Bloomberg Línea — Startups operating in the agribusiness and services sectors received financing in recent days in Latin America. One of the highlights was Scape, a wellness services platform that received a $1.3 million investment in an oversubscribed funding round.
Data from the innovation platform Sling Hub show that the Latin American startup ecosystem has experienced its worst financing levels since July 2020. Startups in the region raised $253 million, the lowest result of the year, indicating an 81% decline compared to the previous year, and a 42% decrease in May compared to April.
May 2023 saw 70 funding rounds, the second-highest number of investments in the year. Brazil continues to be the focus of investments, representing almost half (45%) of the investments in the region. The fintech sector also remained at the forefront with 43%.
Scape
Mexican wellness-tech Scape, which offers an on-demand platform for spa and wellness services, received a $1.3 million investment in an oversubscribed round. The company has provided over 85,000 services, operates in 25 cities in Mexico and four in Colombia, and aims to reach $6 million in revenue by the end of this year.
The company will use this new capital to strengthen its position in these countries, expand to Chile and the Dominican Republic, and eventually begin operations in Brazil and the United States.
The investment included the participation of 500Startups, Amplifica Capital, Angel Ventures, Angelhub, Arkangeles, Adulting Capital, Boost/Enlaces, Daedalus Ventures, Everywhere VC, Globivest, Seed9, Stonks & Venture.do.
Founded in 2019 by Helle Jeppsson and José de Murga, Scape started as a digital platform that allowed users to book and receive spa and wellness services at home or in the office with certified professionals through a mobile app. In 2022, Aurora Rodríguez joined the group of partners as CTO and Patricia Jimenez as COO. In the same year, the company launched its B2B divisions Scape@Work, which provides wellness services as an employee benefit, and Scape Hotels, which works with hotels that lack their own staff and facilities for such services.
Tarvos
Agritech startup Tarvos, specializing in agricultural pest control and management, received an initial investment of 5 million Brazilian reais ($1 million). The funding round included the lead negotiator, Fundepar, as well as ACE Ventures, BossaNova Investimentos, and GVAngels, a network of angel investors formed by alumni of FGV in Brazil.
Founded in late 2017 by Andrei Grespan, Fabricio Soares and Hugo Fernandes, the startup was established with the aim of providing digital solutions for automated pest monitoring in Brazilian agriculture.
The company’s goal is to cover a monitored area of 520,000 hectares in the 2023/2024 harvest, serving 1,000 small and medium-sized rural producers across Brazil. The projected revenue for 2023 is five million reais.