Which VCs are netting the most exits?
#058: Bossanova hits 100 exits, so we look at the region’s most exited firms.
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What’s Hot
💸 Brazil’s central bank announced an ambitious roadmap for Pix. Speaking at Críptorama Brasilia, Pix exec Carlos Brandt outlined three major product releases: Pix Automático, a recurring payments integration; Pix for Marketplaces, a streamlined solution for seller payments; and Pix Internacional, a cross-border transfer system. Launch dates were not confirmed, and Brandt did not rule out additional integrations with open finance or the BCB’s digital real project. (Exame)
🇨🇴 Mega-rounds in Colombia persist, with two investments to spotlight this week. La Haus, a proptech marketplace, raised a $62mn Series C from heavyweights Kaszek, NFX, and Bezos Expeditions, among other investors. Elsewhere, The Green Coffee Company, which claims to be the single largest coffee producer in Colombia, raised $100mn in new funding: $25mn in a Series C from a consortium of individual investors, and up to $75mn in debt from an undisclosed investor, per Pitchbook. (TechCrunch)
👋🏽 Bossanova Investimentos reached its 100th successful exit, bolstering its position as one of the region’s most active early-stage dealmakers. The firm sold its stake in Hand Talk, an edtech for Brazilian sign language, for a reported 10x return on investment. Comparatively, Bossanova is head and shoulders above other LatAm VC (more on this below), while the firm’s CEO boasted it has an additional 20 exits planned. (Startupi)
What’s Not
📉 dLocal granted its founder expanded powers to turn the company around. The Uruguay-based payments unicorn appointed Sergio Fogel as co-president and Chief Strategy Officer (in addition to his existing board role). The company is the subject of continued scrutiny: first, a shortseller report published last November alleged widespread fraud, while an Argentine prosecutor recently opened an investigation into potential capital control breaches. dLocal’s stock hit an all-time low on June 2 and is trading at a -33% YTD loss despite the company’s $160mn share buyback programme. (Bloomberg)
🟣 Nubank laid off 296 of its staff amidst a restructuring of its operations unit. Previously, the neobank structured teams around product lines; after years of new product releases creating a multi-product platform, it’s consolidating and centralising these teams. This set of layoffs is the neobank’s second such restructuring, following the removal of its 40-person investment unit late last year. The 7,800-person company estimates that more restructuring may come in the future. (Finsiders)
Stat of the Week
Bossanova set an impressive milestone achieving its 100th successful exit, and they claim to be Latin America’s most active investor. How does that stack up to other VCs active in Latin America?
So what? Yes, in fact, CEO João Kepler and Bossanova can be proud – not only about the cheques they write, but about the cash they recycle.
The power law is at play, with the top 3 firms responsible for more than half of the exits in this group. The prestige that these firms command makes sense when you think like an LP: if you’re going to give your cash to a VC, then you’re looking for the one with the best track record at giving it back. This trio does that in spades, and it has created a formidable momentum advantage.
There are some notably absent VCs: Y Combinator, who narrowly missed with 11 exits; SoftBank with 10; and DOMO Invest with 9. All 3 were among the most active early-stage investors for the past several years, and their omissions are a reminder that venture capital is a long game. With a payback period of 7-10 years, rapid capital deployment does not necessarily translate to quicker returns. As a growth stage investor, we’d also expect that SoftBank have fewer, larger exits than the others.
Note: Bigger isn’t necessarily better; a taller bar doesn’t make a firm superior. The data shown is a count of deals and doesn’t look at the size of firm’s returns.
