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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

📢 Rounds for 🦄 QuintoAndar, Ualá & Tiendanube

📢 New Rounds for Cora, Kovi, Protera, wherEX, LogComex, Pulsar, Driven

📢 Spotlight: Operating leverage in tech: An interview with Movile CEO Patrick Hruby

📢 Healthtech in Focus: Rounds for Salux, NeuralMed, Kompa Saúde, Holistix

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.

Highlighted speakers and sessions include:

🔥 From Hong Kong to São Paulo: Perspective on Global IPO Markets, 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.

Early bird registration end this Friday, August 27. LAVCA members, non-member private capital investors and qualified institutional investors can register at the early bird rate HERE.

Access more information on LAVCA Week and/or contact LAVCA's Director of Events Kaela Kennedy with any questions.

DEALS

> #UNICORN Tiger Global and Insight Partners led a USD500m round for Tiendanube (Nuvemshop), an Argentine e-commerce platform with operations in Brazil and Mexico, with participation from Sunley House Capital, VMG Partners, Alekon and Owl Rock, and follow-on from KASZEK, Qualcomm Ventures, Accel, ThornTree Capital and Kevin Efrusy (Accel), at a reported USD3.1b valuation.

• Tiendanube raised USD90m led by Accel in March. IGNIA Partners, NXTP and Elevar Equity invested previously.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for the latest list of LatAm unicorns.
  

> #UNICORN SoftBank and Tencent led a USD350m Series D for Argentine fintech Ualá, with participation from D1 Capital, 166 2nd LLC, the FO of WeWork founder Adam Neuman, and Jacqueline Reses (Square), and follow-on from Soros Management, Goldman Sachs, Ribbit Capital and monashees, at a reported USD2.45 valuation.

• SoftBank and Tencent led a USD150m round in 2019, in SoftBank’s first known deal in Argentina; Goldman Sachs led a USD34m round in 2018.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for the latest list of LatAm unicorns.

> #UNICORN #CVC Greenoaks and Tencent led a USD120m Series E+ for Brazilian proptech QuintoAndar at a reported USD5.1b valuation.

• Ribbit Capital led a USD300m Series E in May at a reported USD4b valuation; SoftBank led a USD250m Series D in 2019; General Atlantic led a ~USD50m Series C in 2018.
• QuintoAndar just acquired Atta Franchising, a B2B real estate lending platform offering credit products and home equity financing to brokers.
• READ LAVCA’s interview with Co-Founder and CTO Andre Penha.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for the latest list of LatAm unicorns.
  

> Cora, a Brazilian lending platform for SMEs, raised a USD116m Series B led by Greenoaks, with participation from Tiger Global and Tencent, and follow-on from KASZEK, QED Investors and Ribbit Capital.

• KASZEK, QED and Ribbit invested USD26.7m in April.

 

> #CVC Valor Capital Group and Prosus Ventures led a USD104m Series B for Kovi, a Brazilian rental car platform for on-demand drivers, with participation from monashees, GFC, Quona Capital, Broadhaven Ventures, GFC, Norte Ventures, MAYA Capital, PIPO and Globo Ventures. Angels Justin Mateen (Tinder) and Peter Thiel (Founders Fund) also participated.

• Kovi recently closed a USD20m credit facility.
• GFC led a USD30m round and monashees led a USD10.5m round in 2019.
• Co-founders Adhemar Milani Neto (CEO) and Joao Costa (CTO) are alums of rideshare 99.
  

> #CVC Mercado Libre acquired a 1.25% stake in Aleph Group, a Miami- and Argentina-based content broker for social media platforms, for USD25m.

> Alexia Ventures and Igah Ventures led a USD10.3m Series A for LogComex, a Brazilian international trade management platform, with participation from Endeavor Scale Up Ventures, and follow-on from Invest Tech and Caravela Capital

• Caravela and Invest Tech led a ~USD600k round in 2020.

 

> #FOODTECH #CVC Sofinnova Partners led a USD10m Series A for Protera, a Chilean biotech developing a protein to naturally extend food shelf-life, with participation from Grupo Bimbo and ICL Planet.

