> Bloomberg, Valor, and Crunchbase News covered LAVCA’s new report on 2019 VC/tech investment:
Bloomberg: After Record Haul, Latin American Startups Adapt to Stay Afloat: “Across the region, investors are telling their companies to take quick action to preserve funds. Right now cash is king. The question now is really how quickly companies will pivot and respond.”
Valor: Digital demand helps maintain interest in startups: "Altogether, 440 startups were financed in 2019, 23 less than in 2018. As a result, the average amount contributed more than doubled, from US$4.3m to US$10.5m."
Crunchbase News: Report: VC Funding In Latin America More Than Doubled To A Record $4.6B In 2019:
"Co-investments between global and Latin American investors are on the rise. Of the total US$4.6b VC dollars, 70% was deployed via a co-investment in which there was more than one investor involved—regardless of where they were based. 37% of the total US$4.6b VC dollars were deployed via a co-investment involving at least one Latin American investor and one global investor."
> MercadoLibre is moving forward with its R$4b commitment to invest in Brazil in 2020 to accelerate recruitment efforts, open a fourth distribution center and expand MercadoPago.
> Banco Inter launched an interest-free R$250m credit line for Brazilian small businesses to prepay receivables for credit card sales, and another R$300m in partnership with brMalls to offer credit to small retailers.
> Itaú Unibanco launched Todos pela Saúde, a R$1b initiative to finance C19 relief efforts in Brazil, including testing, promotion of face masks, and training of healthcare professionals.
> #POLICY Brazil’s Conselho Monetário Nacional is expected to approve the country’s first set of open banking regulations. The approval would make Brazil the second country in the region with this type of regulations after Mexico, which approved Ley del Fintech in 2018.
> #CHANGETHERATIO Jose Ortiz Masllorens from Mercado Libre shares his view on the importance of promoting diversity in the workplace:
“Cada persona es un mundo; todos fuimos marcados por lo vivido a lo largo de nuestras vidas, y esas vivencias influyen hoy en nuestra manera de pensar y de actuar. Un equipo diverso trae distintos puntos de vista a la mesa y enriquece el producto final. La gran mayoría de la empresas (salvo algunas protegidas por regulaciones) necesitan evolucionar rápidamente para subsistir en el tiempo. Si tenemos un equipo uniforme, probablemente nos perdamos gran parte de lo que pasa alrededor nuestro y seamos historia rápidamente.”
> Bloomberg reviews Maria Antonieta Alva’s rising popularity among Peruvians in Peru’s 35-Year-Old Finance Minister is Suddenly a Rock Star.
> NYTimes: How Housebound Brazil Popstars and CEOs Caught Streaming Mania and Dominated YouTube: "With much of the world stuck at home, YouTube's top 10 most-watched concerts in real time all took place in April - and seven of those were by Brazilian artists."
> Americas Quarterly looks at LatAm’s US$100b remittances industry in Latin America's Changing Remittance Landscape:
"Remittances are a US$100b industry in Latin America, with money traditionally coming to the region from the United States and Europe. But the unprecedented level of intraregional migration is fostering completely new corridors, with flows now originating from countries like Costa Rica and Chile."