THIS WEEK’S LATAM FUNDING NEWS
Cicada raised $3.6 million in a Seed round led by Kaszek, with participation from Geometry Ventures, BCP Securities, and Mexican financial industry angels. Link here.
Koban raised $2.3M, the largest pre-seed round in Bolivia. Koban was founded in 2021 by Julio Moreno, Gustavo Añez and Vijay Pratap. Link here.
Incognia has just announced a $15.5 million Series A round led by Point72 Ventures. Link here.
Calling the current environment a “crucible moment,” Sequoia Capital warned that the good times are not only over, but there’s also no indication when they’ll return. Link here.
💡And much more in our #DoneDeal Weekly Newsletter. Link here
👀 NEWS HIGHLIGHT
Ecuadorian payments infrastructure startup Kushki has raised $100 million in an extension to its Series B round, more than doubling its valuation to $1.5 billion.
The raise comes after a year in which Kushki saw 200% revenue growth, declining to reveal hard revenue figures. It also follows a quarter in which the company grew by 100% year over year.
The startup had raised $86 million in the first tranche of the financing in June of 2021 at a post-money valuation of $600 million. It has raised nearly $200 million since its 2017 inception, according to Crunchbase.
Raising an extension as opposed to a new round made more sense because it was the same investors doubling down, according to CEO and co-founder Aron Schwarzkopf. Those backers include Kaszek Ventures, Clocktower Ventures, SoftBank Latin America Fund, and DILA Capital, among others.
👉Read the full TechCrunch article here.
😎 SPONSORED CONTENT
PayRetailers is a leading payment service provider that supports a wide range of payment methods via single API integration and allows global businesses to trade with buyers and increase revenue in LATAM. Our all-in-one proprietary platform provides seamless pay-in and pay-out capabilities connecting merchants with their customers in 12 emerging markets.
📊 INFOGRAPHIC
Impressive numbers from Nubank 🚀
👉Link to the full post here.
📰 ARTICLE
After an April of decreasing investments, with the capital infused being less than $1 billion and 12% below March, Latin American startups have shown a recovery in May and the funding came back above the billion mark.
👉Read the full LABS article here.
👨💻 BLOG
Convincing your CFO: Reasons to use an expense management platform.
Employees are the most valuable asset to an organization. But are they always driving the business forward in their work? Or are they busy completing arduous processes, like paper-based expense management?
👉 Read more on Payhawk’s blog here.
💡INSIGHTS
2021 was a year of great progress for Open Banking across the EU and UK.
The regions witnessed strong growth both in the volume of API calls and the number of third-party providers (TPPs).
👉Read the full article here.
NOW, ON TO THE SUMMARY OF LAST WEEK'S NEWS
☕️ REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS
⭐️Apple has introduced Apple Pay Later, a new feature backed into the company's payment platform that will allow users to split purchases into separate payments. Link here.
⭐️ IFC invests US$15 million in Nazca III to promote technology-enabled businesses In Mexico and Latin America. Link here.
⭐️British neobank Revolut is preparing to crank up its new Brazilian operation in November. Link here.
⭐️ Banfico and adorsys are pleased to announce a value-added technical partnership agreement between the two companies. Link here.
⭐️Zippi announced a $16 million (about BRL 82 million) funding round. Link here.
BRAZIL
Bexs Pay has just sealed yet another partnership to provide Brazilians with easier access to international products and services. Bexs Pay will, from now on, be responsible for transactions using NuPay, Nubank’s online e-commerce payments solution. Link here.
Incognia has just announced a $15.5 million Series A round led by Point72 Ventures to boost the company’s global expansion at a time when identity fraud losses are running into the billions. Link here.
in Brazil, Jeeves debuts with two financing products in partnership with the Brazilian Bank-as-a-Service fintech and direct credit company, QI Tech. Link here.
British neobank Revolut is preparing to crank up its new Brazilian operation in November, just before the FIFA World Cup gets underway, and has as part of its offering an international account for fans traveling to watch the national team in Qatar. Link here.
Banfico and adorsys are pleased to announce a value-added technical partnership in open banking. The new collaboration provides access to a larger untapped audience for both industry experts. Link here.
Zippi announced a $16 million (about BRL 82 million) funding round. The Series A was led by US fund Tiger Global and followed by Y Combinator, Volpe Capital, Rainfall Ventures. Link here.
MEXICO
Flink said that it will buy local brokerage Vifaru Casa de Bolsa for $25 million in a bid to give its clients wider investment options. The purchase, once approved by Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission, will allow Flink's users to invest in increments as small as 10 pesos ($0.4993), down from a previous 30 peso cutoff in existing products. Link here.
The International Finance Corporation announced a US$15 million investment in Nazca III, a venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage technology companies seeking to transform Mexican and Latin American industries through tech-enabled business models. Link here.
If you are a fintech startup and have over 100 questions send me an email, maybe I can answer a few.