See You In NY in 2 Weeks for LAVCA Week 2024; Car Rentals & Gig Workers – An Interview with Caravela Capital and OCN

LATAM VENTURE BULLETIN

A must-read roundup of startup deals and news on emerging technologies in Latin America, delivered to over 7,000 investors, entrepreneurs and corporates bi-weekly.

26 September 2024

The LatAm Venture Bulletin is produced by Carlos Ramos de la Vega, LAVCA’s Director of Venture Capital.

LAVCA Week 2024

We look forward to seeing you on 8 October to kick off LAVCA Week 2024.

We are delighted to welcome a robust lineup of institutional allocators and family offices actively looking to partner with fund managers committed to the development of private capital and technology in Latin America.

Highlighted Institutional Investor Speakers:

Highlighted Sessions:

✪ Building Relationships and Value for Growth Investments with Francisco Alvarez-Demalde (Riverwood Capital) and Stephen Veccaro (Hirtle Callaghan)

✪ Venture in a Changing World – A Playbook For the Years to Come with Nicolas Szekasy (KASZEK), Nick Beim (Venrock) and Carlos Ramos de la Vega (LAVCA)

✪ Finding Alpha – The Role of LatAm VC in Global Investor Portfolios with Eric Acher (monashees) and Scott Pittman (The Mount Sinai Health System)

✪ A New Reality for Follow-On Capital with Jaime Zunzunegui (NAZCA), Eduardo Clave (DILA Capital), Andre Maciel (Volpe Capital), Jose Guinle (DNA Capital), and Mariano Mayer (Newtopia VC)

Highlighted Breakout Sessions:

✪ How Can the Board Support Founders in a Downturn led by Pedro Conrade (Neon Pagamentos) and Ricardo Moguel (Clivi)

✪ Beyond the Hype: The Real Opportunity in Climatetech led by Murilo Menezes (Positive Ventures) and Diego Serebrisky (Dalus Capital)

We look forward to seeing you in New York in two weeks.

Deals

▸ QED Investors and Community Investment Management co-led a USD95m equity and debt Series A+ for Finkargo, a Colombian import financing platform, with follow-on from Quona, NAZCA, ONEVC, Flybridge and MAYA Capital.

▸ Bicycle Capital led a USD55m Series B for Cayena,a Brazilian Wholesale marketplace of food and cleaning products for restaurants, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, Canary, Norte Ventures, Globo Ventures, and follow-on from Astella Investimentos, Clocktower Ventures, FJ Labs, Endeavor Catalyst, FEMSA Ventures and Picus Capital.

▸ Alibaba led a USD20m Series B for Connectly, a US-based message-driven sales platform, with participation from Unusual Ventures, Falabella Ventures and follow-on from Volpe Capital and RX Ventures.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Matrix Partners led a ~USD19m Series B for Mevo (formerly Nexodata), a Brazilian drug prescription platform, with participation from Jefferson River Capital.

▸ HEALTHTECH | Lightsmith, a US-based climate PE investor, led a ~USD18.2m round for Beep Saúde, a Brazilian at-home laboratory test and home care platform.

▸ INSURTECH | BBVA Spark granted a ~USD6.1m financing to Insurama, a Spain-based insurtech specializing in policies that cover electronic devices, to support the company's expansion to Colombia.

▸ TraderPal, a Costa Rica-based trading application, raised a USD4m round from Volcán Group.

▸ PROPTECH | Alpop, a Brazilian rent collection management platform for residential real estate, raised a ~USD3.6m round with participation from Caju Capital Social and follow-on from Smart Money Ventures, Lello Group and Lucas Vargas (Grupo ZAP).

▸ PROPTECH | US-based VCSecond Century Ventures led a USD3.1m round for Koggi, a Colombian housing financing platform.

▸ Marathon Ventures led a ~USD550k pre-seed round for Yolo Bank, a Brazil-based education loan management platform.

▸ HRTECH | Mexico-based VCCarabela invested in Bord (formerly known as Nudos), a Mexican global team management software company.

▸ CVC | Vale Ventures, the CVC arm of Vale, invested in Mantel, a US-based carbon capture technology startup.

ENTREPRENEUR SPOTLIGHT

Caravela Capital Backs OCN

Caravela Capital recently co-led a USD86m equity and debt Series A for OCN (OneCarNow), a Mexico-based rental car startup for gig workers, alongside Collide Capital, Great North Ventures and i80 Group.

LAVCA sat down with Caravela Managing Partner Lucas Lima and OCN Founder & CEO Mairon Sandoval to learn more about the fund’s conviction in the company and OCN’s ambition to expand across the Americas.

LAVCA: Caravela led the Series A round for OCN at a time when venture capital dealmaking in Latin America has slowed down. What made OCN stand out as a compelling investment opportunity?

Lucas Lima (Caravela Capital): This is the second round we've led for OCN after leading its seed. The company has come a long way in the last 12 months, growing more than 7x, and reaching important milestones, so we believed OCN was ready to raise their series A. OCN had already achieved product-market fit with a waiting list of approved drivers 5x larger than the number of cars on lease and excellent unit economics with very low default rates. We also gained additional conviction given the availability of structured debt that will enable the company to grow in the coming years with a low need for equity, as well as the addition of a new CFO and CTO as key senior members of the team with extensive market experience.

LAVCA: How has OCN adapted to the new challenges of today's VC landscape, and what specific strategies are you employing to balance growth with capital efficiency?

Mairon Sandoval (OCN): OCN is a company launched in 2022 – post the era where capital was more accessible. Given market dynamics, profitability became the main KPI, and that allowed the company to not depend on additional investment for operational purposes, while reaching a considerable amount of self-sustained growth.

Read the full interview to learn more about OCN’s strategy to consolidate its operations in Brazil and Mexico, and Caravela’s role in helping the company position itself.

News

▸ DATA INFRASTRUCTURE | Google announced a USD850m investment in a new data center in Latin America.

▸ CLIMATE | Meta agreed to buy up to 3.9m carbon credits from BTG Pactual’s forestry arm before 2038.

▸ CRYPTO | Mercado Pago, the fintech arm of MercadoLibre, launched Meli Dolar, its own USD-backed stablecoin in Brazil.

▸ TRANSPORTATION | Cabify is shutting down its operations in Mexico starting in October.

▸ ECOMMERCE | Brazilian e-commerce platform olist announced it will invest ~USD20m from its balance sheet within the next year to develop new tools to reach USD120k SME customers.

▸ SUPERAPP | Rappi expects to be IPO-ready in 12 months, according to CEO Simon Borrero.

▸ Andreessen Horowitz confirmed it is winding down its Miami office.

▸ Bloomberg reviews the active expansion of Colombian family Santo Domingo’s alternative investments portfolio.

People and Programs

▸ Atlantico published its 2024 Latin America Digital Transformation Report.

▸ Salkantay Ventures is looking for an Investment Analyst to join its team in Lima or Bogotá. Interested candidates are welcome to contact [email protected].

▸ Quona Capital is looking for an Analyst to join its investment team in Mexico City. Interested candidates are welcome to apply.

Global Tech

▸ Sign up for GPCA’s Global Tech Brief, a monthly newsletter that covers tech activity in Asia, Latin America, Africa, CEE and the Middle East.

LAVCA is now part of GPCA, the Global Private Capital Association, and will continue to operate as a parallel membership organization with its own dedicated team and board.