DEALS

> #M&A Uber acquired  a majority stake in on-demand delivery platform Cornershop, in its first disclosed startup investment in Latin America.

• Earlier this year, Mexican regulator Cofece nixed  Walmart’s US$225m  acquisition of Cornershop, in what would have been the largest VC-backed exit in Chile or Mexico. Asem said at the time the decision discourages innovation.
• Cornershop investors include ALLVP, Accel Partners, Creandum, Grupo Bimbo Family Office, Endeavor Catalyst, Jackson Square Ventures, and others.
• TechCrunch on why Jackson Square Ventures co-led Cornershop’s Series A.
• Cornershop co-founder Chaq Cuevas will be participating in the LAVCA Family Office/VC Workshop  in Santiago on Nov 14 . Qualified investors can REGISTER TO PARTICIPATE HERE.

> Ribbit Capital led a R$35m  investment in Gorila Invest, a Brazilian personal investment management platform, with participation from monashees, Canary, and Iporanga Investimentos.

• Valor says Gorila has 40,000 users and R$5b+ in investments under management on the platform.

> #IMPACT e.bricks Ventures led a R$20m  Series A in Labi, a Brazilian network of clinics offering lab exams at accessible prices. This is the company’s first institutional funding, having previously received investment from angels including Marcelo Lacerda.

• Founder and CEO Marcelo Barboza was former CEO and then Chairman of DASA, the region’s largest medical diagnostic company.
• Labi is targeting the 170 million Brazilians who don’t have healthcare.

> KaszeK Ventures led a R$20m  Series A in SouSmile, a Brazilian direct-to-consumer dental startup, with participation from Canary and Global Founders Capital. The startup has three physical locations  in São Paulo.

• SouSmile raised a US$1.1m seed round from Canary, Global Founders Capital, and R$1.5m from partners and angels.
• Founders include Michael Ruah, Andrea Nazare, Natalia Lombardo, and Alexandre Gama.

> Confrapar invested R$20m  in Ubook, a Brazilian audiobook company. Trivella M3 Investments invested previously.

> KaszeK Ventures led a R$7m  investment in Theia, a Brazilian family support platform founded by Flávia Deutsch and Paula Crespi.

•  READ our interview with Deutsch and Crespi below.

> NXTP Ventures made a US$1.5m  seed investment in Worcket, an Argentine HR SaaS platform that automates screening and applicant tracking for enterprises and SMBs.

>  #AGTECH The Yield Lab invested R$2m  in TerraMagna, a Brazilian agtech risk management platform. Canary invested previously. This is The Yield Lab’s first investment in Brazil.

> #AGTECH Arpac, a Brazilian drone startup for crop spraying, raised R$1.3m  from MOR Capital, Japan’s Drone Fund, and angel Francisco Forbes. 

> #AGTECH Brazilian agtech IDGeo raised R$700k  from angel group Poli Angels. The company raised $R1.5m previously from FAPESP.

> #IMPACT Vox Capital and Kviv Ventures invested R$6m  in VirtusPay, a Brazilian consumer lending platform for making e-commerce purchases with installment payments.

> #IMPACT FIS Ameris 2.0 made an undisclosed  investment in Ciudad Luz, a Chilean solar energy distribution platform.

> #IMPACT Yunus Social Business made an undisclosed  investment in Arbusta, an Argentine sourcing and talent development company focused on providing opportunities for low income youth and women. Arbusta currently has over 300 employees, 95% without formal education.

> DOMO Invest, Bossa Nova Investimentos, and GV Angels invested R$2.2m  in Resolvvi, a Brazilian customer service platform for compensating flight passengers. In 2018, Resolvii raised R$150k from WOW Aceleradora.

> Clean Cloud, a Brazilian cloud management tool for AWS, raised a R$ 1.2m seed round led by Anjos do Brasil, with participation from Bossa Nova Investimentos, GV Angels and other angels.

• CEO Henrique Vaz: "One of the main usages for this seed round is a new product called CleanCloud Score, a compliance product for AWS cloud focused Brazilian regulations such as LGPD (Brazil's version of GDPR) and Bacen 4.658 (Brazilian Central Bank resolution regarding cloud computing usage)."

> Bossa Nova Investimentos made a new investment in Brazilian legaltech Fofuuu.

> Correction: #IMPACT Agritask, an Israeli precision agtech startup, raised a US$8.4m (and not R$5m) Series A from InsuResilience Investment Fund, managed by impact firm BlueOrchard, with participation from Barn InvestImentos.

