Deals

▸ FOODTECH | In December, US-based investor Princeville Capital led a USD70m Series D+ for Chilean foodtech NotCo, with participation from KASZEK, Tiger Global, Bezos Expeditions, L Catterton and angel Marcos Galperin (MercadoLibre) at the same USD1.5b valuation from its USD235m Series D in July 2021.
• NotCo formed a joint venture with Kraft Heinz in February and launched NotCheese, plant-based American cheese in the US, in November.

▸ DEBT | Brazilian credit investor Milenio Capital granted a ~USD60m credit facility to Paketá, a Brazilian credit consignment platform.

• Kinea Ventures, the CVC arm of Itaú, led a ~USD5.4m Series A in October 2021; Shift Capital led a ~USD1.8m seed round in December 2020.

▸ iCred, a Brazilian payroll financing platform, raised ~USD60m from undisclosed investors.
• iCred raised ~USD20m in October 2022 through an FDIC (Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditórios).

▸ JP Morgan and IFC led a USD27m round for KLYM, a Colombian working capital financing platform for SMEs.

▸ WEB3| US-based investor Framework Ventures led a USD15m round for Parfin, a Brazilian web3 infrastructure provider, with participation from B3’s CVC arm L4 Venture Builder, and follow-on from Valor Capital Group and Alexia Ventures.

▸ RESALE | IDB Invest, Creas Impacto and IDC Ventures led a USD15m Series B for GoTrendier, a Mexico-based clothing resale marketplace with operations in Mexico and Colombia.
• IGNIA Partners, Ataria Ventures and Banco Sabadell invested USD3.5m in February 2019.

▸ CVC | SRM Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian asset manager SRM, invested ~USD14m in LinKapital, a Brazilian lending platform for SMEs.
• DEBT | LinKapital secured ~USD4.4m in debt financing from Augme Capital in February 2022.

▸ CLEANTECH | Mombak, a Brazilian carbon removal credit platform, raised an undisclosed round from KASZEK, Union Square Ventures, Bain Capital, CI Ventures and Byers Capital.
• Mombak plans to invest USD100m from its balance sheet in a large-scale reforestation strategy for carbon removal in the Amazon.

CEO Peter Fernandez: “The Amazon, which is 20% deforested, needs our investment as it’s also home to more than 10% of the world’s biodiversity, 20% of the world’s freshwater, and the livelihood of local communities.”

▸ HEALTHTECH | General Catalyst led a USD10m round for Genial Care, a Brazilian mental health platform focused on autism, with participation from Atlantico and 1616 Ventures, and follow-on from Canary.
• Canary first invested in June 2020.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Kayyak Ventures led a USD10m Series A for HealthAtom, a Chilean backend operation management platform for health clinics, with participation from Amador Holdings, FJ Labs, Soma Capital and Taram.
• HealthAtom had been bootstrapped since 2012 and operates in Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

▸ Point72 Ventures led a USD10m seed round for Syncfy, an API-based open banking platform with operations in Mexico, with participation from JAM Fund, FJ Labs, Ausum Ventures, Avalancha Ventures, Mantis VC and Humla Ventures.

▸ Magma Partners led a USD8.5m round for Zenfi, a Mexican credit score provider and credit management platform, with participation from Cometa, Redwood Ventures, Poligono and Conny & Co.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Brazilian investor PJM Investimentos led a ~USD8m round for Niky, a Brazilian finance and health employee benefits platform.

▸ monashees led a USD7.5m round for The Coffee, a Brazilian self-serve coffee brand, with participation from CapSur.
• monashees led a ~USD5.6m Series A in December 2020 and a ~USD100k seed round in 2019.

▸ DEBT | Colombian proptech Habi secured a USD6.3m credit line from Bancoldex.
• Habi secured a USD75m credit line from Triple Point Capital in June 2022 and raised a USD200m Series C in May 2022.

▸ Cometa led a USD6m seed round for Kuona, a Mexican promotion performance management platform for CPG brands, with participation from Seaya Cathay LatAm and FEMSA Ventures.

