Silicon Valley Bank seeks forgiveness from Latin America
WeWork to declare bankruptcy. What is Deep Tech? To reduce dependence on China, Japan will invest USD$13 billion in Latin America. Oxxo’s fintech, records a 105.8% user growth in just one year..
Welcome to our weekly newsletter covering the latest news and trends in the Latin American startup scene.
Can Silicon Valley Bank Regain Latin America’s Trust After Its Crisis?
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is looking to regain its Latin American clientele and is searching for a leader to direct business in the region. SVB recently posted a job opening for a vice president of business development in Latin American startups.
The bank's reputation was impacted by its bankruptcy and subsequent acquisition, leading to a migration of funds to other financial entities. However, SVB is working to restore trust and assets, and customers are returning as they become aware of the bank's financial stability.
SVB faces competition from other institutions and fintechs that took advantage of the situation. Despite the challenges, SVB's commitment to the region remains strong, as it has a specialized focus and understanding of startup and investor needs.
Vía Contxto
WeWork is one step away from filing for bankruptcy protection
WeWork, the flexible workspace company, is reportedly on the verge of bankruptcy. The company, once valued at USD$47 billion, faced setbacks when its IPO failed and its co-founder was ousted.
The COVID-19 pandemic worsened its situation. WeWork's stocks have plummeted, and it is considering declaring bankruptcy next week. Softbank, a major investor, has also suffered losses.
WeWork has accumulated losses of USD$9.6 billion in the past three years. Meanwhile, co-founder Adam Neumann has started a new project called Flow.
Vía Contxto
Deep Tech Disruptors
Deep technology refers to groundbreaking advancements in areas such as AI, biotechnology, and new materials. These advancements have the potential to solve complex problems, drive economic growth, propel scientific exploration, improve quality of life, promote sustainability, and provide a competitive advantage.
Deep tech is set to create major impacts across sectors like AI/ML, robotics, SpaceTech, BioTech, and quantum computing. It can optimize manufacturing workflows, enhance energy efficiency, automate processes, create immersive experiences, personalize user experiences, ensure trust and transparency, provide space-based services, facilitate pharmaceutical discoveries, aid in decision-making, streamline manufacturing, improve transportation, enable predictive maintenance, enhance data security, and promote regulatory compliance.
Deep tech startups face challenges in talent acquisition, funding, product development, operations, and societal impact. Despite these hurdles, deep tech founders persevere in addressing comprehensive challenges and driving innovation. Deep tech is revolutionizing computing and automation, breaking new ground in SpaceTech and BioTech, and accelerating quantum computing and AI.
Vía Curious Compass
Quick News
Grupo Bimbo joins as an investor in Kamay Ventures to strengthen LatAm startups
Grupo Bimbo, the leading bakery company, has joined Kamay Ventures, the first corporate venture capital fund in Latin America.
About the partnership. The partnership aims to boost innovative solutions in regional startups and strengthen socioeconomic and environmental development in Latin America.
About Kamay Ventures. Kamay Ventures, managed by Overboost, assesses and invests in startups, with support from technological partners like IBM, AWS, and Oracle. The fund has already invested in 12 startups and plans to invest in up to 30 projects with an average investment of USD$300,000 per project. (Contxto)
Pluria solves the hybrid work dilemma in Latin America
Pluria, a startup founded in 2020, aims to keep distributed teams connected by providing access to nearby workspaces.
Highlights. Pluria is currently present in 13 countries, primarily in Latin America. The founders believe in the power of in-person collaboration and flexible work models.
The opportunity in LatAm. The expansion into Latin America was driven by the region's emerging market, opportunities, and the hiring ground it provides for American companies. (Contxto)
50 Mexican startups shine in the HEINEKEN Green Challenge 2023
HEINEKEN conducted its Green Challenge in Mexico, showcasing the innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
The competition. The competition adopted a virtual format for regional selections, featuring startups from different regions of Mexico over four consecutive days.