• Sofinnova led a USD5.6m round in 2020.

> #HEALTHTECH SBPar invested ~USD10m in Salux, a Brazilian operations management platform for hospitals and clinics.

• Salux participated in LAVCA’s 2021 Healthtech Survey.

> F360, a Brazilian finance management platform for SMEs, raised ~USD10m from Brazilian PE HiPartners and late stage investor HIX Capital.

>  Kayyak Ventures led a USD7m Series A for wherEX, a Chilean RFP platform for sourcing industrial materials and services, with participation from Jaguar Ventures, FJ Labs and Tuesday Capital.

> Orchata, a Mexican on-demand grocery delivery platform operating its own micro-fulfillment centers, raised a USD4m seed round from YC, JAM Fund, FJ Labs, Venture Friends, Investo and Foundation Capital.

• Orchata participated in YC’s S20 batch.

> #EDTECH #ANGEL Beedo Edtech, a Brazilian corporate training platform, raised ~USD4m from angels Marco Serralheiro (DIGIA) and Marcus Buaiz (Act10n).

> #FOODTECH Brazilian growth equity fund X8 Investimentos invested ~USD3.6m in Vida Veg, a Brazilian plant-based meat and dairy producer.

> #EDTECH Alexia Ventures led a ~USD3.4m round for HeroSpark, a Brazilian education platform for freelancers selling digital-first products.

• HeroSpark was formed from the merger of Brazilian edtechs Edools and EADBOX in 2019.

> #EDTECH Iporanga Ventures led a ~USD3.2m round for Driven, a Brazilian education platform for tech professionals, with participation from ONEVC, FundersClub, 3G Radar and angels Patrick Sigrist (iFood), Sergio Furio (Creditas) and Brian Requarth (Latitud/Grupo ZAP).

> #IOT Jaguar Ventures, GFC, Picus Capital and Kayyak Ventures led a USD3.6m seed round for Pulsar, a US-based manufacturing analytics platform for factories in the US and Mexico.

• CEO Matías Castillo on Pulsar’s market opportunity and sensor-based product:

There are more than 50k traditional factories in North America with an aggregate revenue of USD2t+ and most don't have an automated monitoring system that gives real-time visibility of their production operations. Most inefficiencies come from people in the factory floor so we see that plant intelligence is not yet about automation or failure prediction, but about having operating visibility, digitalizing production and productivity data, and changing the company’s culture to be data-driven.

One of the biggest challenges to scale a product in the manufacturing industry is to have a low-touch sales and implementation strategy. The fact that we offer a standalone end-to-end solution that we can deploy in a day in any type of factory allows us to scale much faster than competitors, even those providing software-only solutions. The uniqueness about Pulsar is that a customer can get value from day one without any effort, because some performance indicators are built automatically from our sensor data.

> #CRYPTO #DEFI KASZEK led USD3m round for Exactly, an Argentine decentralized finance platform building a credit protocol on Ethereum, with participation from NXTP, Sur Ventures, 6th Man Ventures, Maker Growth, Baires DAO, 11-11 DG Partners and Newtopia VC.

• Angels Marcos Galperin (Mercado Libre), Matias Woloski (Auth0) and JP Thieriot (Uphold) also participated.
• This is KASZEK’s first known investment in a DeFi startup.
  

> #DEBT SP Ventures invested ~USD2.7m in venture debt in Digibee, an e-commerce digital integration manager for SMEs.

• Digibee raised a ~UD5m round led by GAA Investments in 2020.

> #HEALTHTECH #CVC Grupo NotreDame Intermédica led a ~USD2m round for NeuralMed, a Brazilian medical record analysis platform for hospitals, with follow-on from IDB Lab, Alexia Ventures, Norte Ventures and MG Tech Invest.

• NeuralMed raised ~USD640k in April.

> #HEALTHTECH Astella Investimentos invested ~USD1.6m in Kompa Saúde (formerly Assina Saúde), a digital healthcare platform providing virtual nursing services for low-income Brazilians.