▸ PROPTECH | US-based investor Graphene Ventures led a USD6m round for Bricksave, a UK-based real estate crowdfunding platform with operations in Argentina and Brazil.
• Kinled Holdings and LAB Ventures led a USD1.4m Series A in March 2020.
• WOMEN-LED | Bricksave was co-founded by Sofia Gancedo.

▸ CVC | Vivo Ventures, the CVC arm of Telefónica Vivo, led a ~USD6m round for Klubi, a Brazilian consortium lending platform for vehicle financing, with participation from angels Paulo Veras (99) and Guilherme Bonifacio (iFood), and follow-on from Igah Ventures.
• Igah Ventures led a ~USD6.5m round in October 2021.

▸ EDTECH | SRM Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian asset manager SRM, invested ~USD6m in Kenzie Academy, a Brazilian coding school supporting students’ placement after course completion.
• Kenzie Academy raised ~USD1.6m from E3 Negócios in April 2021.
• Kenzie Academy’s clients include BTG Pactual, Grupo Boticário and PicPay.

▸ AGTECH | Instacrops, a Chilean sensor-based crop monitoring platform, raised a USD5.5m pre-Series A with participation from Chilean mining company SQM, and follow-on from Genesis Ventures, CLIN and SVG Ventures.
• Genesis Ventures, CLIN and SVG Ventures led a USD2.8m round in May 2021; CLIN invested USD300k in 2018.

▸ PROPTECH | Pulppo, a Mexican customer management platform for real estate brokers, raised a USD5m seed round from Saudi Arabia-based VC DAAL, YC, 1984VC and Boost Capital.
• Latitud led a USD1.7m pre-seed round in February 2022.
• Pulppo was selected to participate in YC’s S22 batch.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Volpe Capital led a ~USD5m seed round for Welbe, a Mexican employee health and wellness platform for startups and corporates in Mexico and Brazil, with participation from NAZCA, Kortex, GreenRock and SVLC.
• NAZCA led a USD3m pre-seed round in May 2022.
▸ EDTECH | Vox Capital and G2A Investment Partners led a ~USD4.7m round for Cubos Academy, an online software development and design education platform, with participation from Solum Capital.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Urban Innovation Fund led a USD4.4m seed round for Plenna, a Mexican women’s health platform, with participation from Collaborative, 1984, Bridge Latam, Amador Holdings, Nido Ventures, Integra Groupe, Phoenix Club, and follow-on from Canary and 500 Global.
• Canary led a USD845k round in April 2022.

▸ GOVTECH | Aprova Digital, a Brazilian govtech helping local authorities digitize their licensing processes, raised ~USD4.5m from Astella Investimentos, Vox Capital and BB Ventures.
• Astella Investimentos invested ~USD800k in February 2021.

▸ HEALTHTECH | DNA Capital led a ~USD4.3m round for Piwi, a Brazilian employee health insurance startup, with participation from Scale-Up Ventures.

▸ PROPTECH | Canary led a ~USD4m seed round for Lastro, a Brazilian payments collection and contract management platform for rental properties, with participation from QED Investors and 1Sharpe Ventures.

▸ Portão 3, a Brazilian corporate expense management platform, raised ~USD3.8m from Endeavor Scale Up, Better Tomorrow Ventures, Fincapital, Pareto and Flexpor.

▸ WOMEN-LED | Güil Mobility Ventures led a USD3.5m seed round for Velocity-X, a Colombian last-mile delivery management platform for SMEs, with participation from AngelHub, Imagine Ventures and Vertical Partners.
• Velocity-X was co-founded by Aura María Sarmiento.

▸ Far Out VC led a USD3.5m seed round for AltScore, an Ecuadorian embedded lending platform, with participation from Kamay Ventures, BuenTrip Ventures, Caffeinated Capital, Techstars, Unpopular Ventures, Lorimer Ventures and CompuSoluciones Ventures, and angels Uri Tintore (Belvo) and Miguel Fernandez (Capchase).
• Overboost.vc invested USD50k in January 2021.

▸ AGTECH | Cromai, a Brazilian computer vision platform for monitoring crop nutrition levels raised ~USD3m from Barauna Venture Capital and Agropecuaria Sucuri.
• Plant nutrition solutions company Grupo Stoller invested ~USD1m in June 2021.

