LatAm Tech Weekly
#63 - Powered by Nasdaq: Endeavor Brazil's Encounter, Q3 numbers for VC, news on PIX, Prize's potencial SPAC and much more!
Happy Sunday!
Yesterday I had the honor of spending the day at Endeavor Brazil’s Weekend for Entrepreneurs. It is a special occasion – as the main founders of the region get together (along with their families) in a location outside São Paulo for an entire weekend of connections, content and exchange of ideas. To name a few: Alessio (Pipefy), Sergio (Creditas), Tiago (Olist), Leonardo (Córtex), Vander (Beep), Mariana (Gupy), Marcelo (Omie) and so many others were there. Apart from the attendance, the highlight was the panel with Marina Klink and Amyr Klink – talking about the importance of partnership, family and support to make one’s life memorable. Manoel Lemos’ speech, previous Redpoint and now one of the spearheads (together with Anderson Thees) of Itau’s new venture capital strategy was also impactful. It is a true gift to be able to participate in such gatherings. Congrats to the Endeavor team and thanks for the invite! Simply unforgettable.
As you all know, the main objective of this newsletter is to help and highlight everything that is happening in the LatAm Tech Ecosystem. With that in mind, today I will share with you an effort being conducted by Comp, a Brazilian compensation tech startup, together with stakeholders such as Endeavor, Google and AWS. In order to gather the largest, fresh source of compensation & benefits benchmarks and insights for Brazilian startups and scaleups, they are conducting a research with the industry. If you would like to participate, click here. Note that only participants will receive access to the market data. Participation closes on Nov 1st - so hurry!
Follow me on LinkedIn , Instagram or Twitter for daily updates!
Opinions expressed here are solely my own and does not represent those of people, institutions, organizations that I may or may not be associated with in any capacity, unless explicitly stated.
CB Insights released its latest State of Venture Report for Q3, showing that the global venture ecosystem continued its slowdown in Q3 as funding decreased 34% QoQ, to USD 74.5bn in a total of 7,936 deals. Looking at Latin America, we saw 226 deals, with 105 happening in Brazil. Despite the negative data, it is always important to point out that the volume is still greater than what was seen in 2020 and 2019 (and high on a historical basis), showing that 2021 might be the actual outlier. Also, fundraising rose to record highs during this quarter - signaling that things might get better soon.
Taking a closer look, Pitchbook data showed that US VC fundraising has already set a new annual high of USD 150.9 bn in 2022. The quarter saw investors including Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures and Lightspeed close funds with more than USD 1 bn in commitments. With the so-called “experienced managers” raising the majority of the available capital - emerging funds are having a hard time to raise due to the current market conditions.
I also read a very interesting piece featured in the A16Z website this week that I think will be useful to many readers: Brazil’s Surprising Fintech Tailwind written by general partner Angela Strange and Flora Oliveira. It basically explains how the country’s regulation and Central Bank’s stance is proving to be extremely beneficial for fintechs and for the population in general. In fact, since 2009, 75mm Brazilians have gained access to financial services - from 57% banked to 86%. The article describes topics such as PIX, Open Banking, the unbundling of the banking license, payment acquiring, the regulatory sandboxes for insuretechs and what might be in store in the future for the Brazilian fintech ecosystem. It is an easy and straightforward read - if you want to understand all of the changes that are occurring, be sure to check it out.
MONDAY
Brazil-based bank Itaú Unibanco and software firm Totvs have received a Brazilian antitrust approval, without conditions, to operate a digital platform of financial services focused on small and medium-sized companies - “Techfin”.
Tienda Pago, Peru and Mexico-based SME-focused lending platform raised a USD 12 mm series B led by Women's World Banking Asset Management and IDC Ventures, with participation from Alumni Ventures and existing investors Kaszek, and QED, among others. The company provides SMBs with working capital via short-term inventory financing.
News in the PIX front: now an individual can pay for a purchase using PIX from a participating bank using the combined balance coming from another bank due to open finance. Itau, for example, will allow customers to conduct a Pix from the bank’s app using the balance of another bank.