> #HEALTHTECH #ANGEL Anjos do Brasil invested ~USD1.6m in Holistix, a Brazilian health and wellness platform.

> #EDTECH Sirius Education, a Brazilian six-month tech training program for tech professionals, raised ~USD1m from Garan Ventures and angels Camila Farani (G2 Capital), Rodrigo Cartacho (Sympla), Joao Selarin (Zenvia) and Gustavo do Valle (Decorated).

• Sirius was founded by Startup Brasil alum Felipe Matos.

> Canary invested in Marvin, a Brazilian working capital financing platform.

> #PROPTECH #ANGEL Home Capital, a Colombian residential marketplace raised USD800k from angels Santiago Botero (Finsocial), Carlos Raul Yepes (Bancolombia) and Sol Beatriz Arango (Nutresa), among others.

> Immunize System, a Brazilian compliance automation platform focused on compliance with Brazil’s Data Privacy Law for SMEs (LGPD), raised ~USD400k led by Brazilian accelerator Leavening.

> Fundación Chile’s CLIN invested USD250k in Zippedi, a sales and inventory management platform for SMEs.

> DOMO Invest led a ~USD240k investment for Faster, a Brazilian graphic design platform for corporates, with participation from angels Paulo Silveira (Alura) and Marco Fishben (Descomplica).

• Faster’s clients include Ambev, Warner and L'Occitane.

> #AGTECH GR8 Ventures and AgroVen invested in Dioxd, a Brazilian agriculture products manufacturer developing seed treatments.

> #CVC Z-Tech, Ambev’s CVC arm, invested in Mercafacil, a Brazilian operations management platform for small retailers.

FUNDS

> US-based Fintech Collective held a USD200m final close for its first Latin America-focused fund investing in early-stage fintech infrastructure startups.

• Fintech Collective’s investments in LatAm include minu, Oyster and Minka.

 

> Redwood Ventures reached a USD50m final close for its second fund targeting investments in early-stage startups.

• Redwood Ventures’ Fund I investments include: Yotepresto (fintech), Troquer (e-commerce), Crabi (insurtech), Sojourn (proptech) and Genius Foods (foodtech).

> Amadeus Capital launched a Latin America-focused fund with a USD150m target to invest in growth-stage technology companies.

• Amadeus investments include Creditas and Descomplica and Bidu.

> Chilean VC Fen Ventures launched a third fund targeting investments in early-stage startups with a strong focus on ESG initiatives.

• Fen Ventures recent investments include: Migrante (fintech), Mudango (logistics), Colektia (fintech) and Houm (proptech).

> European accelerator Rockstart launched a Latin America-focused follow-on fund with a USD30m target to double-down on startups graduating from its accelerator.

• The fund will be led by Rockstart CEO Felipe Santamaría and will build on its five years operating in Colombia.

> Marcelo Claure of SoftBank announced the firm's Latin America Fund has reached USD6.9b in fair market value (FMV) for the USD3.5b capital committed as of June 2021.

STARTUP SPOTLIGHT: MOVILE

                                                              Movile CEO Patrick Hruby 

Brazil-based internet holding Movile recently raised USD200m in follow-on financing from Prosus Ventures to expand iFood (food delivery), MovilePay and Zoop (fintech), and Mensajeros Urbanos (logistics).

LAVCA interviewed CEO Patrick Hruby on the evolution of Movile since its founding in 1998, and his vision for its future growth in fintech, logistics and gaming in Latin America.

LAVCA: How has Movile's approach to innovation changed over the years?

Movile looked at Silicon Valley for inspiration in its early days. The company went so far as to open an office in the Bay Area. However, Silicon Valley is very insular. When you’re there, you think you’re at the epicenter of everything new that is happening, and while that might be partially true, it’s also true that innovation is happening in other parts of the world.

China, for example, has a different approach and is innovating in a different direction. We recognized this many years ago and began sending delegations of founders and operators to learn and be inspired by their approach to growth and technological leverage. During those trips, we learned about the fintech evolution in Asia, and seeing the development of QR code technology served as inspiration for us when we launched MovilePay.

