Bloomberg Línea — Amid the crisis, early-stage funding keeps flowing to Latin America. This week, at least 9 startups raised rounds in the region: Speedbird Aero, Lingopass, Food To Save, Clubbi, Koban, Talently, Yummy, Incognia and Modak.
Speedbird Aero
Brazil-based startup Speedbird Aero raised a Series A of BR$35 million ($7.31 million) led by Bela Juju Ventures. The Brazilian venture capital firm Domo Invest, and Nau Capital, previous investors who had already participated in a BR$3.5 million Seed round in the startup, also joined the new funding, alongside angel investors such as Anjos do Brasil.
Speedbird Aero is a startup that develops and manufactures aircraft for logistics in Latin America. It was the first Brazilian company to receive certification from the aviation authority (ANAC) to operate unmanned aircraft for commercial deliveries.
Founded in 2018, the company wants to boost the drone industry, as it is working on a pilot project with Brazil’s delivery giant iFood. Speedbird has also been carrying out experimental flights for companies such as Ambev, Laboratório Hermes Pardini and Natura.
Lingopass
Domo Invest also invested BR$4 million in the Brazilian language learning edtech Lingopass, which offers classes from English, Spanish and French. The startup was founded last year and offers its platform as a corporate benefit.
Food To Save
Brazil’s startup investment platform CapTable completed a funding round of BR$1.3 million ($270,000) for Food To Save, a foodtech that acts as a link between establishments that have food production surpluses and customers who are engaged and concerned with conscious consumption. The startup engages and empowers people to review their eating habits and fight food waste.
The startup says it saved more than 150 tons of food that otherwise would have been wasted in the state of São Paulo and sold 100,000 bags of food.
Starting operations in May 2021 via its mobile app, the startup has partnered up with restaurants, bakeries, and confectioneries such as Rei do Mate, Dengo Chocolates, Pizza Hut, Duckbill, and the traditional bakery in São Paulo, Bella Paulista.
Clubbi
The Brazilian startup Clubbi, a one-stop-shop wannabe for the groceries, raised BR$62 million ($12.9 million) in a Series A round by Silicon Valley-based NFX, and ALLVP, with follow-on by Valor Capital Group, ONEVC and Better Tomorrow Ventures. Six months after the announcement of the last investment round (Seed Round of BR$25 million), the company more than doubled its customer base, reaching almost 2,500 retailers and expanding to other markets, such as Salvador, Bahia.
Clubbi offers an online commerce platform where retailers can buy for their stores with deliveries in 24 hours.
Incognia
Brazilian fraud prevention platform Incognia raised $15 million in a Series A round led by Point72 Ventures. Incognia serves US corporate clients. The company has its HQ in the US, but it’s originally from Brazil’s Northeast region Porto Digital hub. Incognia is a spin-off of from inLoco, a localization company that was acquired by Brazil’s retailer Magazine Luiza.
Modak
Modak, a Web3 platform for teens, got $5.3 million in a seed round led by global venture capital firm GGV Capital with participation from Monashees, MAYA Capital, Nazca Ventures, ONEVC, and other leading entrepreneurs and angel investors. Hans Tung, managing partner, GGV Capital will join the board as part of the financing.
Modak offers investment, hands-on experience, and community focused on teenagers. Modak’s application of Web3 allows members to collaborate and expand opportunities for all. Although the startup is California based, it works in Latin American markets such as Mexico and Colombia.
“Modak is about creating opportunity. This financing provides the tools, resources, access, and network – essentially an ecosystem for the values-driven Gen Z and Gen Alpha,” said to Bloomberg Linea, Madhu Yalamarthi, CEO and co-founder.
Yummy
The Venezuelan delivery and transportation app raised $47 million in what the company says is the largest venture investment ever made by a Venezuelan startup, which will help it continue expanding into Latin America.
The Caracas-based startup reported that Anthos Capital led the round with the participation of JAM Fund, Soma Capital, WIND Ventures, Ethos Capital and YC Continuity. The company raised $18 million in October.
The Venezuelan startup founded two years ago currently provides services in Bolivia and recently launched a mobile commerce product in Chile, Peru and Panama.
Talently
The Peruvian startup Talenty got $3 million in a seed round, which is the largest seed round in Spanish-speaking countries for an edtech company. The startup offers training and an employability marketplace that connects Latin American tech talent with international companies.
500 Latam Startups, Alaya Capital, Salkantay Ventures, Newtype Ventures, Poder Ventures, Latin Leap and angel investors such as the founders of Automattic (Wordpress), Cornershop, Clara and Startupeable participated in the funding.
Talently, founded in early 2019 by Doménica Obando, Roxana Kern and Cristian Vega in Peru, grew 50 times since the pandemic and today maintains a 30% monthly growth. The company says the capital will allow the consolidation of the operation in Mexico, Peru, Colombia and Argentina.
Koban
Koban, a digital financial services platform for the Andean region and Paraguay, raised a pre-seed round of US$2.3 million. Participants included global funds like Precursor Ventures, FJ Labs, Goldtruck Holdings, and Class 5 Global and Latin American funds like Newtopia, Buentrip Ventures, and iThink VC, as well as angels like Ariel Lambrecht, the founder of 99.
It is the largest pre-seed a startup has received in Bolivia, which will allow it to accelerate key hiring, increase the development of tech stack and products, as well as expedite its marketing and launch strategy in its first market.
Koban will serve a market of more than 70 million people, with the vast majority lacking access to financial services or are drastically underserved by traditional banks.
Read Also: Is Mexico’s Kavak Headed Down the Same Road as Carvana?