DEALS
> 🦄 #UNICORNS Nubank doubled its valuation to US$4b this year with a US$180m investment from Tencent, representing about a 5% stake in the company. US$90m was a direct investment from Tencent; the other US$90m in equity was purchased from existing shareholders.
- In March 2018, DST Global led a US$150m round in Nubank at a valuation over US$2b, with participation from Thrive Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, and existing investors Founders Fund, Redpoint Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and QED Investors. Previous investors include KaszeK Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Tiger Global Management.
- Tencent’s last disclosed direct investment in Latin America was a 2017 Series B in Satellogic, an Argentine space exploration platform.
- 99, Rappi, PagSeguro, and Arco Educação also reached unicorn status this year.
> SoftBank invested US$100m in Loggi, a Brazilian shipping logistics platform, as part of a new US$111m round with participation from KaszeK Ventures and others. Loggi previously raised capital from Qualcomm Ventures, monashees, and Dragoneer Investment Group.
> Goldman Sachs led a US$34m investment in Ualá, an Argentine mobile banking app, with participation from monashees, Ribbit Capital, Jefferies Group, Cohen’s Point72 Ventures, and Soros' family office.
> SkyDrop, a Mexican shipping logistics platform for online retailers, raised US$5m from Variv Capital, Y Combinator, FJ Labs, Sierra Ventures, EasyPost, Soma Capital, Sinai Ventures, GMF, and Dynamo, a previous investor. SkyDrop participated in Y Combinator’s Spring 2018 cohort.
> HCS Capital Partners invested US$3m in Jooycar, a Chilean insurance tech platform for real-time automotive data.
> Angel Ventures led a US$1.3m seed investment in Homie, a Mexican residential rental platform, with participation from Narval Capital and Plug and Play San Francisco.
> Angel Ventures Peru led a US$350k seed investment in FitCo, a Peruvian gym management startup that also operates in Mexico, Chile, and Colombia. CEO Andrea Baba says she plans to use the funding to grow revenue in these markets and expand to Argentina.
> Chilean Fondo CLIN invested US$300k in Instacrops, a crop monitoring platform, and US$300k in SimpleRoute, a logistics platform. Fondo CLIN is administered by Fundación Chile, with funding from Corfo, family office Zoma Capital, Entel, and Engie Factory.
> Dux Capital made an undisclosed investment in transcription startup Atexo.
> Vector Inovação e Tecnologia (Vit) acquired a controlling stake in Brazilian fintech Beblue, a payments and loyalty platform for small merchants.
> Wharton Angels invested US$500k each in lending startup Flexipag, fashion marketplace Repasa, and edtech Tutor Mundi.
> GV Angels invested US$101k in Instaviagem, a Brazilian travel service for last-minute adventures.
> CORRECTION: Artesanal brewery Cervejeria 3Cariocas raised R$2m (not R$3m) on equity crowdfunding platform Eqseed.