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TLDR

📢 Big Tickets for QuintoAndar, Kushki, Frubana, SumUp, Yalo, Belvo, ProducePay, idwall, ADDI, Clara

📢 Funds: KASZEK reaches USD1b close across two new funds

📢 HRTech Rounds for Onze, Beejobs, Ubits, Ontop, Witseed, People Club

📢 CVC Participation in Shopper, Voltz, Cromai, People Club, The Live Green Co.

📢 LAVCA welcomes new member Volpe Capital

LAVCA 2021 LATIN AMERICAN PRIVATE CAPITAL ESG DEAL AWARDS

LAVCA announced the winners of the 2021 Latin American Private Capital ESG Deal Awards to recognize outstanding deal cases in the region, specifically targeting environmental, social and gender diversity initiatives.

The winners were determined by a distinguished panel of institutional investors from development finance institutions, insurance companies and pension funds.

🏆 Canary received the inaugural 2021 Venture Capital ESG Award for their investment in Alicerce Educação. Alicerce is a Brazilian education and childcare company, which serves children of low- and middle-income families to fill the gaps left by a deficient public schooling system. Students typically spend five hours per day at an Alicerce’s learning center, where each student follows a tailored plan centered around Portuguese, Math, English and socioemotional development activities.

ACCESS the full awards including Lightrock (General Water), Mesoamerica (Alqueria), Linzor Capital (Mundo) and Actis (Atlas Renewable Energy).

DEALS

> #PROPTECH Ribbit Capital led a USD300m Series E for Brazilian proptech QuintoAndar, with participation from SoftBank LatAm Innovation Fund, LTS, Maverik, Alta Park, KASZEK, Dragoneer, Kevin Efrusy (Accel) and an undisclosed US-based asset manager, at a reported USD4b valuation.

• SoftBank led a USD250m Series D in 2019; General Atlantic led a BRL250m Series C in 2018.
• READ LAVCA’s interview with Co-Founder and CTO Andre Penha.
• VIEW LAVCA’s Unicorn Leaderboard for the latest list of LatAm unicorns.
  

> SoftBank Latin America and an undisclosed growth equity firm led a USD86m Series B for Ecuadorian payments platform Kushki, with follow-on from DILA Capital, KASZEK, Clocktower Ventures and Magma Partners, at a reported ~USD600m valuation.

• Kushki raised an undisclosed Series A in 2020.
• Kushki plans to hire a team of 200 software engineers.
  

> GGV led a USD65m Series B for Frubana, a Colombian B2B platform of fresh produce for restaurants and small retailers, with participation from Lightspeed Venture Partners, and follow-on from monashees, Tiger Global and SoftBank. Frubana was founded in 2018 by Rappi alumni Fabián Gómez.

• GGV and monashees led a USD25m Series A in 2020.
• Gómez comments on the company’s 6x revenue growth in 2020 and its impact on farmers: “We expanded our strategy to become the 'everything store for restaurants' allowing [restaurant owners] to buy from many categories in our platform, such as CPG product, protein and produce… our farmers are not only receiving 5-10% better prices for their products, but thanks to our advanced forecasting technology, they also have more certainty of their products… In addition, all our payments are electronic and formal, creating credit history so farmers can have access to a credit in the future.”
  

> #CROSS-BORDER German fintech SumUp announced a BRL1.3b debt commitment from Goldman Sachs, Temasek, Bain Capital Credit, Crestline and Oaktree to fund its Brazilian operations.

• SumUp also raised BRL300m through an FIDC (Fundo de Investimento em Direitos Creditorios) to fund its short-term debt revolving facility in Brazil.

>  #UPDATE: We reported on a USD60 equity and USD100m debt round for Merama, a Mexico- and Brazil-based e-commerce aggregator in May. MAYA Capital also followed-on and participated in the earlier seed round. TriplePoint committed USD100m in debt.

> B Capital led a USD50m Series C for Yalo (formerly Yalochat), a Mexican customer service management platform that runs on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger.

• B Capital led a USD15m Series B in 2020 in its inaugural investment in Latin America.
• Yalo’s clients include Unilever, Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Walmart.
  

> Belvo, a Mexican fintech providing a financial services API for mobile applications, raised a USD43m Series A from Future Positive, Kibo Ventures, FJ Labs, Sebastián Mejía (Rappi) and Harsh Sinha (Transferwise), with follow-on from MAYA Capital, KASZEK, Venture Friends and David Veléz (Nubank).