CVC IN FOCUS 

> Brazilian bus ticketing platform Buser raised an undisclosed  round from SoftBank Latin America Fund and Grupo Globo, with follow-on from Valor Capital, monashees, and Canary.

> #CRYPTO Bitso, a currency exchange platform for trading cryptocurrencies with the Mexican Peso, raised an undisclosed  investment led by Ripple, with participation from Pantera Capital, Jump Capital, Coinbase, and previous investor Digital Currency Group (DCG).

> Independencia, a Peruvian consumer lending platform, raised ~US$5m  from Credicorp, Expertia Travel, and others.

> Retailer Carrefour Brasil acquired a 49% stake  in Ewally, a Brazilian fintech building inclusive banking services on the blockchain.

> Banco Santander México, CONTPAQi, and others invested MX$250m  in Innohub, a company builder for B2B fintechs. The partnership is focused on reaching one million Mexican Pymes and their seven million employees.

> #M&A Grupo Axo acquired  Privalia, a Spain-based e-commerce platform for fashion and household products, as part of a push to drive digital sales for brands it distributes, including Guess, Kate Spade, Tommy Hilfiger, and Nike in Mexico.

• • In 2016, Bitso raised US$2.5m  from Monex Group, Variv Capital, DCG, Xochi Ventures, FundersClub, Bitcoin Capital, and Blockchain Tech Limited.
  • General Atlantic invested  in Grupo Axo in 2017.

NEW MEMBER

> LAVCA welcomes new member Iporanga Ventures.

Iporanga Ventures (formerly Iporanga Investimentos) was founded in 2009 and since 2011 invests in pre-seed and seed-stage Brazilian tech companies. Based in São Paulo, Iporanga Ventures has about US$90m under management across two VC funds, and recently held a first close for Fund II, which has a US$50m target.

 Notable investments: Loggi, Quero Educação, Olist, Netshow.Me

 Key contacts: Leonardo Teixeira  (Managing Partner), Guilherme Assis  (Co-Founder)

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

FUNDS

> ONEVC closed its inaugural US$30m  cross-border seed fund to invest in US and Latin American startups, with an additional US$8m in commitments for special-purpose vehicles to invest in later stage companies.

• Investments include Pipefy, Kovi, Rappi, Rocket.Chat, and Yuca.

> XP Investimentos alums Rodrigo Fiszman, Patricia Stille and Pedro Janot founded Solum Participacoes, with plans to launch a R$150m fund  to invest in Brazilian businesses with no clear market leader. Current portfolio here.

> Trivélla M3 Investimentos is raising a fourth VC fund  with a R$150m target.

IMPACT

>  Congrats to Barn Investimentos for winning  EMPEA’s fourth annual Sustainability and Operational Excellence Challenge for its investment in Strider, a Brazilian agtech pest monitoring platform acquired  by Syngenta in 2018.

• Founding Partner Flavio Zachlis told LAVCA the exit returned the entirety of Fund II.

> #PE BlackRock, in partnership with Ellen MacArthur Foundation, launched its first investment fund dedicated to accelerating the global development of a circular economy, with a US$20m initial fundraise: 

“The circular economy, as a topic of business interest, is not new… and is very relatable…but it has been quite nascent as an investment theme.”

> Barrons: Latin America has emerged as a space for impact investors to seek market-rate returns.

> The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) launched a new report on evaluating impact performance.

> Alterna, in collaboration with New Ventures, is hosting the Latin American Impact Investment Forum for Central America and the Caribbean (FLII CA&C) on November 13-14 in Antigua, Guatemala. More information here.

> LAVCA members have a discount to the GSG Impact Summit, hosted by the Global Steering Group for Impact Investment, taking place Nov. 18-20 in Santiago, Chile. Details here. Contact Catalina Santos (csantos@lavca.org) for information about the discount.

> SocialLab and Walmart are looking for early-stage retail startups for consideration for their Premio Inovacion Sustentable and corporate mentorship with Walmart. Details here.

 ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT: THEIA

Theia, a Brazilian family support platform founded by Flávia Deutsch  (CEO) and Paula Crespi  (COO), just announced a R$7m  investment from KaszeK Ventures, with participation from MAYA Capital and angel investors.

The origin story.

Flavia Deutsch and Paula Crespi met at Stanford GSB at about the same time as Gabriel Braga (Quinto Andar), Mauricio Feldman (Volanty), David Velez (Nubank), and others. Flavia, with a background in financial markets, and Paula, a veteran of Whirlpool Latin America, exited the program with plans to start something tech or fintech-based.

