded by former Easy Taxi COO Gustavo Vaz.
> Valor Capital led a R$25m Series A in Quasar Flash, a Brazilian fintech providing receivable advances for SMEs.
> New York-based VC fund Bowery Capital led a US$3.5m round in Cerby, a Mexican cybersecurity startup for monitoring shadow IT for businesses, with participation from Global Founders Capital, San Francisco-based AV8 Ventures, and Japanese VC Incubate Fund.
> #HRTECH Ulu Ventures led a US$3m round in Rever, a Mexican employee innovation management platform, with follow-on from Sequoia Capital and Zetta Venture Partners.
- Sequoia Capital and Zetta Venture Partners invested US$2.25m in 2018, in Sequoia’s first known investment in a Mexican startup.
> #AGTECH Brazilian shopping center developer Aliansce invested R$15.5m in BeGreen, a Brazilian farm-to-table vegetable subscription platform building farms in shopping center parking lots.
> #CVC Mercado Libre’s MELI Fund acquired a minority stake in Kangu, a Brazilian delivery logistics platform for ecommerce vendors.
- NXTP Ventures invested R$6m in Kangu earlier this year with participation from existing angels, including Americo Pereira Filho, former president of FedEx Brazil.
> Redpoint eventures led a R$10m Series A in Repassa, a Brazilian clothing resale curated marketplace. Redpoint first made an undisclosed investment in 2018.
- Repassa grew its revenue over 60% in Q2020, according to Exame.
> DOMO Invest led a R$5.5m round in Rede Vistorias, a Brazilian proptech providing real estate asset inspection services, through its new DOMO Enterprise fund, with participation from Terracotta Ventures and Invisto.
> ChileGlobal Ventures and Sudamerik led a US$1.4m Series A in ReStudio, a Chilean construction and process monitoring startup focused on the mining industry.
> KPTL invested R$4.2m in AEVO, a Brazilian innovation management platform.
> #FOODTECH Caravela Capital invested R$2m in OceanDrop, a Brazilian foodtech producing food supplements enhanced with microalgae nutrients.
> Manutara Ventures made an undisclosed investment in ETPay, a Chilean fintech for payment integrations and bank transfers.
> Iporanga Ventures led a R$1m round in FieldLink, a Brazilain remote work team collaboration platform.
> Parnity, a Brazilian logistics marketplace for international freight forwarding, raised US$250k from undisclosed investors.
> #CROWDFUNDING Livima, a Brazilian real estate financing and property discovery platform, raised R$1m in equity crowdfunding platform CapTable.
> #ANGEL Anjos do Brasil invested R$600k in HubLocal, a Brazilian SEO consultancy startup for SMEs.
> #AGTECH #US Cultivan Sandbox Ventures invested US$2m in Leaf, a San Francisco-based agtech startup for integrating farmland data across tech platforms, with participation from SP Ventures and Radicle Growth.
> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$4.6b in 2019, according to LAVCA data.