▸ PROPTECH | Altar, a Brazilian nature-focused short-term rental platform, raised ~USD3m from undisclosed investors.

▸ Celeri, an Argentine compliance automation platform for financial institutions, raised a USD2.6m seed round from YC, Funders Club VC, Commerce VC, Pioneer Fund and 22VC.

▸ CVC | Grupo MVS led a USD2.3m pre-Series A for Hero Guest, a Mexican employee training platform for hotel and restaurant personnel, with participation from Variv Capital and Grupo Anderson’s.

▸ Wollef led a USD2.2m pre-seed round for Aviva, Mexican biometrics-based microcredit platform for communities in city peripheries, with participation from Newtopia VC, Seedstars International Ventures, 500 Global, Magna Capital and Xtraordinary Venture Partners.

▸ BB Ventures, the CVC arm of Banco do Brasil, invested ~USD2.1m in Series A+ for Pagaleve, a Brazilian credit platform.
• Salesforce Ventures led a ~USD26m Series A in September 2022 in its first known investment in a Brazilian startup.

▸ CLEANTECH | Smartie, the CVC arm of Grupo Solvi, led a ~USD2m round for Coletando, a Brazilian sustainability platform granting consumer credit in exchange for performing recycling initiatives.

▸ Rocketfy, a Colombian e-commerce management platform for SMEs, raised a USD2m seed round from undisclosed investors.

▸ Honey Island Capital and 4UM Investimentos led a ~USD1.4m seed round for Transfeera, a Brazilian open banking payment platform, with participation from Goodz Capital, Opus and Curitiba Angels, and follow-on from BossaNova Investimentos.
• BossaNova Investimentos first invested in August 2020.

▸ SaasSholic led a ~USD1.4m round for Jusfy, a Brazilian ERP for lawyers and accountants, with participation from Norte Ventures, Harvard Angels, and angels João Costa (Kovi), Victor Lazarte (Wildlife), Ricardo Goldfarb (Lojas Marisa) and Alexandre Dubugras (Alude).

▸ PROPTECH | Terracotta Ventures led a ~USD1.2m round for Spotlar, a Brazilian virtual staging platform for residential real estate pre-sales, with follow-on from TM3 Capital.
• TM3 Capital led a ~USD440k pre-seed round in May 2022.

▸ KTPL invested ~USD1.2m in Ativa Soluções, a Brazilian IoT research and development startup, ~USD600k in Mereo, a recruiting automation platform for corporates and ~USD800k in Preâmbulo Tech, a backend management platform for legal services.

▸ FOODTECH | Brazilian accelerator Futurum Capital led a ~USD800k round for Typcal (formerly 100 Foods), a Brazilian plant-based startup.

▸ AGTECH | Brazilian investor Rural Ventures invested ~USD600k in Arara Seed, a Brazilian crowdfunding platform for Brazilian agtechs and foodtechs.

▸ EDTECH | Brazilian alternative asset manager Naia Capital invested ~USD500k in Ilog Tecnologia, a Brazilian education platform for corporate employees.

▸ Chilean investor Invexor Venture Partners and Discovery-A invested USD500k in Gregario, a Chilean data analytics platform for online sales.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Japanese investor MZ Web3 Fund invested USD500k in WEB3DEV, a Brazilian education platform for web3 software developers.

▸ YC invested USD500k in Infinia, an Uruguay-based payment platform for SMEs.

▸ Bemmbo, a Chilean payment automation platform, raised USD500k from Platanus Ventures and others.
• Bemmbo was selected to participate in Platanus Ventures’ 2022 batch.

▸ WEB3 | Invisto invested ~USD400k in Sonica, a Brazilian no-code development platform for Web3 apps.

▸ WeKall, a Colombian cloud-based corporate telephone service, raised USD300k from Carao Ventures and Imagine Ventures.
• Carao Ventures and Prodigio Capital invested USD1.2m in December 2021.