• KASZEK and Founders Fund led a USD10m seed round in 2020.

> #AGTECH US-based VC G2VP led a USD43m Series C for ProducePay, a US-based financing platform for farmers in Latin America, with participation from IGNIA Partners, IFC, IDB Invest, Anterra Capital, Coventure, Astanor Ventures and Finistere.

 
> #CYBERSECURITY Chilean VC Endurance Investments led a BRL210m Series C for idwall, a Brazilian identity authentication platform, with participation from GGV and Norte Ventures, and follow-on from monashees.

• Qualcomm Ventures led a BRL40m round in 2019; monashees and Canary led an undisclosed Series A in 2018.

> Union Square Ventures led a USD65m Series B for ADDI, a Colombian point-of-sale lending platform, with participation from 8VC, Citius Capital, Endeavor Catalyst, The Marathon Fund, Hans Tung (GGV) and Huey Lin (Affirm), with follow-on from Andreessen Horowitz, Foundation Capital, monashees and Quona Capital. ADDI secured a USD30m credit line from Architect Capital as part of the round.

• Quona Capital led a USD15m round in 2020; Andreessen led a USD12.5m round in 2019.
• This is Union Square Ventures’ second known investment in the region, after recently leading a USD5.5m Series A for Brazilian neobank alt.bank.
  

> General Catalyst, DST Global and monashees invested USD30m in Clara, a Mexican startup offering corporate expense management and credit cards for Mexico-based startups, at a reported USD130m valuation. Clara also secured a USD50m debt facility from an undisclosed investor as part of the round.

• General Catalyst led a USD3.5m round in March in its first lead investment in a Latin America-based startup.

> #BIOTECH KASZEK and Humboldt Fund led a USD30m round in Phage Labs, a Chilean biotech developing alternative disease treatments to control cattle sickness and prevent salmonella in poultry.

> #CVC Brazilian beef exporter Minerva Foods and Quartz led a BRL120m Series B for Shopper, a Brazilian subscription delivery platform for consumer products, with participation from FJ Labs and Floating Point, and follow-on from FEGIK, MFO Oikos, Ariel Lambrecht (99) and Marcio Schettini (Itaú Unibanco).

• Shopper raised BRL10m in July and BRL4.5m in June of 2020 from Canary and others.

> Brazilian infrastructure conglomerate Grupo CCR and J2L Partners led a BRL100m Series B for Quicko, a Brazilian smart mobility startup working on commuter transit.

• CCR and J2L Partners invested USD10m in 2019.

> #CVC Creditas led a BRL95m round for Voltz, a Brazilian electric motorcycle company, with participation from UVC, the CVC arm of Grupo Ultra.

> #HRTECH Ribbit Capital led a BRL53m Series A for Onze, a Brazilian pension plan management platform.

• Onze was incubated by venture builder American Red Ventures.

> #HRTECH Capital Indigo led a BRL48m round for Beejobs, a Brazilian recruitment platform for SMEs.

• Capital Indigo led a BRL20m seed round in 2020.

> Igah Ventures led a BRL35m round for Lilly Estética, a Brazilian beauty and dermatology clinic subscription platform at a reported BRL265m post-money valuation.

> #HRTECH US-based edtech VC fund Owl Ventures invested USD5m in Ubits, a Colombian corporate training platform with operations in Colombia and Mexico.

• Stanford GSB Impact Fund invested in 2020.
• This is Owl Ventures’ first investment in a Latin America-based startup, according to LAVCA Data.

> #HRTECH Point72 Ventures led a USD4.5m seed round for Ontop, a Colombian onboarding and payroll management platform for companies with international teams, with participation from Funders Club, Clocktower Technology Ventures, H2O Capital, Magma Partners, SOMA Capital and Supernode.

> Better Tomorrow led a USD3.6m seed round for Divibank, a Brazilian revenue-based financing platform for startups and SMEs, with participation from Village Global, Clocktower Ventures, Magma Partners, Gilgamesh Ventures, Rally Cap Ventures, Alumni Ventures Group, Kairos Angels, Sebastian Mejia (Rappi) and Kari Atiyeh (Ramp), and follow-on from MAYA Capital.

