Bloomberg Línea — Many late-stage and pre-IPO startups are falling short of their revenue projections, according to Kroll, a business valuation consulting firm that advises companies on their internal valuations, known as 409A valuations.
If Kroll’s sample is any guide, it would indicate that startups are in much worse shape than previously thought. The valuator has advised nearly 50% of the late-stage companies it analyzed in recent months to reduce their 409A valuations.
But away from late-stage startups, early-stage enterprises are beginning to test the market and determine whether their business model works.
These are the early-stage startups that raised capital in Latin America this week:
Talently
The Inter-American Development Bank’s innovation lab, IDB Lab, invested $750,000 in Talently, a Peruvian startup dedicated to training and connecting Latin American tech talent with international companies.
Talently closed a $3 million seed round in June, the largest in Spanish-speaking countries for an educational technology company.
The startup aims to support 160,000 Latin American tech professionals, of which 40,000 would be women in their search for employment, in an industry where women account for barely 8% in the region, according to the startup.
Flourish Fi
Banking services provider Flourish Fi raised a $2.3 million round led by Magma Partners. The fintech company, co-founded by Latinos Jessica Eting and Pedro Moura in California, will use the proceeds to expand its Latin American presence, product capabilities and team.
Flourish Fi licenses technology to banks and financial technology companies to increase engagement and loyalty while helping people develop better financial habits.
The round included participation from US and Latin American investors such as Remarkable Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners Scout Fund, Canary, Seedstars, Kadmotek VC, I Am the Fund and impact investors such as Potencia Ventures, Amplifica Capital, Cap Table Coalition along with angel investors Samir Goel (founder of fintech unicorn Esusu) and the president of Mastercard.
Klavi
Klavi - a leading SaaS platform in data aggregation, analytics and API services that empowers businesses with its Open Finance solutions - has just completed the extension of its Series A round.
The financing’s main investors are Banco BV, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, through its corporate venture capital (CVC) fund, and RX Ventures, the CVC fund of Lojas Renner S.A.
The amount is part of the $15 million round, announced in August, which included the participation of Iporanga Ventures, Parallax Ventures, GSR Ventures, Vivo Ventures and CIP S.A.
Aiming to be the largest open finance platform for all types of companies - from startups to large banks, including companies from various segments, such as telecommunications and retail - Klavi will use the resources to strengthen its research and development, technology and platform areas, and to grow its teams, the company said.
