Happy Sunday!
I am writing directly from Austin, Texas since I am attending the SXSW event! I arrived this past Thursday, and the event started on Friday – with that, this week and the next the format of the newsletter will be a bit different. By the way: it is my first time at SXSW, so I am definetely very excited in being here and also overwhelmed by all the info absorbed and people I met these past days. Can’t wait to share some highlights with you!
This week, I will follow the usual days of the week with the most important news of LatAm Tech from Monday-Thursday. From Friday on, I will highlight what I found most interesting within the event, that actually ran until today, Sunday. Next week, I will dedicate a big chunck of the newsletter to the event as well, since I am leaving Austin on Wednesday – if you have been here, you know the amount of information that is provided (disregarding the constant FOMO feeling!
Coming back to this week, on Tuesday we celebrated the International Women’s Day! Being a women in a male dominated industry (finance & technology) I can say first hand that we have still a long way to go. Even though it is a fact that companies in general are now focusing more on ESG and thus hiring more women, the same cannot be said to promotions. A recent study conducted by McKinsey showed that only 1 out of 4 companies consider promoting women a priority. The same study also indicated that companies that have women in higher positions show a greater growth (usually 50%).
Now – let’s go ahead to the week’s news… Please bear in mind that these are strictly my opinion, based on my background and personal interests. Feel free to share this newsletter with anyone who might be interested – to subscribe, just click on the link below!
PS: This is a LatAm Tech newsletter - there is no way to ignore what is happening in Ukraine - and in the world for that matter. However, I will leave comments on the topic to the experts on the subject.
Minka, open banking cloud that allows users to connect to banks and other financial service providers, as well as build financial products in a short time. raised $12.4M in a Venture Capital round with the participation of Kaszek.
Klivo, Brazilia healthtech solving the gap in the health system that deal with chronic non-communicable diseases, announced an extension to its BRL45mm Series A by Valor Capital through Yaya Capital and Kortex Ventures.
Cayena, Brazilian startup that delivers inventory marketplace for food preparation businesses, announced a Series A II of USD 17.5mm, with the participation of Astella, FJ Labs and others.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!!!!!
Trela, formerly know as Zapt, company that operates a platform allowing groups of people to purchase products at discount, raised a Series A of USD 25mm in a round led by Softbank.
Glorify, Christian daily worship and wellbeing app that helps users get into good worship habits, raised another USD40 mm in a round led by Softbank.
Mara, Brazilian e-commerce that offers groceries at wholesale price with next day delivery, raised USD6mm in a seed round with investors such as Canary.
Flash, HR company that develops a platform for flexible benefits for companies and employees, raised USD122mm in a Series C led by Battery Ventures and Whale Rock
Contabilizei, Brazilian accounting platform designed for micro and SMBs focused on the service and commerce sectors with the objective of reducing bureaucracy, raised a Series C of USD 60mm led by Softbank.
As the SXSW starts - and three days pass by - I get rapidly to the conclusion that the more we learn, the more we know less - given we are everyday more aware as to the dimension of the gap on what you still need to know. This is what I felt everyday at SXSW.
Itau BBA sent a team here - and we compiled all of our notes and thoughts by panel throughout the days in a new product called Itau BBA Inside SXSW. Worth the read if you want to get a detailed sense on what was discussed in the main panels
I will then share here my reflections, based on the three first days of the festival, given all of the information I absorbed. While the panels are great, the experience is much more than the panels - we are talking about immersions, human interactions, networking - and my thoughts will therefore take into account all of these factos.
Thoughts & Reflections Day 1-3 SXSW
I heard the word “Metaverse” and the “Web 3.0” concept in every interaction that I had. While many are skeptic as to what Facebook (Meta) will actually deliver, they are all bullish on the concept and on its final objective. Web 3.0 comes to democratize and allow access of the entire population to the Web (something that was not achieved by Web 2.0).
Important to note that even though now NFTs and Web 3.0 are hot topics, in 2020 NFT sales were only of USD 82.5mm, while in 2021 represented USD 18bn.
According to a panel from Pitchbook, Web 3.0 and De-Fi are currently the main sector for new startups - in 2020, the concept was unseen in this list.
In the Metaverse, someone could pretend to be someone else quite easily, very different from the physical world, fraud prevention industry will materially change
Gaming is everything - it started the Metaverse concept, it connects people and generates billions in revenues.
Happiness is “the number of meaningful relationships you have” - to unlock happiness, make sure you have solid relationships.
What are the different “Webs”? Simple explanation:
Web 1: Using, AOL
Web 2: Creating, social media
Web 3: Owning, digital ownership on the blockchain.
Synthetic products in the blockchain are becoming more common - the question is if the regulating entities will allow this to occur.
“If you find it difficult to manage your passwords, imagine having to manage different version of you in the Metaverse”?
What am I reading?
Itau BBA Inside SXSW. Take a look here to see our bullet points by panel!
What did I listen/watch?
Fintech Leaders Podcast by Miguel Armaza - Interview with Paulo Passoni, from Softbank
Quote of the week:
"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable". Banksy
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