> #EDTECH Invus Opportunities and SoftBank led a US$84.5m round for Brazilian edtech Descomplica, with participation from Peninsula Participações, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Valor Capital Group, and Amadeus Capital Partners. U2 guitarist The Edge was also an investor. This is the largest known round in a Latin American edtech startup, according to LAVCA Data.
- Descomplica raised R$54m in 2018 from Invus Opportunities.
- Descomplica received university accreditation for Faculdade Descomplica, a distance education platform it launched in 2020 for undergraduate and graduate coursework.
- READ LAVCA’s interview with Marco Fisbhen below.
> Angel Ventures, FJ Labs, Upper90, and Presight Capital led a US$50m seed round in VALOREO, a Mexico-based e-commerce holding company specialized in acquiring, operating, and scaling Latin America-focused businesses under the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) business model, with participation from angels David Geisen (Mercado Libre), Ricardo Weder (Jüsto), Florian Hagenbuch and Mate Pencz (Loft), Ralf Wenzel (Serial Entrepreneur & Investor), Tiago Dalvi (olist), and Alfred Chuang (BEA Systems).
- This is a record seed round for Latin America, according to LAVCA Data.
- Co-Founder and Co-CEO Alexander Grüll: “We are in the right place at the right time as e-commerce in Latin America is at an inflection point and is still much less widespread when compared to other regions – the internet penetration rate in Mexico is quite high and stood at 60% in 2020, while e-commerce was only at 2%. Currently Latin American e-commerce is the fastest growing market in the world, growing 37% in 2020, and we think there is even more to come. A key issue we are seeing at the moment is a consumer lack of trust in e-commerce and that many consumers [in Mexico] are not aware of the great variety of outstanding local brands that sell innovative products online, perceiving e-commerce to only be a shopping platform for low-price unbranded goods and not an alternative to offline commerce.”
> #HEALTHTECH US-based PE fund ThornTree Capital Partners led a R$180m Series B round in Brazilian healthcare provider Alice. Alice was founded by André Florence and Matheus Moraes, alums of Brazilian rideshare 99 (acquired by Didi in 2017), and Guilherme Azevedo (Dr. Consulta).
- Canary, KaszeK Ventures, and MAYA Capital invested US$16m in 2020.
- READ LAVCA’s interview with CFO Luiz Octavio Maluf.
> Base10 Partners led a US$7.8m round in Mundi, a Mexican lending platform financing imports/exports for SMEs, with participation from FJ Labs.
> #EDTECH Plataforma A+, a Brazilian edtech for managing in-classroom learning and school enrollment processes, raised R$32m from undisclosed investors.
> #AGTECH Brazil-based PE firm Lanx Capital led a R$13.5m round in Grão Direto, a Brazilian agricultural commodity marketplace that runs on mobile and WhatsApp, with participation from Barn Investimentos, Bayer, and Grupo Rendimento.
> #INSURTECH #CVC Randon Ventures, the CVC arm of Brazilian railroad equipment manufacturer Empresas Randon, invested R$13m in Grupo Delta, a Brazilian marketplace for company fleet insurance.
> Movile led an undisclosed Series A in Moova, an Argentine route optimization software platform for last-mile delivery, with participation from Alaya Capital, FJ Labs, Matterscale Ventures, Kalei Ventures, Mittal, and Murchinson.
> #CROSSBORDER Proeza Ventures led a ~US$6m Series A in BusUp, a Spain-based fleet and logistics management system with operations in Peru and Brazil, with participation from Autotech Ventures.
> US-based VC fund Storm Ventures led a US$2m round in InEvent, a Brazilian management software platform for virtual corporate event planning for US and Brazilian companies.
- InEvent’s clients include Banco Santander, Banco Itaú, XP Investimentos, KPMG, Amazon, Facebook, and Embraer.
> Astella Investimentos invested R$8m in bornlogic, a Brazilian omnichannel marketing software platform for SMEs.
> Alaya Capital Partners led a US$1.2m seed round in Backstartup, a Colombian accounting, invoicing, and legal management platform for SMEs, with participation from Life is Too Short Capital, LabCap, and 0B.
> #EDTECH DOMO Invest invested R$3.5m in Digital Innovation One (DIO), a Brazilian open education platform offering software development courses and connecting students to companies in search of technical talent.
> #GOVTECH KPTL invested R$3m in Facilit Tecnologia, a Brazilian project management platform for local governments.
> #HEALTHTECH Mexican VC fund Access Capital led a US$700k round in Diagnostikare, a Mexican B2B telemedicine platform focused on psychological and nutritional care, with participation from Suarco Holding.
> #INSURTECH Fuse Capital invested R$2m in W.Dental, a Brazilian dental insurance marketplace.
> G2 Momentum Capital made an undisclosed investment in YoFío, a Mexican lending platform providing microcredit to corner stores.
- YoFío was part of 500 Startups’ Batch 12 in 2020.
> #HEALTHTECH #ANGEL Anestech, a Brazilian electronic medical record software platform for anesthesiologists, raised R$3m from Romeu Cortes Domingues and Ricardo Mello (DASA), Marcelo Saad (Credit Suisse), and Roberto Botelho (Uberlandia Medical Center).
> #CROWDFUNDING Play2Sell, a Brazilian software platform for training sales teams, raised R$2m through equity crowdfunding platform CapTable. The round included R$300k from Poli Angels.
- Bossa Nova Investimentos invested R$700k in 2019.
> #FOODTECH #ANGEL GR8 Ventures (formerly Verus Group) invested R$1.1m in Beleaf, a D2C Brazilian manufacturer of plant-based food.
- Beleaf reached R$7m in revenue in 2020.