Highlights. The challenge received over 4,000 projects from 1,388 universities and has supported over 12,000 Mexican entrepreneurs. The best projects will be awarded prizes on November 15th, including MXN USD$650,000 for first place. (Contxto)
TravelTech Lab, a collaboration between B2B HBX Group, Wayra, and the NYU School of Professional Studies, has launched the second edition of its innovation challenge.
About the challenge. The challenge calls for startups and students to propose how emerging technologies like virtual reality and the metaverse can be applied to optimize processes and enhance the traveler's experience in the B2B travel sector.
Value proposition. Selected startups will receive mentoring, access to the Wayra ecosystem, and the opportunity to work with HBX Group on joint projects. The initiative aims to drive tangible change in the travel industry. (Contxto)
Wbuild offers real estate investment starting at USD$50
Chilean startup Wbuild has partnered with real estate company Echeverría Izquierdo to launch its first tokenized investment opportunity.
About the project. The project involves a 37m2 apartment in the Macul commune, known for its tranquility and proximity to commercial and educational spaces. The apartment is expected to have high appreciation value and investors can participate with a minimum investment of 100,000 pesos.
Value proposition. Wbuild aims to democratize real estate investments by allowing anyone to acquire square meters of a property through blockchain technology. (Contxto)
500 Global strengthens its presence in LatAm with investments in 12 emerging startups
Investment fund 500 Global has invested in 12 promising Latin American startups through its funding program called Somos Lucha.
About the program. The startups are from Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, and span various industries including FinTech, AdTech, and HealthTech. The fund provides not only financial support but also 16 weeks of intensive work to help the startups with product development, growth strategy, fundraising, and management.
Highlights. 500 Global has previously invested over USD$39 million in more than 260 projects in Latin America. These investments highlight the belief in the region's potential for innovation. (Contxto)
NEORIS and SAP AppHaus opens in Mexico
NEORIS and SAP have partnered to open AppHaus in Monterrey, Mexico, the first of its kind in the country. NEORIS invested USD$150,000 for the opening and plans to allocate USD$1 million to various projects over the next five years.
About the partnership. The space will assist Mexican companies in identifying their needs, seizing innovation opportunities, and delivering solutions tailored to their operations. The team consists of over 20 experts in technology and design.
Highlights. The SAP AppHaus Network aims to provide scalable and customizable solutions for organizations to become agile, intelligent, and sustainable businesses. (Contxto)
CIVLAC launches the Climate Tech 2023 challenge, seeking innovative climate solutions in LatAm
Registration is now open for the Climate Tech 2023 challenge, a regional competition in Latin America and the Caribbean aimed at addressing climate change.
Highlights. The challenge is backed by over 15 leading corporations and aims to connect startups with large companies to solve environmental issues. Sponsors include Telefónica Movistar, Enel, Siemens Energy, and Viña Concha y Toro.
About the challenge. The challenge encourages companies to adopt or develop technologies that reduce carbon emissions, promote the circular economy, and innovate in sustainable energies. (Contxto)
Leroy Merlin and Pefisa launch ‘Leroy Merlin Pay’, a revolutionary financial platform
Home improvement retailer Leroy Merlin has partnered with fintech company Pefisa to launch Leroy Merlin Pay, a financial platform that provides various services to assist customers in their purchasing process.
Value proposition. The platform allows users to view invoices, make advance payments, transfer money, and more. It also offers the option to request loans, insurance, and investments, as well as access to a loyalty program.
Highlights. Additionally, Leroy Merlin has introduced the Celebre card, which offers specialized packages and payment options. The card can be used for payments in installments, with different interest rates depending on the card type. (Contxto)
The Yield Lab Latam announced an investment in the Mexican agtech Solena AG
The Yield Lab Latam, a venture capital firm in Latin America, has invested in Solena AG, a Mexican agricultural technology company focused on the study of the soil microbiome.
Highlights. The investment is part of a Series A funding round worth $6 million. The Yield Lab Latam sees potential in Mexico's agricultural market and the growing demand for traceability.