Only 15% of startups in Brazil is founded by women.
TUESDAY
Pulpo, Mexican cloud-based fleet operation software that maximizes vehicle utilization, saves costs, and reduces management time, raised a USD 8mm seed round with Cracks Fund, FEMSA Ventures and others.
Mastercard debuts crypto-trading service tied to bank accounts in Brazil, Israel and US.
Nuvemshop fires around 50 employees - in an attempt focused on cost cutting.
Locaweb hosted its Investor Day with the Company’s CEO, CFO and founders from acquired companies who elucidated the business case for investors. Locaweb was able to show a number of use cases through which it was clear to see an evolution of integration among solutions. For example, Tray is natively integrated into Vindi, which ensures clients a harmonic workflow.
WEDNESDAY
Trocafone, leading startup focused in the purchase and sale of used cell phones in Brazil, earned BRL 300 mm in 2021. The company that has sold almost 2 million used devices in eight years and expects to grow 40% in 2022, with a gross revenue of BRL 500 mm. With the objective of creating a more complete portfolio for retail, Trocafone acquired Grupo PLL, the market leader in service and after-sales service for insurance companies, retail and mobile operators for a total of BRL 125 mm.
Netflix added 300,000 subscribers in LatAm in Q3 - the region contributed with 39 mm paid memberships to the streaming service by the end of the quarter ended September 30.
Crypto: Nubank announced its own cryptocurrency starting in 2023 as part of its rewards program; Visa partnered with crypto exchange FTX to launch debit cards in 40 new countries, BNY Mellon launched their crypto custody platform.
Ualá announced the launch of Ualá Bis in Colombia, an instant payments solution for businesses for in-person or online sales. Ualá Bis operates with the most competitive fees in the Colombian market (2.89%) and it’s also available in Argentina and Mexico.
THURSDAY
Rose Hill Acquisition Corp., Nasdaq listed SPAC, said it has agreed to merge with Inversiones e Inmobilaria GHC Ltda., a Chile-based exporter of superfruits that is also known as Prize. The deal, expected to close in the first quarter of 2023, would give the combined company an enterprise value of $425 million. If this happens, it would be the first Chilean enterprise to initially list directly on a U.S. exchange.
Over the course of 2022, the volume of funds raised by managers to invest in Brazil already totals USD 617 mm, according to data from KPMG's Venture Pulse. The amount accumulated in 9 months is in line with that observed in 2021, when it was USD 782 mm.
FRIDAY
Menta, the Argentina-based embedded payments platform raised a $6 million seed round led by Base10 with the participation of previous investors Pear VC, Matterscale, and Gilgamesh. The company offers a white-label plug-and-play payment processing solution for B2B companies.
B3 acquires startup of technology solutions Datastock for BRL 80 mm, BRL 50mm paid in cash and BRL 30 mm in an eanr out of up to 5 years.
On another note…
What did I learn from readers?
A fintech founder sent over CB Insights’ State of Fintech Q3 report. It basically shows that (in line with the general trend) global fintech funding fell 38% QoQ, to USD 12.9bn, matching the level seen in Q4 2020. Fintech unicorn births fell below double digits for the first time since 2020, with just 6 new unicorns in Q3’22.
What am I reading?
What did I listen/watch?
JOB POST:
If you want your jobs posted here, just follow the steps:
1. Create your Account - It is 100% free;
2. Sign-in and open a "new project";
3. Complete the "job Description" (Will help you be more effective);
And you are ready to go! All the new jobs created till every Thursday night will be Posted!
NEW JOBS:
Director of Engineering - Zero Hash
Product Director Market Place - Confidential Company
JOBS (Still open):
Sales Operations Manager (US Based) - Confidential Company
Consultor Comercial - Pro Solutti
Sales Operations Manager (US Based) - Confidential Company
Consultor Comercial - Pro Solutti
One Laudos - Assistente Comercial
Quote of the week:
“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost; The old that is strong does not wither, Deep roots are not reached by the frost.” - Lord of the Rings - J.R.R Tolkien