After years in two successful fintechs in Brazil, Deutsch had her second child. “I got to know Monica Saggioro at MAYA Capital at the time. We quit our jobs and started working on something with a proposito forte. Since the beginning we wanted to emprender, but there are very few women in this industry. We wanted to do something that would bring more women to tech. So we started looking at a big market with a clear pain point, where tech could make an impact.”

Deutsch is not an outlier; she notes that almost half of all women in Brazil’s workforce leave their jobs within a year of giving birth. In other words, parenting while holding a job is “especially difficult for women.” And it’s not just a problem in Brazil; the Theia founders cite similar dropout rates in other Latin American countries, as well as the US.

How can technology be brought to bear? Theia is a family support platform that accompanies parents from the moment they’re thinking about parenting, through raising children while working.

Theia’s mission: Empower parents to be successful, healthy and happy at home and at work.

The platform, which is pre-launch, will include a content play, as well as a team of healthcare and family care professionals available 24 hours a day for advice and questions, ranging from doctors to psychologists and nutritionists, covering topics from sleeping, breastfeeding, pediatrics, and career coaching. “The goal is to be where families go to resolve their problems.”

And to create a sense of belonging: There will also be a Comunidade de Pertecimento, a “Community of Belonging,” to connect parents in similar phases of life. “Once you become a parent, you’re never alone again, but you’ve never felt so lonely,” says Flavia, “when the reality is that a lot of other people are dealing with the same issues.”

There are a number of healthtech startups tackling the early parenting trajectory, including Cleo and Maven in the US, backed by NEA and Sequoia respectively, as well as BabyTree (China) and Motherhood (India/Malaysia), that the Theia founders refer to as inspirations.

Theia specifically hopes to help businesses with retention of women employees through its offering, and the founders are starting with early adopter businesses that are “already thinking about diversity, women in leadership and family benefits.”

On raising venture capital for a family-related platform.

Theia raised R$7m  from KaszeK Ventures, MAYA Capital and angel investors. “Our fundraising process was much easier than it would have been 2-3 years earlier,” says Deutsch. “When we came back from the MBA, VC was a totally different reality in Brazil than it is now. It was much more difficult then.”

“It is a good moment for all-women founders with the potential to make something really big. It’s a hot topic now,” says Deutsch. "We are one of the few if not the only team of female founders in the portfolios of our investors, and it differentiated us.”

“It was a lot of excitement when we met with investors in Brazil,” says Crespi. “I think it’s a reflex of the market, as well as our background working on growth at other startups. We perceived a lot of openness and excitement, particularly with KaszeK.”

“We had to check all the boxes they were evaluating,” adds Deutsch, “and if you check all the boxes and you’re a woman, it’s a momento propicio.”

In addition to the support from KaszeK and MAYA Capital, the Theia founders add that the Stanford MBA network, and particularly the Latin American startup founders they crossed paths with, created a “super network” for them that has been “fundamental in every step of the process, from thinking about industry/ideation, fundraising, who to speak with and how, how to plan for the future, advice and validation of what we’re doing and actually investing in our business as angels.”
 

STARTUPS

> David Velez of Nubank says, “We are growing quickly”: Nubank has passed the 15 million customer mark ; 10 million of those customers have a Nubank card.

> #BIOTECH OneSkin, an anti-aging biotech startup featured at LAVCA’s 2019 Venture Investors Annual Meeting, shared results from their first human trial  and is preparing to launch its first consumer product in the US. Propel Venture Partners, and others.

> #BIOTECH Matias Muchnick of NotCo (via LinkedIn): "#NotMilk  has become the #1 selling Plant-Based milk in Jumbo after 1 week of sales (according to Cencosud’s weekly share report). This is happening in Chile and will be replicated in other geographies very soon!"

> SmartBank, a Brazilian digital banking services platform incubated by Banco Indusval and The Hive, and backed by Valor Capital, launched in Brazil  and announced a partnership with Omie, a cloud ERP/CRM solution for small businesses.

> #CRYPTO NXTP Ventures partnered with RSK, an Argentine open source smart contract platform, to launch a blockchain accelerator  in Latin America

> SoftBank-backed AI startup CloudMinds expanded to LatAm  via Chile.

> Spanish fintech BNext raised a US$25m  Series A from DN Capital, Speedinvest, Red Alpine, and others, with follow-on from VARIV Capital.