Value proposition. They aim to support sustainable agriculture and enhance the profitability of farmers. Solena aims to reduce reliance on pesticides and improve soil health through genomic analysis and the prescription of optimal inputs. (Contxto)
Nippy Center opens its doors in Mexico City
Argentinian startup Nippy has expanded its operations to Mexico City and aims to capture 25% of the market in less than a year. In just 15 minutes after opening its first center in Mexico City, over 3,000 users registered on the Nippy app.
Value proposition. The center provides services for delivery drivers, including access to facilities, snacks, and rewards. Nippy aims to provide benefits and social services to independent workers in the gig economy.
The importance of. The startup plans to rapidly grow throughout Latin America, addressing the working conditions of emerging employees in the region. (Contxto)
The Colombian startup Yuno partners with Bamboo Payment for cross-border payments in LatAm
Colombian startup Yuno has partnered with Bamboo Payment, a transaction manager from Uruguay, to optimize and streamline international transactions for Latin American organizations.
The partnership. The alliance aims to redefine international transactions, making them faster and more cost-effective for regional businesses.
Highlights. It seeks to overcome the challenges of global trade and provide a simpler and more inclusive way for businesses of all sizes to participate in the global market. (Contxto)
Miami hosts the BIOHUNT Summit 2023, boosting Latin American biotechnology on the global stage
Miami will host the BIOHUNT Summit Miami 2023, a biotech summit aimed at connecting Latin American startups with the global biotech ecosystem.
The event. The event will focus on investment opportunities for Latin startups in international markets and provide networking opportunities. Over 20 startups from various Latin American countries will showcase their projects to investors.
Highlights. The Ganesha Lab and the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) Miami are organizing the event. The summit aims to strengthen scientific entrepreneurship in Latin America and help startups stand out in a competitive market. (Contxto)
500 Global selects startups for its Somos Lucha program
Venture capital company 500 Global has announced the 12 startups selected for its Batch 19 program in Mexico City.
About the program. Named Somos Lucha, this program offers investment and a 16-week intensive program to help professionalize leaders and founders.
Highlights. The startups selected come from Mexico, Colombia, and Chile and operate in various industries including fintech, agtech, and healthtech. (Contxto)
The Ukrainian Edtech Mate Academy arrives in Brazil with an employment-based payment model
Ukrainian edtech startup Mate Academy is entering the Brazilian market with an initial investment of USD$500,000.
Value proposition. The company offers programming education and has localized two of its courses into Portuguese. Mate Academy's flagship course is offered at no initial cost, with payments only starting once the student secures a job and committing to returning 12% of their monthly salary for 36 months.
Growth plans. Mate Academy aims to increase its student cohort to 100 by 2024. The company previously operated in Ukraine and Poland and received $1.9 million in funding for international expansion. (Contxto)
Bioelements seeks to become the new unicorn of LATAM
Ignacio Parada da Fonseca, a Chilean entrepreneur, founded Bioelements, a startup that produces sustainable containers made from BioE resin.
Highlights. Recognizing the need for scientific expertise, he partnered with universities and laboratories in Latin America.
About Bioelements. The startup expanded operations to Peru and Mexico, with Mexico being the most significant market. In January 2023, Bioelements raised USD$30 million in series A funding, achieving a valuation of USD$200 million. (Contxto)
Japan to invest USD$13 billion in regions such as Latin America
Japan plans to invest over USD$13 billion in developing countries, particularly in regions like Latin America, to strengthen ties and support their growth. The investment will come from Japanese companies with public assistance.
Value proposition. The focus of the investments will be on addressing social challenges like reducing carbon emissions and digitalization. Japan aims to encourage startups to enter the emerging markets of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania.
Highlights. The investments will be used to support infrastructure development and promote economic expansion in the Global South. (Contxto)
Spin, Oxxo’s fintech, records a 105.8% user growth in just one year
Mexican convenience store chain Oxxo has seen significant growth in its fintech platform, Spin. The user base doubled in the past year, reaching 8.8 million customers by September.