▸ NavegAM, a Brazilian passenger transportation ticketing platform for the Amazon river, raised ~USD300k from Bertha Capital, the CVC arm of Multilaser, and Federação das Indústrias do Estado do Amazonas (Fieam).
• Samsung invested ~USD40k in May 2019.

▸ Rufy, a Brazilian personal finance education platform for employees, raised ~USD300k from undisclosed angel investors.

▸ FOODTECH | OrderEAT, an Uruguay-based management software for kitchen facilities in schools, raised USD260k from undisclosed investors.

▸ HEALTHTECH | DOMO Invest led a ~USD200k round for Viziomed, a Brazilian detector of early-stage oncological diseases, with participation from ACE Startups and undisclosed angels.

▸ DOMO Invest led a ~USD200k round for FanBase, a Brazilian engagement platform for sports clubs and their fanbase, with participation from BossaNova Investimentos.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Brazilian investor Wow led a ~USD100k round for Seiwa, a Brazilian digital bank for healthcare professionals.

▸ PROPTECH | ONEVC and KASZEK invested in SuaQuadra, a Brazilian commercial real estate marketplace.

▸ AGTECH | Boston-based VC Morningside Group led an undisclosed Series B for WiseConn, a Chilean hardware-based crop irrigation monitoring platform.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Dr.Cash, a Brazilian consumer lending platform for medical procedures, raised an undisclosed Series A from Banco Votorantim and others.
• BossaNova Investimentos and Incubate Fund invested ~USD300k in October 2021.

▸ HRTECH | Trapi, a Brazilian job search platform for freelance workers, raised an undisclosed pre-seed round from BossaNova Investimentos and Incubate Fund.

▸ Brazilian investor HiPartners invested in Payface, a Brazilian POS contactless payment platform that works through facial recognition.
• Payface raised ~USD600k from Alvarez & Marsal and BRQ Digital Solutions in June 2020.

▸ US investor FEBA Capital invested in Brazilian ERP Inovar Sistemas.

▸ WOMEN-LED | VCM Global Asset Management invested in MTM Logix, a Mexican freight forwarding management platform for corporates.
• MTM Logix was co-founded by Andrea Velazquez.

▸ AGTECH | Kamay Ventures invested in Kilimo, an Argentine agtech using satellite-based analytics to optimize water irrigation systems in crops.
• Chilean investor Impacta VC invested in April 2022.
• READ LAVCA’s interview with Kilimo Co-Founder Tatiana Malvasio.

▸ FOODTECH | NY-based enterprise investor Capri Ventures invested in Cãez, a Brazilian vegan food manufacturer for pets.

▸ CVC | Acolab Ventures, the CVC arm of ArcelorMittal, invested in Modularis, a Brazilian modular construction developer.

▸ EDTECH | BossaNova Investimentos led an undisclosed pre-seed round for Noby, a Brazilian education platform for omnichannel sales professionals, with participation from Anjos do Brasil.

▸ Darwin Startups invested in Revpay, a Brazilian financing platform for women-led grocery stores.

▸ SECURITY | GBM Ventures, the CVC arm of Mexican trading platform Grupo Bursátil Mexicano (GBM), invested in Metabase Q, a Mexican cybersecurity protection platform for corporates.
• SoftBank agreed to invest up to USD150m in GBM in June 2021.

▸ PROPTECH | G2 Momentum Capital invested in KuKun, a Mexican short-term rental platform.
• KuKun raised USD4.5m in October 2022 from FJ Labs, Antelo Capital, Bridge Partners and View Capital.

▸ ANGEL | Brazilian professional swimmer Joel Jota invested in Kupaa, a Brazilian sustainable sportswear manufacturer.

Funds

▸ FJ Labs reached a USD260m final close across a pre-seed and an opportunity fund to invest in startups raising pre-seed through Series B+ rounds.
• FJ Labs’s portfolio in Latin America includes Kukun, Minteo, Caju, Belvo, Moova, Elenas, Xepelin.

Founding Partner Fabrice Grinda: “We are a venture fund doing angel investing at venture scale. We don’t lead. We don’t price. We don’t take board seats. We decide after two one-hour meetings over the course of a week whether we’ll invest or not because we have extraordinary pattern recognition that allows us to decide extremely quickly.”

