> General Atlantic led a R$250m Series C in Brazilian apartment rental platform QuintoAndar, with participation from existing investors KaszeK Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures, QED Investors, Ruane, and Cunniff & Goldfarb. Acacia Partners led the previous round in 2016, and Social Capital invested previously.

• QuintoAndar operates in São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, and Goiânia, and is considering expansion into southern Brazil.
• The business model is more akin to NestAway in India than a real estate listing platform like VivaReal -- QuintoAndar is the entity that rents the apartment to the tenant and handles payment in an otherwise largely offline and fragmented market of rental agents.

> Invexor Capital led a US$15.8m investment in Kauel, a Chilean developer working on solutions in industrial tech, education, and retail, to fund international expansion. Current projects include an augmented reality helmet, software to navigate the human body, and interactive 3-D software.

> Redpoint eventures made an undisclosed investment in Brazilian clothing resale marketplace Repassa. CEO Tadeu Almeida says Repassa holds onto the clothes until they are sold, but does not do the buying or selling. Repassa keeps 40% of the transaction.

> Draper Cygnus invested US$3m in Alxerion, Skyloom, and Stamm -- Argentine companies focused on the space and biotech industries. Skyloom was accelerated at UC Berkeley and Stamm at IndieBio.

> Puerto Rico’s Science, Technology and Research Trust (PRSTRT) will invest US$225k through Puerto Rican accelerator Parallel18’s follow on fund in StageBoom (Puerto Rico), BrainHi (Puerto Rico), Workep (Colombia), and Wisboo (Argentina).

> Dr. Cannabis, a Brazilian platform connecting doctors, patients and medical marijuana suppliers, raised US$750k via crowdfunding. Brazil authorized the importation of medical marijuana in 2014, and less than 5,000 patients have registered for use so far.

FUNDS

> Mexican fund TeraSigma Venture Capital launched with plans to invest US$200k-US$250k each in up to ten tech projects.

> Chilean insurance company Confuturo is investing in FIS Ameris Capital’s second social impact fund.

> CORRECTION: monashees closed its eighth (not seventh) VC fund, a US$150m vehicle, with participation from international endowments, foundations, family offices, funds, and entrepreneurs, including Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger.

• monashees has raised ~US$430m to date with 55 active portfolio companies, including Loggi, Rappi, Yellow, Grin, Mandaê, Neon, and others.

IN REMEMBRANCE

It is with great sadness that we acknowledge the passing of two long-standing LAVCA members, both of whom played a pioneering role in the Latin American PE/VC industry. This year, the industry lost Francisco Mira and Chris Meyn.

Francisco Mira was CEO of Promotora since 2002, and was by all accounts the first venture capital fund manager in Colombia. He led multiple successful investments and exits for the VC fund and was also involved in the PE/growth fund managed by Promotora.

Chris Meyn was at the forefront of private equity investing in Brazil since the late 1990s, most notably as a private equity team leader at Gávea investimentos. He was also an active angel investor in tech startups and advisor to early stage fund managers.

LAVCA's board and staff deeply regret the loss of these two outstanding individuals and wish to acknowledge their contributions to the development of private capital in Latin America.

IMPACT

> Elevar Equity led a US$5.25m investment in Uruguayan digital banking platform Bankingly, with participation from The Rise Fund and Endeavor Catalyst. Bankingly provides digital banking channels to financial institutions serving lower-income and underserved customers.

> TriLinc Global Impact Fund approved an additional US$19.4m in term loans and trade finance to companies operating in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

> Check out a video recap of the 4th annual FLII CA&C in Guatemala on Nov 7-8, where ANDE presented the results of the new ANDE/LAVCA report on impact investing.

M&A

> C6 Participações, part of digital banking group C6 Bank, acquired Brazilian financial services provider Besser Partners. C6 Bank was founded by former BTG Pactual execs Marcelo Kalim, Carlos Fonseca, and Leandro Torres.

> Brazilian IT solutions firm CYLK acquired Munio Security, a security startup focused on industrial automation. CYLK was founded by Cisco vet Carlos Carnevali Jr.

NEWS

> Falabella, the largest department store retailer in South America, partnered with Google Pay to roll out mobile payments for customers. Falabella acquired Mexican ecommerce platform Linio for a reported US$138m, providing a full exit to LIV Capital and Northgate Capital.

> WeWork leased its first office space in Mexico at The Landmark Guadalajara.

> Valor: Investimento em startups da América Latina tem forte alta.

> A new report from Cisco expects slower internet traffic growth in Latin America than other markets. The report looks at availability of public wifi access points and home broadband among other factors.

> Reuters: How ZTE helps Venezuela create China-style social control:

As part of a $70 million government effort to bolster “national security,” Venezuela last year hired ZTE to build a fatherland database and create a mobile payment system for use with the card, according to contracts reviewed by Reuters.

