> Vulcan Capital led a US$120m Series B round in Brazilian mobile game startup Wildlife Studios, with participation from Human Capital.
- Benchmark Capital led a US$60m investment in Wildlife Studios in 2019 at a reported valuation over US$1b, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, as well as angels Javier Olivan and Hugo Barra (Facebook), Ric Elias (Red Ventures), Micky Malta (Ribbit Capital), and Divesh Makan (ICONIQ Capital).
🦄📏 Unicorn Leaderboard update: View LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for an updated list of known LatAm tech unicorns.
> Valor Capital and GP Investimentos led a R$66.7m round in Central de Recebíveis (CERC), a Brazilian receivables processor and clearing services provider, to expand the company’s digital platform.
> Creze, a Mexican lending platform for SMEs, raised US$12m from unnamed investors.
- Creze was acquired by Polygon Fintech, a financial group targeting unbanked consumers, in 2019, providing an exit to backers DILA Capital and Mountain Nazca Mexico.
> Navi Capital led a R$30m round in SuperSim, a Brazilian microcredit platform targeting the underbanked.
> #CVC #HEALTHTECH Grupo Sabin, a Brazilian medical diagnostics company, led a R$25m Series B in Amparo Saúde, a Brazilian telemedicine startup focused on primary care, with follow-on from pediatric doctor and Itaú heir Jose Luiz Setúbal.
> #FOODTECH Jaguar Ventures made an undisclosed investment in Foodology, a Colombian foodtech leveraging the dark kitchen model to launch restaurant brands.
- Foodology has delivered more than 90,000 orders in less than a year and is planning to expand into 8 kitchens across Medellín and Bogotá.
- READ LAVCA’s interview with Co-Founder Daniela Izquierdo below.
> #HRTECH Capital Indigo led a R$20m seed round in Beejobs, a Brazilian recruitment platform developing an applicant tracking system for SMEs.
> #HRTECH Canary and Valor Capital led a US$2.5m round in Caju, a Brazilian employee benefits management platform, with participation from Ariel Lambrecht, founder of Yellow and 99.
- Caju provides employers with an all-in-one benefits card for employees, with customized spending limits for pre-approved expenses. The platform is free of charge for employers; Caju makes revenue through transaction fees.
- Founder Eduardo del Giglio: “Unlike Caju, other corporate benefit solutions restrict spending to specific categories, regardless of what is most beneficial to the employee. With the current social isolation guidelines and the expansion of the home-office, many employees are seeing balances accumulate in [under-utilized categories] such as transportation, which could be better leveraged to fulfill other spending needs, such as food purchases.”
> #HRTECH DOMO Invest led a R$7.5m round in Allya, a Brazilian employee benefits management platform for negotiating discounts and partnerships with service providers.
> MAYA Capital and FJ Labs led a US$1.5m round in Oico, a Brazilian marketplace for construction materials.
> DOMO Invest made a R$5m investment in FindUP, a Brazilian IT maintenance and support marketplace for corporate offices and retail spaces.
- This is DOMO Invest’s first disclosed investment from its B2B enterprise fund, DOMO Enterprise, which held its first close earlier this year.
> Alaya Capital Partners, Italbank, Ark Fund, and Ark Angels invested US$912k in Quiena Inversiones, an Argentine retail investment platform that enables investors to set up a US-based brokerage account.
> Canary led a R$2.8m round in CombuData, a Brazilian fuel prices monitoring platform for ride hailing and transportation businesses.
> Brazilian accelerator Circle invested R$2m in MKT Bank, a Brazilian fintech catering to the communications and marketing industries.
> US-based accelerator Upward invested US$300k in ImagineX, a Colombian VR/AR SaaS developer for enterprises.
- Among its products, ImagineX provides real estate and proptech companies a VR platform to offer virtual tours to potential clients.
> Joycar, a Brazilian software platform that enables company employees to carpool to work, raied R$2.2m on Brazilian equity crowdfunding platform EqSeed.
> Noknox, a Brazilian proptech for condo service management, raised R$1m on Brazilian equity crowdfunding platform Kria.
> #LOGISTICS Invisto invested R$1m in Equilibrium, a Brazilian freight quotation and logistic tracking platform.
> Bossa Nova Investimentos invested a total of R$700k in Brazilian startups Certus, a supply chain management platform for small businesses, and Transfeera, and an open banking payment processor.
- These are the first two investments made through Bossa Nova Investimentos’ R$5m Pool Fintech fund, led by former Banco Itaú CTO João Bezerra.
> #ANGEL Anjos Alumni Colégio de São Bento invested R$3.5m in Zipp, a Brazilian online grocery store, with participation from Rafael Duton of Movile.
> #ANGEL Anjos do Brasil invested R$500k in Compre Sorrindo, a Brazilian e-commerce platform focused on dental supplies for medical professionals.
> #IMPACT Stanford GSB Impact Fund made an undisclosed investment in UBits, a Colombian edtech platform for corporate training with operations in Colombia and Mexico. UBits raised US$2m led by San Francisco-based Spectrum 28 Capital in 2018.
> Thinkseg, a Brazilian insurance group, made an undisclosed investment in exchange for a 30% equity stake in Comparaencasa, an Argentine insurtech focused on the retail auto market.
> Primatec, managed by Antera Gestão de Recursos, made an undisclosed investment in Sem Processo, a Brazilian legaltech aiming to optimize agreement negotiation and settlement practices for large enterprises.
> BRQ Digital Solutions made an undisclosed investment in Certdox, a Brazilian fintech streamlining financial operations and legal contracts for businesses with official registration entities across the country.
> Enterprise management platform Viasoft made an undisclosed investment in market4u, a Brazilian minimarket and autonomous dispensary provider for condominiums and corporate centers.
> CORRECTION: Last issue we reported MatterScale Venture’s US$5m investment in Torre, a Colombian talent search and job matching platform targeting young professionals. MatterScale participated in the round, but did not commit the total amount, as we indicated previously.
> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$4.6b in 2019, according to LAVCA data.