▸ Jorge Paulo Lemann (3G Capital) is among a group of investors acquiring a 3.3% stake in US-based global investor Thrive Capital for USD175m at a USD5.3b valuation.
• Other participating investors include Henry Kravis (KKR), Mukesh Ambani (Reliance Industries), Robert Iger (Disney) and Xavier Niel (Free).
• Thrive Capital’s investments in Latin America include Nubank, Loft, Pipo Saúde, Pitzi and Oppa.

▸ DILA Capital reached a USD115m final close for DILA Capital IV, its fourth flagship fund focused on fintech, SaaS, edtech, e-commerce, proptech, logistics and healthtech startups.
• DILA’s portfolio includes Cobee, Yave, Quinio, mattilda, Kushki and Elenas.

▸ Brazilian VC Bewater Ventures reached a USD50m first close for its first flagship fund with a USD100-USD150m target to invest in Brazilian startups raising up to Series A rounds.
• Bewater Venture founders will commit USD14m of the total fund.

▸ CVC | Brazilian electric utility company Copel will allocate ~USD30m to launch a CVC arm to invest in early-stage renewable energy startups.

▸ WEB3 | Iporanga Ventures reached a USD20m first close for Iporanga Early Stage 3, its third flagship fund with a USD100m target to invest in Latin American startups building on blockchain, web3 and crypto ecosystems raising pre-seed and seed rounds.
• Iporanga’s portfolio includes Loggi, Klavi, FLOKI, Stark Bank, Buser, Legiti and Classpert.

▸ Chilean VC Screen Capital reached a USD20m final close for Screen II, its second flagship fund to invest in gaming, e-sports and digital platforms.
• CORFO granted Screen Capital a USD13m line of credit; the remaining capital was allocated by undisclosed private investors.
• Screen Capital’s investments include StoryA and 7395 Media.

▸ CVC | Brazil’s Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional committed ~USD20m to its CVC arm CSN Inova Ventures to invest in early-stage startups building in mining, cement, logistics and energy.

▸ WOMEN-LED | Amplifica Capital reached a USD11m final close for Amplifica Capital I, its first flagship fund to invest in startups led by women founders for developing goods and services focused on women.
• LPs in Amplifica Capital I include Mexico Ventures, Grupo Herdez, Maria Ariza (BIVA), Melanie Devlyn (Devlyn), Daniel Undurraga and Oskar Hjertonsson (Cornershop) and Loreanne Garcia (Kavak).
• Amplifica’s portfolio includes Verqor, Kolors, Mujer Financiera and microTERRA Biotech.

▸ GOVTECH | Grupo Positivo, a Brazilian electronics manufacturer conglomerate, will allocate ~USD8m of its CVC arm to invest in early-stage Brazilian startups developing solutions for public offices and government entities.

▸ HiPartners reached a ~USD4m first close for HiPartners I, its first flagship fund with a ~USD20m target to invest in early-stage retail startups.
• LPs in HiPartners include Aliansce Sonae, Mariano Gomide (VTEX), Ricardo Nassar (Cobasi), Ricardo Bomeny (BFFC) and Pedro Chiamulera (Clearsale).
• HiPartners portfolio includes BornLogic and Looqbox.

▸ ECUADOR| Ecuadorian VC IMPAQTO Capital reached a USD2m first close for IMPAQTO Capital Fund I, its first flagship fund to provide revenue-based financing to early-stage startups in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Chile.

▸ M&A | Colombian impact investor Amplo Inversión de Impacto acquired Colombian early-stage VC Velum Ventures.
• Velum Ventures’ portfolio includes Merqueo, Sempli, Hogaru and TutorYa.

▸ Brazilian accelerator ACE Startups bought back BossaNova Investimentos’ GP stake at a reported 3x return.
• BossaNova first committed to ACE in 2018.

▸ FOODTECH | Chilean VC Südlich Capital launched Exploradores I, its first flagship fund with a USD10m target to invest in early-stage foodtech startups.