> Homebrew led a BRL14m seed round for Z1, a Brazilian digital bank for teenagers, with participation from Clocktower Technology Ventures, Soma Ventures, Rebel, Goodwater, Gaingels and Mantis, a VC fund formed by The Chainsmokers.

• Z1 was founded by João Pedro Thompson (Itaú BBA), Thiago Achatz (Rappi), Matheus Craveiro (Pagar.me) and Sophie Secaf (Box 1824).

> #AGTECH Aegro, a Brazilian grain cultivation management platform, raised a BRL12m seed round from SP Ventures, ABSeed, SLC Ventures and ADM Venture Capital.

• SP Ventures and ABSeed invested BRL5m in 2018.

> #ANGEL AcNext Capital, a syndicate formed by former Accenture Latin America CEO Roger Ingold, led a BRL10m round for B4A, a Brazilian marketing platform connecting beauty brands with influencers, with participation from Eduardo Chalita (Nova.com), Donato Ramos (Imaginarium), Stephano Gabriel (XP) and Olivier Grinda (Shoes4You).

> #HEALTHTECH GAA Investments led a BRL10m seed round for LAURA, a Brazilian care management platform for healthcare facilities.

> #CVC #AGTECH Plant nutrition solutions company Grupo Stoller invested BRL5m in Cromai, a computer vision platform for monitoring crop nutrition levels.

> #CORRECTION Last issue we reported that We Ventures invested in Brazilian lung ventilator manufacturer Magnamed. WE Ventures did not invest in Magnamed; instead, Magnamed made a BRL4.7m commitment to WE Ventures’ fund.

> #LOGISTICS US-based enterprise software platform ViaSoft invested BRL2.5m in CargOn, a Brazilian carrier logistics management platform.

> #HEALTHTECH Bossa Nova Investimentos and Elife Participações invested BRL1.7m in Carefy, a Brazilian management platform for patient hospitalization.

> #PROPTECH DILA Capital invested in Ayenda, a Colombian budget hotel chain.

• KASZEK led a USD8.7m Series A in 2020; SoftBank led a USD1.2m seed round in 2019.

> #HRTECH #CVC Grupo ROIT invested BRL2.1m in People Club, a Brazilian employee benefit management platform.

> #HRTECH Criabiz Ventures and Anjos do Brasil invested BRL920k in Witseed, a Brazilian corporate education platform.

> Carabela, Angel Ventures’ seed fund, invested in Rocketbot, a Chilean SaaS platform developing bots for process automation.

• Manutara Ventures invested USD500k in 2019.

> #FOODTECH #CVC Global food conglomerate Sigma Alimentos invested in The Live Green Co, a Chilean foodtech developing plant-based alternatives to replace animal-based products.

• Endurance Investments and NOA Capital invested USD1m in 2020.
• The Live Green Co launched a plant-based burger product, pancake mixes and a line of plant-based ice cream products.

FUNDS

> KASZEK reached a USD475m final close for Kaszek Venture V, its fifth flagship fund to lead early-stage rounds, and a USD525m final close for Kaszek Ventures Opportunity II, its second opportunity vehicle to back late-stage startups.

• KASZEK is the first Latin America-based VC to raise USD1b in one closing and to reach USD2b in AUM. KASZEK has participated in more than 90 disclosed investments to date.
• Nico Szekasy on the maturity of founders in KASZEK’s portfolio: “In our first funds, we were backing mainly first-time entrepreneurs. In our last early-stage fund, we could already see a virtuous cycle that allowed us to partner with founding teams starting companies for a second time or bringing already very relevant operating experiences from the most successful startups.”
  

> ONEVC reached a USD18m first close for its second LatAm- focused vehicle. The fund has a USD40m target.

• ONEVC reached a USD38m final close for its first fund in 2018.

> ScaleXOpen Fund reached a BRL30m final close for its first fund to invest in early-stage Brazilian startups. ScaleXOpen was formed by João Alfredo Pimentel of corporate innovation platform 100Startups.

> Brazilian economist Luana Ozemela launched Roots Funding, a USD60m fund to invest in women, LGBTQIA+ founders and entrepreneurs from indigeneous and afrodescendente origins.

> #CVC Steel production conglomerate ArcelorMittal launched a BRL100m fund to invest in early-stage startups in mining, construction and logistics.