Spin KPIs. Spin attracted 1.2 million new users between July and September, with a monthly growth rate of 6.2%. About 72.5% of the users are active, indicating trust in the platform. Monthly transactions increased by 15.6% in the third quarter.
Spin Premia. Oxxo also has a loyalty program called Spin Premia, which gained 3.8 million new users in the last quarter, totaling 36.6 million by September. (Contxto)
Finds
tools, websites, and accessories
AI Business Plan Generator. Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistance can help entrepreneurs create personalized and compelling business plan executive summaries in seconds, saving them time and effort.
Graft. Graft provides a holistic AI platform that allows users to experiment with a variety of models, deploy them in a production environment, and solve specific business problems.
GetMax. GetMax is an AI content marketer that helps startups with their content marketing needs. It offers features such as identifying customer profiles, defining value propositions, creating personalized content strategies, generating engaging topics, automated content creation, and one-click posting.
Food for Thought
Rigorous thinking: No lazy thinking
Rigorous thinking is a systematic approach to problem-solving that involves asking critical questions and making decisions based on evidence and logic. The author emphasizes that leaders should create a culture of rigorous thinking within their teams, where ideas are encouraged but must be defended and supported with data.
They contrast rigorous thinking with lazy thinking, which involves making assumptions without questioning them. The author also stresses the importance of psychological safety and supportive communication in fostering rigorous thinking and healthy debates within the team.
Overall, rigorous thinking enables leaders and their teams to make better decisions, avoid mistakes, and achieve higher quality work. (Wes Kao's Newsletter)The people who ruined the internet
The article explores the world of SEO and the people who engage in this practice. The author attends a party in Florida where they meet digital marketers who specialize in SEO.
Initially hoping to witness these marketers face consequences for their actions, the author realizes that many of them are actually sympathetic individuals. They interview various SEO professionals, who share their experiences and explain the evolution of the industry.
While some claim that SEO is in decline, others argue that it remains relevant in various forms of online marketing. The article concludes with the author reflecting on the discrepancy between online behavior and real-life interactions. (The Verge)Usage-Based Pricing Is Popular, But Is It Right For You? Our Rule of Thumb
The article discusses the pros and cons of switching to a usage-based pricing model for SaaS companies. It suggests that usage-based pricing works best for SaaS products that cater to software-to-software customers, as it allows for easy tracking, billing, and capping of usage.
However, for SaaS products with human end users, subscription-based models are more suitable, as human users do not want to monitor their usage and be charged for every action. The article also highlights that usage-based pricing is more effective for software-to-software products due to their potential for exponential growth in usage. Additionally, it mentions that software-to-software products often have higher marginal costs, making usage-based pricing more economically viable.
The article concludes by acknowledging that pricing models can vary and suggests considering a hybrid model based on cost structures, customer needs, and product nature. (A16z)
Worthy Recommendations
Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines, recommended by Pluralytics Cofounder and CEO Alisa Miller.
Human Work in the Age of Smart Machines. “This book came out only a short time before the generative-AI wave but is even more relevant today when we talk about human talent in an age of smart machines.”, Alisa says.
Jobs
Closer at Croct (São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil; Remote)
Account Manager at Navori Labs (Querétaro, Mexico; Hybrid)
Merchant Acquisition Sr. Executive Online Payments at Clip (Mexico City, Mexico; Hybrid)
Demand Generation Manager at Directive (Toluca, México, Mexico; Remote)
Head of growth at Netvagas (Latin America; Remote)
Deals
These startups and companies received capital this week:
Jobecam | HRtech | Seed. Brazilian Jobecam, an HRTech startup, has received a R $2 million investment from BID Lab, the Innovation Laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank. Jobecam uses artificial intelligence to eliminate biases in talent selection and aims to increase diversity in companies.
Enerlink | Energy services | Not specified. Chilean startup Enerlink has raised USD$3.6 million in funding and plans to expand into the Mexican market while continuing operations in Peru and Colombia. The company initially offered advisory services to energy-consuming companies but later developed a system to optimize the charging of electric vehicles, which has become its fastest-growing area.