▸ CROSSBORDER | Valutia, a Portugal- and Brazil-based VC, launched its first flagship fund with a USD10m target to invest in Portuguese and Spanish startups looking to expand into the Brazilian market.
• Valutia’s investments include Medipreço, Moises and Gira.

▸ WEB3 | Chilean multifamily office Aurea Group launched a venture builder to invest in early-stage web3 startups.

▸ Sequoia will charge management fees based on capital called instead of capital committed.
• The change will impact its fund-of-funds and crypto funds only.
• The new structure can create perverse incentives, encouraging GPs to invest money faster than otherwise could, according to Dan Primack.
• Sequoia’s recent investments in Latin America include Draftea, Quansa and Fintual.

Startups

▸ DELIVERY | Colombian grocery delivery platform Merqueo filed to go public in the NASDAQ as it looks to tap additional sources of financing.
• Merqueo raised a USD50m Series C led by IDC Ventures, Digital Bridge and IDB Invest in August 2021 and a USD14m round led by Portland Private Equity in 2019.

▸ M&A | Razor Group, a Berlin-based e-commerce aggregator, acquired VALOREO, a Mexico- and Brazil-based e-commerce aggregator, after raising a USD70m round led by L Catterton.
• L Catterton led a USD80m Series B for VALOREO in February 2022; Presight Capital and Kingsway Capital led a USD30m Series A in July 2021.

▸ LOGISTICS | Mexican digital freight forwarder Nowports opened an office in Miami and launched operations in the US.
• Nowports operates in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Panama.
• Nowports raised a USD150m Series C in May 2022 and a USD60m Series B in 2021.

▸ Latitud, a company incorporation and cap table management platform for Latin American startups, partnered with Jeeves, a US-based expense management platform, to provide Latitud companies with multi-currency corporate cards and non-dilutive financing.
• Jeeves raised a USD180m Series C led by Tencent in March 2022; Latitud raised a USD11.5m seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz and NFX in April 2022.

▸ Menta, an Argentine white-label platform for payment collections, launched operations in Colombia.
• Menta raised a USD6m seed round led by Base10 Partners in October, and a USD1.2m round in September.

▸ INSURTECH | Chilean insurtech Betterfly reduced its workforce by 30%.
• Betterfly raised a USD125m Series C led by Glade Brook Capital Partners in February 2022.

CEO Eduardo della Maggiora: “A pesar de que nuestros ingresos han crecido más de veinte veces en los últimos dos años, nuestros costos han crecido a la misma velocidad, porque nos estábamos preparando para otro período de crecimiento acelerado que, difícilmente, se va a repetir en este escenario.”

News

▸ EV | BNDES invested ~USD98m in Eve, a Brazilian electric drone and aircraft manufacturer controlled by Embraer.
• Eve raised USD370m in December 2021 through its merger with Zanite, a SPAC listed in the NYSE.

▸ POLICY | Brazil’s Comissão de Valores Mobiliários (CVM) published an updated regulatory framework for closed-end investment vehicles in Brazil.
• Notable changes:
o Retail funds will be able to invest 100% of capital in foreign opportunities.
o Institutional funds will be able to allocate capital directly into crypto assets.

▸ Big tech restructurings continue globally. The latest companies to announce significant reductions in workforce include Amazon (13k), Google (12k), Meta (11k), Microsoft (10k) and Salesforce (8k).
• Locally, Movile is also streamlining its structure to consolidate its operations with iFood.
• Rest of World reviews how the potential changes for Latin American startups in the market for talent in U.S. tech firms are replacing workers with cheaper talent in Latin America.

▸ CRYPTO | El Salvador paid a USD800m maturing bond amidst repeated risks of default from Bitcoin’s price decline.
• The international community has repeatedly voiced concerns about El Salvador recognizing Bitcoin as a legal tender.

▸ BLOCKCHAIN | Bradesco launched its first banknote backed with blockchain technology.

▸ Bloomberg Línea and LAVCA review the state of liquidity strategies for Latin American startups in public markets in Why We May Not See More Latin American Tech Companies Go Public this Year.

▸ Nubank secured a USD150m loan facility over the next three years from IFC to expand its operations in Colombia.