Bloomberg Línea — Brazil-based Monashees saw an active week, leading two large early-stage rounds, with $8.6 million for Moises and $6.7 million for Latú Seguros.
Eric Acher, who worked in venture capital since 1999 with General Atlantic, founded Monashees in Brazil in 2005 together with Fabio Igel.
Acher said on Thursday at an event promoted by the Association for Private Equity Investment in Latin America (LAVCA) that 85% of Monashees’ portfolio companies have “runway”, that is, enough money to run the company for 24 months or more.
The Brazilian venture capital firm has been investing in Colombia since 2016 and recently opened an office in Mexico, bolstering the local team with the arrival of Fabíola Quinzaños, principal at Monashees, in November 2021.
Even at a time of correction for startups, LAVCA data shows that seed and early-stage investment in Latin America grew in the first half of 2022 compared to the same period last year.
These were the companies that raised early-stage rounds in Latin America this week:
Moises
Moises, a music startup, raised $8.6 million in a round led by Monashees with US venture capital fund Kickstart. The company, which is based in Utah, is run by Brazilian Geraldo Ramos as founder and CEO.
Last year, the company closed a $1.6 million seed round led by Kickstart. Moises’ app uses an algorithm that allows users - usually professional or amateur musicians - to “split tracks” of audio.
Latú Seguros
Colombian Paola Neira, 29, is starting out as an entrepreneur and has closed a pre-seed with Series A flavor. Monashees and Charles River Ventures (CRV) are delivering one of the largest checks to a pre-seed startup in Latin America, for $6.7 million, surpassing Kamino, which had raised $6.1 million in its pre-seed earlier this year.
The funds, to which ONEVC, Latitud and SVAngels also contributed, will help build Latú, which produces software for business insurance. Neira has also attracted investment from heavyweight founders of startups in the region.
Among the angel investors, individuals or companies that make investments with their own capital in startups with high growth potential, are Rappi founders Simon Borrero, Sebastian Mejia, and Felipe Villamarin; Addi’s Santiago Suárez and Daniel Vallejo; Enrique Marín of Tul; Igor Mascarenhas of insurtech Pier; and Matthew and Miguel Vega-Sanz of Lula Technologies, and Alan Jaime of Draftea, as well as Sachin Patel, a former Y Combinator investor, and the Airbnb alumni fund.
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