> Y Combinator published a list of their 2019 Top Companies by valuation. Rappi is #11, Grin is #27, Quero Education is #75.

> Check out LAVCA’s list of 258 Latin American startups  with at least US$1m in VC funding, verified by LAVCA, our Unicorn Leaderboard, and our Inaugural Survey of Latin American Startups .

> VC investment in Latin American startups has quadrupled since 2016 to a record US$2b in 2018, according to LAVCA data. Access LAVCA’s Annual Review of Tech Investment in Latin America  for the details.

> LAVCA is hosting Family Office/VC Workshops in Medellin  (Nov. 12 @RutaN) and Santiago de Chile  (Nov. 14 @Carey).

• CONFIRMED Fund Manager Q&A with Rodrigo Baer, Partner, Redpoint eventures in Medellin.
• CONFIRMED Fireside Chats with Matias Muchick, CEO, NotCo, and Chaq Cuevas, Co-Founder, Cornershop, in Santiago.
• This half-day program will focus on how to best prepare your portfolio companies to receive follow-on capital.
•  Special thanks to lead sponsor Amazon Web Services, Inc., and hosts RutaN and Carey for their support to deliver practical training to Latin America’s emerging cohort of tech investors.
• Participation is by invitation only. Qualified investors can:
  •  REGISTER for Medellin on Nov. 12 HERE
     REGISTER for Santiago on Nov. 14 HERE

> Check out the recap   from LAVCA’s 2019 Venture Investors Annual Meeting  in New York.

>  Julia Figuereido of Silicon Valley Bank shares a recap of SVB’s international delegation to Mexico City and Guadalajara  in September.

>   Are you a woman in STEM? IDB Lab and WeXchange are conducting important research on the current state of women entrepreneurs in STEM in LatAm. The report will be presented at WeXchange this year. WeXchange  is taking place November 13-14 in Asuncion, Paraguay. 

> Join LAVCA at AMEXCAP's Mexico VC Day, Oct. 17th in San Francisco, in partnership with LatinSF. Register here . 

> Demo Day for BNDES Garagem is Oct. 22 in Rio. Investors can email programa@bndesgaragem.com.br  to request an invite.

> Endeavor Chile’s Investor Network hosts a meeting in Lima  on Oct. 25. Endeavor Colombia’s Investor Network hosts a meeting in Bogotá  on Oct. 29. For more info, contact Patrick Alex, palex@endeavor.cl  (Chile) and Camila Salamanca, camila.salamanca@endeavor.org.co  (Colombia).

> The University of Cambridge is hosting its first Latin American Business Summit (LABS), a five-day event in Santiago, Chile Nov. 3-8. Details here.

> Scotiabank is hosting the Latin America Innovation & Disruption Forum in Mexico City on November 12-13. Topics include retail, tech media & telecom, food & beverage, cannabis, and financials. Details here. 📧 Contact  Marcela Villarreal (marcela.villarreal@scotiabank.com ) to participate.

> Foro IDEA 2019 is bringing reproductive rights and tech innovation center stage on Nov. 12 in Guatemala: http://iniciativaidea.org/foro-idea/#top

> The Pacific Alliance  (Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru) are hosting the VII Innovation Summit of The Pacific Alliance, November 20-21 in San Francisco, California. More information here.

> Investors from MAYA Capital, Innova Capital, Positive Ventures, Wayra Brasil, Google, and others are offering free mentoring for female entrepreneurs through Female Force LATAM. XX entrepreneurs, sign up here for free mentoring  and spread the word. #CHANGETHERATIO

DATA

> Crunchbase News shares LAVCA’s 1H2019 VC data in As Billions Flow Into Latin America, Its Startup Scene Scales :

According to LAVCA, Colombian startups netted about US$1.06b in VC funding combined over 13 transactions. Meanwhile, 88 Brazilian startups raised US$989m across 88 deals. Mexico was the next largest recipient of venture funding dollars, with 34 startups raising US$310m. Collectively, the three markets made up 91.9% of the dollars invested and 84.9% of the deal count during the first half of 2019.

> Term Sheet: Mega-deals are on pace to set a new record high in 2019. A total of 185 US$100m+ deals have closed so far this year, which is nearing 2018’s full-year total, according to a new PitchBook-NVCA report .

> Crunchbase News: SoftBank is no stranger to being one of the deepest capital pools in all of tech. Yet the extent of its role is nonetheless staggering. Analysis by Crunchbase News finds that: