> Netshoes, a Brazilian e-commerce shoe business and owner of Netshoes and Zattini websites, applied to list the business on the New York Stock Exchange with an initial public offering valued at US$100m. Netshoes investors include IFC Venture Capital Group, KaszeK Ventures, Riverwood Capital, and others. From the New York Times: Cautious Optimism in Brazil as Appetite Returns for I.P.O.s.

> monashees+ and Canary.VC invested R$2m in IDwall, a Brazilian validation and identification services startup. 500 Startups previously invested R$500k.

> NXTP Labs and INICIA, a private asset management firm in the Dominican Republic, co-invested US$4.3m in VU Security, an Argentina-based cybersecurity solutions provider.

> NXTP Labs made an undisclosed investment in Kilimo, an Argentinian agtech startup focused on water irrigation.

> Qatar’s Travel Capitalist Ventures invested US$600k in Voopter, a Brazilian meta-search travel engine, to expand the company’s travel services. Voopter raised an undisclosed Series A from Global Founders Capital, an investment arm of Rocket Capital, in 2014.

> Bradesco’s InnovaBra Ventures made undisclosed investments between US$1m-US$5m in Semantix, a cognitive computing consultancy, and Rede Frete Fácil, a freight cargo platform.

> Algar Ventures, the corporate venture arm of Grupo Algar, made an undisclosed investment in NetSupport, a Brazilian IT solutions platform. NetSupport was accelerated at Wayra Brasil.

> A group of unnamed angel investors made a US$6.75m investment in Quidd, a digital product collection platform based in New York and Rio de Janeiro.

> Mexico's Cemex launched Cemex Ventures, a venture capital and innovation company that will seek innovations in construction.

> BB Seguridade, a holding company owned by Banco Do Brasil, will invest in BR Startups, a fund created by Microsoft Participações and managed by MSW Capital to invest in startups in the insurtech, insurance, and services sectors.

> Colombian fund manager Odiseo and Brazilian fund manager Performa Investimentos, joined Capria’s network of impact investment funds.

> Baidu canceled plans for Easterly Ventures, a US$60m fund based in São Paulo.

> e.Bricks Ventures exits AppProva, a Brazilian test prep platform, with a R$500k sale to Somos Educação.

> Direct Talk, a 15-year-old customer service and monitoring platform, and Seekr, a social media consumer monitoring platform, have merged to form DT+Seekr, with an undisclosed investment from Cventures.

> Webedia, a French digital media company, acquired Minha Vida, a Brazilian health and wellness site with past investments from Intel Capital and Endeavor Catalyst. READ LAVCA's profile of Minha Vida.

> Game developer PlayLab invested US$1m in Cupcake Entertainment, a Porto Alegre, Brazil-based game developer. Cupcake Entertainment was accelerated at Startup Chile and GameFounders.

> BgmRodotec, a Brazilian transportation technology company, acquired Hive.Cloud, a Recife, Brazil-based logistics software platform for SMEs.

> Exibe Mídia, a bus advertising company in the south of Brazil, bought a 10% stake in MKT Technology, maker of Tem Wifi, an Internet router for public spaces.

> Microcity, a Brazilian company for outsourced IT infrastructure, acquired a stake in SGA, a cloud services provider specializing in Microsoft products.

> Embraco, a refrigeration compressor manufacturer, acquired UpPoints, a point of sale monitoring startup in Florianópolis, Brazil.

NEWS

> BIG NEWS: An eight-year legal battle between Facebook and Brazilian social network Power.com has reached the US Supreme Court. Power.com CEO Steve Vachani says this is about our right to control our personal data on social networks and the freedom to take it with us; the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) and EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) agree.

> Qualcomm, BNDES, and ASE Group are investing US$200m in a joint venture to produce semiconductors.

> Google is opening a Partner Plex in São Paulo to strengthen ties to big corporates. Google opened a similar space in Tokyo in 2015.

> SAP will invest R$40m in its research center in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, with an eye towards agtech, IoT, and big data innovation.

> TechCrunch covers Beek.io, a social media-native book review startup in Mexico City that just finished Y Combinator’s acceleration program.

> TechCrunch covers 500 Startups’ US$10m Latin American fund, managed by Santiago Zavala out of Mexico City.

> SVB’s Andy Tsao: We should be focused on building bridges with Mexican innovators instead of walls.

> CIO: 34 Latin American startups to watch in 2017, several of which have been featured in LAVCA Entrepreneur Profiles.

PEOPLE & PROGRAMS

> Congrats to Übank, a Chilean startup that automates consumer savings, for winning the 2017 Finnosummit Pitch Competition in Bogotá.

> Mónica Tapia and Diego Mendiburu won first place for their anticorruption minimum viable product (MVP) at Premio Innovación Anticorrupción, hosted by Opciona and Telefonica Open Future_. Winners took home MXN$225k in cash and MXN$125k in services from Wayra Mexico.

> Santander Bank and Endeavor are partnering on Radar Santander, a growth accelerator for startups with a proven business model in CRM and Big Data, risk management, payment solutions, human resources management, and relationship channels. Startups can apply by March 24.

> Wayra, the accelerator of Telefonica Open Future_, is hosting WebCongress, a digital marketing conference, in Bogotá on March 28. And Wayra Colombia is accepting applications for its accelerator program until April 2; details here.

> Registration is open for the 4th acceleration cycle of Oxigênio Aceleradora. Startups can apply by May 7.

> Congratulations to Agruppa, a Colombian startup that connects farmers to local stores accelerated by Wayra, the accelerator of Telefonica Open Future_, and finalist at the 2017 GEC Future Agro Challenge. READ LAVCA's Entrepreneur Profile of Agruppa Co-Founder & CEO, Carolina Medina Gutiérrez.

> Wayra, accelerator of Telefonica Open Future_, has an open call for IT startups (including IoT, big data, cybersecurity) in Caracas, Lima, and Bogotá. Startups can apply by April 2.

> Darwin Starter, an accelerator partnered with Cetip in Florianópolis, Brazil, is accepting applications through April 2.

> Finnovista is accepting applications for Startup Bootcamp FinTech Mexico City this summer. Early-stage startups with a viable product and client base can apply by May 21.

> Hunter Walk at Homebrew has a great post on how to set goals like you’re Google.

> Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures talks about the pros and cons of using debt as growth equity.

> Andreessen Horowitz partners Margit Wennmachers and Kim Milosevich dig into when startups should do PR, and how to benchmark their success.

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is a news platform of the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Have news we should include? Please email news@lavca.org.

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