#017: How does LatAm use the internet?
VCs close new funds, streamers expand, and a new accelerator cohort emerges
Hola technopolists,
It’s a week of novelty: I’m piloting a new section listing all the key funding rounds from last week. Scroll to the bottom to read. Your engagement will be the deciding factor — like or reply to this message with 👍🏽 if it’s something you want to see stick.
What’s hot
🤑 Nouveau riche. Fundraising may be harder for startups, but it seems like everyone and their dog is starting a new fund. Investment companies Votorantim (Brazil) and Temasek (Singapore) have partnered to launch 23S Capital with an inaugural $700mn fund targeting Brazilian businesses. L’Attitude closed a $100mn fund targeting Latinx founders in the USA with anchor institutional investments from JPMorgan Chase, Trujillo, and BofA (imitation really is the greatest form of flatter — right, Latitud?). Further south, Uruguayan entrepreneurs Ariel Burschtin and Álvaro García, co-founders of delivery coming PedidosYa, have launched Orok Ventures in the hopes of kickstarting the “PedidosYa mafia”. And to top it off, Serena Williams has announced her plans to bring Serena Ventures to LatAm seed investing in a big way. (Bloomberg Linea)
📺 Streaming wars. Tubi, the free streaming platform owned by Fox, is expanding its service to five new Latin American countries: Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama. Tubi is already available in Mexico (in addition to the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia), and LatAm viewers will be able to watch Spanish-language TV dramas in addition to dubbed English content. Latin America is a key streaming battleground and Tubi is cranking up the pressure on the big incumbents. (TechCrunch)
👥 New kids on the block. 500 Startup’s newest batch of LatAm startups has been announced. Most notably, half of the 10 companies in the cohort have female founders — one small step closer to addressing the massive gender fundraising gap. And several startups aim to help the economically disadvantaged or underserved. Take ConfiAbogado, a Mexican legaltech platform aiming to bring legal advice to lower income communities; or Avioneta, a Mexican healthtech that hopes to wean alcohol addicts off their dependency. (Contxto)
What’s not
📈 Keeping things interest-ing. In response to raging inflation, Argentina’s central bank has raised interest rates yet again, this time by 9.5 percentage points to 69.5%. Argentinian inflation recently crested 71%, and analysts estimate that it will reach 90% by year-end. Not only is the rate rise the largest since before the pandemic, but it comes only 2 weeks after the last increase (normally, rates are only reviewed once per month). In total, the Argentinian Fed has raised interest rates 17.5 percentage points in 10 days amidst the most turbulent political leadership turmoil in recent memory. (Bloomberg)
💨 Another one bites the dust. Unifin, one of Mexico’s largest non-bank lenders, is shuttering operations in the latest bankruptcy saga to hit Mexico’s credit ecosystem. The equipment leasing shadow lender triggered alarm bells last week when it defaulted on $2.4bn in foreign bonds payments — only 17 days after its CEO adamantly defended the company’s fundamentals on their Q2 earning call. Unifin’s collapse falls hot on the heels of bankruptcies at Credito Real (see #013) and Alpha Holding; the $5bn in total defaults across these lenders now have investors thinking that the problem could be more systemic than previously imagined. While this isn’t hot for Unifin and their creditors, it hasn’t stopped VCs from ploughing cash into non-bank lending fintechs (see Clara above and Mercado Libre payments from #016). (Bloomberg Linea)
Stat of the week
At the risk of stating the obvious: scaling a tech business is a lot more challenging if your target audience isn’t using the internet. Here’s a look at internet usage around the region.
Smart links
10 Lessons Learned in a Decade of Investing in LatAm
Brazil’s Central Bank President sees room for Pix expansion around LatAm
QED expands anti-addiction mental health initiative for LatAm’s startup ecosystem
Argentina’s inflation surges past 70% amidst political turmoil
Spain looks to attract LatAm workers as its population ages
Latinometrics: Education, Avocados, and Mercado Libre
Colombia’s Petro pushes tax reform to fund ambitious social agenda
Opinion (FT): The challenges for Latin America’s new left
Bolsonaro bets improving Brazilian economy will be election boon
Inequality in Latin America is fuelling a new wave of populism
Fundraising
Announced week commencing 8th August
Late stage
🇲🇽 DD360, a Mexican proptech/fintech, raised a $91mn round led by Creation Investments Capital Management
🇲🇽 Clara, the Mexican fintech unicorn, raised a $50mn debt line from Goldman Sachs
🇧🇷 ISA Lab, a Brazilian healthtech, raised a $11.3mn round from Bradesco, FIR Saude, Grupo Sabin, Israel Salmen, Kortex Ventures, Yaya Capital, and Vox Capital
Series A
🇧🇷 NG.CASH, a Brazilian fintech, raised a $10mn Series A co-led by a16z and Monashees with participation from 17Sigma and founders from Ualá, Rappi, Mobile, and Brex
Seed & pre-seed
🇲🇽 Miferia, an online wholesale marketplace, raised a $7mn seed round co-led by Bain Capital Ventures and Tiger Global, with participation from Canary, Latitud Ventures, and Asymmetric Capital Partners
🇻🇬 MetaverseGo, a BVI-based mobile gaming platform, raised a $4.2mn seed round led by Galaxy Interactive
🇨🇱 Reversso, a Chilean B2B e-commerce startup, raised a $1.1mn seed round led by Genesis Ventures with participation from Hero Capital, Grupo Prisma, and angels
🇦🇷 Pura Mente, a Spanish-language meditation app, raised a $1.3mn seed round with participation from 500 Startups, Start-Up Chile, Goodwater Capital, and Newtype Ventures
🇧🇷 Sirros IoT, a Brazilian hardware startup, raised a $1mn round led by Randon Ventures
🇧🇷 Kuppi, a Brazilian foodtech, raised a $380k pre-seed round led by Niu Ventures
Did I miss any? Let me know?