We’ve also learned that if you’re able to go and see innovation in different centers, you can go back and innovate in your core market faster.

READ the full interview with Patrick Hruby for more on Movile’s strategy to create operating leverage, and their current vision for fintech, logistics, and gaming in Latin America.

STARTUPS

> #M&A Brazilian credit card processing platform PagSeguro acquired Concil, a Brazilian payment and bank reconciliation platform.

• #CVC Prosegur Tech Ventures, the CVC arm of European security firm Grupo Prosegur, led a ~USD3m round in Concil in 2018.

> #CROSS-BORDER Mexican fintech Credijusto launched operations in the US to focus on cross-border financing for SMEs between the US and Mexico.

• Credijusto acquired Mexican bank Banco Finterra and Mexican lending platform Visor earlier this year.

> Mexican grocery delivery platform Jüsto invested ~USD20m from its balance sheet to support operations in its new warehouse in Puebla, Mexico, and launched its own dairy product line.

• Jüsto raised a USD65m Series A in earlier this year.

> #M&A Todos Comemos, a Colombian pre-made meal delivery platform, acquired Foody, a Colombian meal kit startup for ~USD500k.

• Todos Comemos participated in YC’s S20 batch.

> Brazilian fintech SWAP launched a buy-now-pay-later white label platform for fintechs and was selected to participate in Mastercard Start Path, an accelerator program for payment-focused startups.

• SWAP launched a corporate benefits white label platform earlier this year, and raised an undisclosed round from GFC, ONEVC and Flourish Ventures in 2020.
• READ LAVCA’s interview with Co-Founders Douglas Storf and Ury Rappaport.

> #WOMEN-LED WeXchange interviewed Renata Betti (Talent Academy), Noelia Aguirre (RobinTests) and Maya Dadoo (Worky) on the challenges and opportunities of building a women-led HRtech startup in Latin America.

> #FOODTECH Rest of World: Foodtech startup NotCo just became a unicorn and Chile’s dairy farmers are furious.

• “[NotCo] weaves a yarn about how they’re the innovators, the disruptors, because according to them, the food industry is trending toward vegetables… while, of course, we are described as dinosaurs who stand in the way of progress.”

> #AGTECH #BLOCKCHAIN ucrop.it, an Argentine blockchain-based platform for crop management, launched operations in Paraguay.

• ucrop.it raised USD1.1m from The Yield Lab and Closed Loop Partners earlier this year.

NEWS

> Google for Startups Brasil issued a report on its first five years of investing in the Brazilian tech ecosystem.

• Of the 250+ startups that have participated in its programs, 88% have at least one woman team member, 58% have at least one afro-descendente team member, and 53% have at least one team member who is part of the LGBTQ+ community.

> Facebook partnered with EmpregueAfro to launch Goma, an upskilling program for afro-descendente professionals in Brazil.

> Uber partnered with cab platform TaxExpress in Colombia to launch Uber Taxi, an initiative to give cab drivers access to the Uber platform and to enable Uber passengers to have access to more vehicles on the go.

• “Para Uber y TaxExpress este ejercicio es una demostración clara de que la coexistencia sí es posible y de que podemos encontrar oportunidades de colaboración a pesar de las diferencias.”

> TikTok for Business launched operations in Mexico.

• TikTok Mexico will be led by Google and Twitter alum Efrain Mendicuti.

> TechCrunch: As Its Startup Market Accelerates, Brazil Could Be In for an IPO Bonanza: “Will the trend of domestic IPOs continue for Brazilian technology companies? Or will US IPOs play a preeminent role for the country’s leading tech startups?”

• Recent tech IPOs on B3 include: Meliuz, Enjoei, GetNinjas and Infracommerce.

> WSJ: A C19 Silver Lining in Latin America: Millions of New Bank Accounts:

• “The pandemic has pummeled Latin America and plunged many people into poverty. But the finance sector has reaped an unexpected windfall: Tens of millions in Latin America have opened banking accounts for the first time to store the emergency cash that governments handed out.”

