Bloomberg Línea — Startups operating in the travel, management software and fintech sectors have received financing in recent days in Latin America.
One of the highlights is Brazil-based Onfly, a startup that offers companies a travel and expense management platform, which received an investment of 80 million reais (approximately $15 million) in a funding round led by Left Lane Capital and Cloud9 Capital. The investment comes at a time when competitor Hurb, Brazil’s largest online travel agency, is facing payment difficulties, layoffs, and a CEO change amid controversies.
According to the May Venture Capital report from innovation platform Distrito, the volume of investments increased by 22.5%, primarily driven by a single $60 million deal from Digibee.
However, compared to May 2022 when investments totaled $403.4 million, there was a decrease of 72.1%. The sectors with the highest investments include deeptech ($66 million), fintech ($17.4 million), traveltech ($10.2 million), and business and project management ($6.6 million).
The Venture Pulse Q1 2023 report from KPMG indicates that despite a 10% increase in the number of investment rounds in the first quarter in Brazil, the amount invested decreased by about 30%, from $240.7 million in the last quarter of 2022 to $163.9 million in the first quarter of 2023.
KPMG also highlights, based on data provided by PitchBook, that the amount raised by venture capital funds in Brazil decreased by 20% from 2021 to 2022, from $797 million to $639 million.
These are the startups that received investments in the first days of June:
Superlógica
US-based private equity firm Warburg Pincus, a shareholder of Brazilian Superlógica, has made a new investment in the company of 150 million reais ($28.2 million). The fund had previously invested 300 million reais ($56.4 million) in the financial and technology platform for the condominium market three years ago.
The new investment will be primarily used to strengthen Gruvi, an app launched in December 2022 in collaboration with Cyrela and Intelbras. The app provides residents of condominiums with access to services from service providers that are orchestrated and managed by the condominium administrators.
Gruvi already has over 12,000 active condominiums, and by the end of the year, Superlógica aims to have the app available to over one-third of its customer base. Currently, the company has 100,000 condominiums as clients, which corresponds to approximately 30 million residents, as stated in a press release.
Onfly
Onfly received an investment of 80 million reais (around $15 million) in a funding round led by New York-based Left Lane Capital and Cloud9 Capital, a fund formed by former SoftBank investors. This marks the second investment by Left Lane Capital in Brazil.
The company operates from flight booking to employee expense reimbursement and corporate card services. Founded in September 2018 and headquartered in Belo Horizonte, the startup has 200 employees and around 1,000 corporate clients.
Compra Rápida
Brazilian startup Compra Rápida, founded in 2021, offers merchants a system that automatically fills in customer data when making online purchases. The company recently received 18 million reais (around $3.4 million) seed-round funding.
The investment was led by US-based asset management firm Olive Tree Capital and also included funds from Liquid 2, Soma Capital, and other minority stakeholders. Prior to this, Compra Rápida had received 4 million reais (around $750,000) in investments from investors such as Y Combinator, Iporanga Ventures, and Verve Capital.
The company will use the funding to grow the business and expand its solution to large retailers.
