Inside Latin America’s Breakout Year in Tech is an 8-page report with updates on the region’s VC/tech ecosystem. It maps major markets and top deals by value, co-investments, startup ecosystem maturity, and trending and fastest growing sectors. The content is made possible with support from Omidyar Network and the Latin American Tech Growth Coalition, including Google, Facebook, Telefonica Open Future_, Qualcomm Ventures, Riverwood Capital, Movile, and Globant.
HIGHLIGHTS
RECORD DEALS:
VC Investments in Latin America surpassed US$1b for the first time in 2017, doubling the amount committed to startups in 2016.
RECORD ROUNDS:
Brazilian rideshare 99 closed the largest publicly disclosed round of venture capital to date in Latin America, raising US$200m over two rounds from SoftBank, Didi Chuxing, and Riverwood Capital. Series C rounds in Brazil drove record investment totals, but growth was not limited to late-stage deals – deal count overall grew from 197 in 2016 to 249 in 2017.
UNICORNS:
In Q1 2018, three tech startups surpassed US$1b valuations: 99, Nubank, and PagSeguro (via IPO). In addition, Despegar listed on the NYSE in late 2017, providing a partial exit for investors Tiger Global and Accel Partners.
NEW PLAYERS:
25 global investors made debut investments in Latin America in 2017, including notable deals from SoftBank, TPG’s The Rise Fund, Telstra Ventures, Rethink Education, and others.
BIG TECH:
Growing investment in Latin America coincides with Latin America’s emergence as a key strategic market for a growing list of global tech companies, including Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Spotify, Airbnb, WeWork, Didi Chuxing, and Uber.