The Rundown
💰 One month after launch, Nu Mexico’s savings account reached 1mn users and $58mn deposits. →
🇧🇷 Fintechs are advancing, but profitability is the big challenge, said Brazil’s central bank. →
📄 One in every four global fintechs is located in Latin America or Spain. →
🛩️ The soap opera-saga at Brazilian travel platform Hurb continues its after CEO resigned and the company laid off 40% of staff. →
🏪 Colombian SME marketplace Treinta is now the largest B2B marketplace in the country. →
🏦 Mexico’s Banco Afirma will launch a digital bank, Billú, with an initial investment of $17mn. →
🇦🇷 Argentina now allows international card holders a preferential exchange rate with the ‘foreign tourist dollar’. →
🔻 Open finance platform Belvo laid off 17% of staff. →
🧠 Behind the scenes of success with Mercado Libre founder Marcos Galperin. →
👶🏽 How Chile’s stolen babies are using tech to find their biological families after decades apart. →
🦄 Which startups founded by Hispanic or Black women in the US have become unicorns? →
⚒️ Why are Latin American workers so strikingly unproductive? →
Deals (June 6-12, 2023)
M&A
🇧🇷 Exact Sales, a sales enablement software, was acquired by 🇧🇷 RD Station, a sales and marketing company owned by Totvs. The deal values Exact Sales at $10.5mn and is RD’s biggest M&A to date.
🇪🇸 Santander Brazil announced the acquisition of 37.5% of 🇧🇷 Toro Investimentos, a digital investment brokerage. Santander bought 62.5% of Toro last year; through the deal, it now owns 100%. Financial details were not disclosed.
🇨🇱 U-Payments, a payments platform, announced a merger with 🇨🇱 ultraBNK, a fintech platform for telecommunications businesses. Financial details were not disclosed.
🇮🇹 Sicit Group, an agricultural biotechnology and chemicals products, announced the majority acquisition of 51% of 🇨🇱 PatBio, a plant biostimulant developer. Financial details were not disclosed.
Fundraises
🇺🇸🇨🇴 The Green Coffee Company, a coffee producer, raised $100mn in a mixture of equity and debt: $25mn in Series C equity from a network of 450+ individual investors (Legacy Group); and a $75mn credit facility from undisclosed investors.
🇨🇴 La Haus, a real estate marketplace, raised a $62mn Series C from NFX, Kaszek, Acrew, Bezos Expeditions, and others. The round was completed last year and was originally announced on May 24.
🇧🇷 Superlógica, a real estate management software, raised a $30mn investment from Warburg Pincus.
🇺🇾 Nocnoc, a cross-border ecommerce platform, raised a $16mn Series A led by PayPal Ventures with participation from Mouro Capital, Quona Capital, Caravela Capital, Broadhaven, and Ignia.
🇲🇽 Kinedu, an edtech platform for early childhood development, raised a $6.8mn round from 500 Global. The round was completed in 2022.
🇨🇴 Fanki, a fintech for sports teams, raised a $6mn round from Broom Ventures, Tenacity Venture Capital, Maraton Capitals, and other angels.
🇧🇷 SYOS, a remote monitoring platform for food and medicine production, raised a $2.5mn round from Equus Capital.
🇨🇱 Hackmetrix, a cybersecurity platform, raised a $1.3mn bridge round led by Daedalus Ventures with participation from Matterscale Ventures, Bridge Latam, Dani Undurraga (Cornershop), and other angels.
🇲🇽 VIOO, a marketplace for professional content creation services, raised a $1mn seed led by Wollef with participation from Kima Ventures, 500 LatAm, Colectivo Jaguara, and other angels.
VC Funds
🇧🇷 Brazilian billionaire Eduardo Saverin is in talks to raise a new $500mn early-stage fund for his firm, B Capital Group. It would be the firm’s third Ascent fund.
🇺🇸 Circulate Capital, an environmental impact investor focused on plastics and the circular economy, announced a $65mn commitment to invest in Latin American and Caribbean companies.
🇧🇷 Positive Ventures, a São Paulo-based pre-seed and seed VC, secured $25mn in commitments for its impact fund. The firm’s AUM now exceed $1bn.
🇨🇴 The Colombian Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies announced a $2.4mn investment to create a cybersecurity hub in the country.
🇦🇷 Kamay Ventures, an early-stage CVC firm with funds from Coca Cola and Arcos, announced plans to invest in up to 10 Brazilian startups.
Simon Rodrigues is a consultant, writer, and speaker specialising in strategy and storytelling for early-stage startups.