> In Behind China’s Startup Surge: Meritocracy and ‘Growth Hacks’, WSJ looks at factors like building mobile-only and centralized data that, along with record investment, are propelling Chinese startups to massive scale.

TECH POLICY

> After a decade financing Chilean VC funds, Corfo is exploring making direct investments in startups.

> The Colombian government is studying a bill that would allow financial institutions to invest directly in fintech companies.

STARTUPS

> Tappsi/Tpaga founder Andrés Gutiérrez calls Rappi’s traction to date an inspiration for Colombian entrepreneurs in En busca del próximo Rappi:

...cada vez hay mejores emprendedores con experiencia de cómo escalar un emprendimiento, hay más acceso a capital de riesgo y más mentores que pueden servir de guías respecto a qué hacer para aumentar las probabilidades de éxito.

> Chilean edtech U-Planner, which recently raised US$5m led by Scale Capital, is planning for launch in Brazil.

> Check out LAVCA’s list of 258 Latin American startups with at least US$1m in VC funding, verified by LAVCA. Sort by geo, sector, and stage of investment.

ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT // LOGGI

VCs invested almost US$400m in logistics, transportation and distribution startups in Latin America startups from 2017-1H2018. Over US$100m of that capital went to Loggi, a Brazilian logistics platform, and SoftBank’s second investment in the region after investing in rideshare startup 99 in 2017.

It’s about social impact. You can reach everyone without losing money with a great delivery experience. Most of the cost is in the last mile, and in rural areas, you don’t need to necessarily take it the last mile; you can walk the last 100 meters. We’re partnered with mom-and-pop shops that serve as pick-up points as well.

Read the full interview here.

STARTUP SURVEY

📋 LAST CHANCE TO PARTICIPATE: LAVCA, with the support of Facebook, is conducting the first-ever survey of Latin American startups. We want to tell the world how many jobs startups in the region are creating, what the gender diversity is among startup founders, challenges for startup growth, and the impact you’re making in your market, sector, and community. Results will be shared globally to help put Latin American tech innovation on the map.

All qualifying respondents will receive access to LAVCA’s Fund Manager Directory, with the contact details of 200+ VC and PE firms investing in Latin America (US$795 value). 

✔️PARTICIPATE IN THE SURVEY. This survey is multiple choice and should take a startup CEO or founder no more than 12-15 minutes to complete. 

LAVCA DATA

> For 18-month VC/tech investment trends (2017- 1H2018), download LAVCA’s new Startup Heatmap presentation and infographic, which we presented with Facebook at an investor cocktail the night before the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield in São Paulo.

> 🍸 LAVCA is hosting cocktails with Apex-Brasil and the Brazilian Consulate in San Francisco. Investors are invited to join us tomorrow, Nov. 29 at 6:30pm at the St. Francis Yacht Club. RSVP here.

> Foro de Capital para la Innovación - Región Litoral Centro is on Nov. 29 in Santa Fe, Argentina. Details here.

> Facebook’s innovation center Estação Hack, in partnership with impact accelerator Artemisia, comes to Florianópolis on Nov. 30. Details here. 

> Google is accepting applications for its Residency program at Google for Startups in São Paulo. Focus: Startups working on conversational tech for virtual assistance. Apply here.

> Applications are open for the 2019 Startups to Watch list, organized by Pequenas Empresas & Grandes Negócios e Época NEGÓCIOS, Corp.vc and EloGroup. Brazilian startups can apply by Dec. 14.

> Startupbootcamp FinTech Mexico City hosted its second Demo Day, with the participation of DevBlocks, Hurra Credit, Sin Conta, and SEIF (Mexico), La Plataforma (Chile), Luz Verde (Ecuador), Prometeo (Uruguay), and TasaTop (Perú).

> Startup Chile reports over 1,600 startups have passed through the program since 2010. 83% of follow-on capital has come from abroad.

INVESTOR POV

> PEGN shares advice for entrepreneurs from Eric Acher of monashees, Veronica Serra of Innova Capital, Fernando Lelo de Larrea of ALLVP, and Hernan Kazah of KaszeK Ventures.

> A Georgetown student interviews LAVCA members Dalus Capital, IGNIA and others in El Valle de Silicio: Why Latin America Will be the World's Next Tech Boom.

CRYPTO

> Brazilian cryptocurrency brokerage 3xBit acquired Troca Ninja and will integrate their traded currencies, including Bitcoin, Litecoin, Dash, Dogecoin, ATM Cash, and Smartcash.

> Infobae profiles Democracy.Earth co-founder Santi Siri about digitizing democracy on the blockchain.

> In TechCrunch, Matthew Carpenter-Arévalo asks: Can Bitcoin find its practical use case as a currency in Latin America?

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.