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.

INVESTORS

> Harry Stebbings of 20VC interviews Nico Szekasy of KASZEK and Angela Strange of Andreessen Horowitz on the tech momentum in Latin America.

• Szekasy: “For a region that has been historically constrained by capital, it is great that there is availability of resources. We see teams building a business focused on fundamental value and taking capital to accelerate processes that would usually take longer. However, what is concerning is that some spaces are getting very crowded with teams getting funded and going after the same opportunity, so some end up competing for short term vanity metrics and not fundamental value. We don’t believe in capital as the main moat for a business.”
• Strange: “Banks do mostly cater to the affluent in Latin America. On top of that, LatAm banks are some of the most profitable in the world – their return on equity (ROE) is ~10%, which is double that of American banks. That’s why we’re so bullish on LatAm fintech companies.”

> #BLOCKCHAIN Michael Nicklas of Valor Capital Group shares his perspective on blockchain innovation in Latin America:

• “O blockchain vai ser a próxima onda de inovação que acontecerá, e já está acontecendo. Nessa próxima etapa da internet, qualquer relacionamento terá uma confiança algorítmica. Duas pessoas poderão se juntar e fazer um acordo de compra e venda de qualquer tipo de ativo por meio do blockchain, sem precisar de um terceiro”.

> Silvia Motta of Movile shares her view on the opportunity for e-commerce-enabled fast delivery platforms in Brazil.

> Susana Garcia-Robles of Capria Ventures shares her feedback on fundraising best practices in How VCs Can Build Killer Pitch Decks To Attract Potential Investors.

> Laura Constantini and Carolina Pascowitch of Astella Investimentos launched Astella Around the World, a podcast bridging the local tech ecosystem with global investors.

• Astella interviews Chris Yeh and Jeffrey Abott of Blitzcaling Ventures for its debut episode.

> Bloomberg reviews the current state for tech investing in Latin America in an interview with Federico Antoni of ALLVP, Andre Maciel of Volpe Capital,Shu Nyatta of SoftBank, Cristobal Silva-Bengolea of Fen Ventures, Matias Van Thienen of Founders Fund, Pablo Fernandez of Endurance Investments, and Nathan Lustig of Magma Partners.

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. Early bird rate expires this Friday, August 27.

> Join GPCA on September 9 for a timely webcast on Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation: What You Need to Know to Raise Capital in Europe. Patricia Volhard and Jin-Hyuk Jang from Debevoise & Plimpton and Phil Davis from Helios Investment Partners will discuss:

• Key elements of the SFDR and how funds have been managing the new requirements
• The impact of the reporting for fund managers in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East
• Expected changes in ESG reporting
• How ESG reporting may evolve beyond Europe
  

LAVCA Member GPs & FoFs receive complimentary registration. REGISTER here.

> dLocal appointed MELI Fund alum Agustina Palmai to lead its Corporate Development team.

> 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. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> Congratulations to the startups selected to participate in Village Capital’s 2021 Finance Forward Latin America accelerator program: AgroInvesting, Akiba, APTOCLICK, ContaAyuda, Creizer, Ecomm-App, FINLOOP, Firgun, Flexio, HiSofi, KredFeed and VitaWallet.

THE FUTURE 

> Visa bought its first NFT for USD150k.

• “Over the last 60 years, Visa has built a collection of historic commerce artifacts - from early paper credit cards to the zip-zap machine. Today, as we enter a new era of NFT-commerce, Visa welcomes CryptoPunk #7610 to our collection.”

> #SPACETECH WSJ has a video on Tiangong, China’s new space station in progress.

> The New Yorker: Do brain implants change your identity?

• “It is almost a quarter of a century since the F.D.A. first approved the use of a deep-brain-stimulation device—to treat essential tremor and advanced Parkinson’s disease. Today, at least two hundred thousand people worldwide, suffering from a wide range of conditions, live with a neural implant of some kind. As we enter this new era of extra-human intelligence, it’s becoming apparent that many people develop an intense relationship with their device, often with profound effects on their sense of identity."

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.