Axify | Fintech | Venture. Mexican fintech startup Axify has raised USD$1.3m in funding from Alpha Impact 8 and Avalancha Ventures. Axify offers a "buy now, pay later" model that allows users to make purchases and pay for them in installments without incurring debt or high-interest rates.
Fracttal | SaaS | Series B. Chilean startup Fracttal has raised over USD$10 million in a Series B funding round led by Kayyak Ventures, with participation from BBVA Spark and existing investor GoHub Ventures. Fracttal provides a cloud-based mobile solution with AI for asset maintenance and management, helping companies monitor their processes in a sustainable and efficient manner.
Magical | Startups accelerator | New fund. Acceleration firm Magical has launched a USD$5 million investment fund to support startups in Latin America. The fund will provide resources of up to USD$100,000 to help emerging companies grow. The aim is to address the challenge of early-stage financing, which is lacking in Mexico and other countries in the region.
Endeavor | Entrepreneurs community | New fund. Endeavor has successfully raised USD$15 million for the second investment fund of Scale-Up Ventures in Brazil, surpassing the initial goal of USD$12 million. The fund aims to invest in 50 startups, providing USD$250,000 each. The new director of Scale-Up Ventures, Gustavo Cruz, attributes the fundraising success to consistency with the investment strategy.
B4Waste | Food Tech | Seed. Brazilian food tech company B4Waste has raised USD$2 million in funding to support its mission of reducing food waste. The company rescues products close to their expiration date and sells them at attractive prices, helping to reduce carbon emissions and generate financial benefits for businesses.
VAAS | SaaS | Pre Seed. Brazilian startup Vaas, which focuses on developing technologies against financial fraud, has raised BRL$10 million in a pre-seed round led by ABSeed. The company plans to launch its blockchain transaction tracking platform next month, initially targeting transactions related to cryptocurrencies.
Verqor | Fintech | Venture. Mexican fintech startup Verqor has raised USD$7.5 million in funding, with USD$4 million coming from a pre-Series A round led by Yara Growth Ventures. Verqor offers cashless loans to farmers in Mexico, allowing them to purchase supplies and repay the credit with their product sales.
Krealo/Plurall | VC | M&A. Krealo, the corporate venture capital arm of Grupo Credicorp, has acquired Colombian fintech Plurall. Plurall aims to promote financial inclusion for entrepreneurs by providing flexible microloans, digital accounts, and interest-free transactions.
QI Tech | SaaS | Series B. Brazilian startup QI Tech has raised USD$200 million in a Series B funding round led by General Atlantic, making it a potential unicorn with a valuation over USD$1 billion. QI Tech provides technological infrastructure for B2B financial solutions and plans to use the funds for mergers and acquisitions.
Connectly | AI Chat | Series A. Conversational commerce leader Connectly has secured a USD$7.85 million Series A investment, led by Volpe Capital, to expand its AI platform for retail and e-commerce businesses. Connectly uses proprietary AI models to automate customer communication and sales, with personalized AI-generated marketing campaigns delivering significant returns. The funding will support the company's entrance into the US market and Latin America; and its expansion onto new messaging platforms.
Energy Master | SaaS AI | Not Specified. Energy Master, a firm specializing in monitoring and managing public services, has secured a USD$5 million funding round. The funds will be primarily used to integrate AI and automated bots into their system, allowing for real-time tracking of electricity, water, and gas consumption.
Mais Mu | Health | Not Specified. Mais Mu, a healthy food and supplements startup, has secured an investment from BAT Brasil, a subsidiary of British American Tobacco. The investment, made by Btomorrow Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of BAT, values Mais Mu at BRL$125 million and will be used to expand the startup's presence in Latin America.
Paradox Ventures | Private Equity fund | Not Specified. Paradox Ventures, the first private investment fund dedicated to fintech companies with a conscious focus, has been launched in Mexico. The fund will begin with an initial investment of USD$2.5 million and aims to support 30 fintech and blockchain startups.