> Garin Investimentos and G2 Capital launched G3 Ventures, a BRL100m fund to invest in early-stage startups in telecommunications, healthtech, edtech and IoT.

M&A

> Healthcare plan manager Qualicorp acquired a 35% stake of Escale, a Brazilian digital marketing agency for telcos and healthcare companies.

• QED Investors and Invus Opportunities led a USD22.6m round in 2019; previous investors include KASZEK, Redpoint eventures and Global Founders Capital.
• Escale acquired Brazilian sales management platform Cobmax in 2020.

> VOLL, a Brazilian ride-share services aggregator for business travelers, acquired BTM, a Brazilian corporate travel agency.

• VOLL raised BRL4m from Iporanga Ventures and Wayra in 2020.

> unico, a Brazilian digital identity protection platform, acquired Vianuvem, a Brazilian enterprise software platform for car sales.

• unico raised BRL580m from SoftBank Latin America and General Atlantic in 2020.

NEW MEMBER

> LAVCA welcomes new member Volpe Capital, a VC-to-growth-equity fund based in São Paulo, Brazil. Volpe is led by a team of partners with an outstanding track record in technology deals and with strong experience with exits and raising capital. Volpe looks for companies with solid performances, proven business models and established unit economics to partner with founders to help them where they need most.

• Investment Focus: Software (Saas, cloud, data, AI, NLP), fintech (payments, financial infrastructure, open finance, crypto, banking as a service, insurtech), education (bootcamps, coding schools, tutoring platforms, OPMs, education services), health (wellness, treatments of chronic diseases, medical efficiency) and consumer (B2C companies, DTC brands, marketplaces, foodtech)
• Preferred Geos: Latin America
• Year Founded: 2021
  
• Current Portfolio Includes: Uol Edtech
  
• Key contacts: Andre Maciel (Managing Partner), Gregory Reider (Managing Partner), Milena Oliveira (Partner), Gabriela Naminatsu (CFO), Matheus Schettini (Associate)

> LAVCA publishes an annual directory of VC/Tech members, with profiles on 75+ firms active in Latin America.

🆕 GLOBAL TECH

> SIGN UP for EMPEA’s Global VC Cache. Edited by LAVCA Manager of Venture Capital Julie Ruvolo, this bi-weekly newsletter covers cross-border tech transactions in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and Middle East.

VIEW the archive of previous editions and sign up here.

NEWS

> WeWork and SoftBank announced a joint venture that provides SoftBank Latin America Fund with the exclusive right to operate the WeWork brand in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

•  Claudia Woods, former CEO of Uber Brazil, will join SoftBank and will be appointed Head of WeWork Latin America.

> Wayra Hispam published a report sharing the team’s open innovation thesis, the evolution of corporate partnerships and the current state of its portfolio after 2020.

> FT reviews Luiza Trajano’s push for women’s rights and racial equality at the helm of retail conglomerate Magazine Luiza in Keeping fairness at the heart of big business.

> Facebook said its services were interrupted 136 times in 19+ countries in 2020, “a symptom of a growing trend among countries to restrict access to social media and the open internet.”

> Twitter’s algorithm is prone to crop out individuals with dark skin tones from pictures, according to a recent study.

• Twitter is not the only company acknowledging the importance of racial considerations in its products; Snap recently announced a team solely focused on building a more inclusive camera.

> Wayra Hispam is looking for a Head of Portfolio for Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Peru and Chile. Candidates with a minimum of two years of experience in VC or PE are welcome to apply.

> KASZEK is looking for an Analysts and Associates for its São Paulo office. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

> 500 launched applications for its 14th startup acceleration program, Somos Lucha. Founders can apply by June 20.

> PECAP will host the Peru Venture Capital Conference on June 22-24. Registration is now open. If you are a startup CEO apply to the Pitch Competition. 

> InverTUR will host the Turtech LatAm Investment Forum 2021 on July 13-14 with discussions between fund managers, CVCs and public sector entities to explore tech-enabled opportunities in the tourism industry. IDB Lab and Wayra will be among the participants sharing their in-region experience. Registration is now open.

> #SAVETHEDATE LAVCA Week is scheduled for September 20-23, 2021. Stay tuned...

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is the VC/tech newsletter and content platform of
The Association for Private Capital Investment in Latin America.

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