FinTech Dominates LatAm VC Investments for 2016

April 25, 2017
Fintech Latin America FinnoSummit Julie Ruvolo LAVCA

Fintech investments are on the rise in Latin America, growing 31% (in terms of dollars) and 81% (in terms of deal count) in 2016.

Startups in Latin America raised US$500m in venture capital in 2016, according to LAVCA data. Most of that money (US$342m) was invested in the IT sector. Within the IT sector, fintech was the most popular category of investment, capturing 55% of IT dollars, and representing about 25% of all IT deals.

Download LAVCA Fintech Presentation

Key trends from LAVCA’s presentation at the 2017 FINNOSUMMIT in Bogotá

Local investors are teaming up on fintech deals. Syndicates of local investors (two or more locally based VCs) were responsible for 63% of fintech deals in 2016.

  • VARIV Capital, Jaguar Ventures, FEMSA Comercio, and Conconi Growth Partners led a US$6.6m Series A in Conekta, an online/offline payments startup in Mexico City. INTERESTING READ about the founding engineers and the deal that got them in OXXO stores (the largest convenience store chain in Mexico) in our Entrepreneur Profile with co-founder and CEO Hector Cardenas.
  • KaszeK Ventures joined Redpoint e.Ventures, Quona Capital, and QED in a R$15m investment in Brazilian lending startup BankFacil. KaszeK, Quona, and QED also co-invested in Mexican lending platform Konfio.
  • The IFC led a R$60m Series C in GuiaBolso, with previous backers KaszeK Ventures, Ribbit Capital, and QED Investors. This is the IFC’s first investment in a Brazilian fintech startup. GuiaBolso raised US$1m in seed financing in 2013 from Valor Capital, e.Bricks and angel investors. Valor and e.Bricks returned for a US$3m Series A in 2014, led by KaszeK Ventures. In 2015, Ribbit Capital led a US$7m Series B with Omidyar Network, QED Investors, Ed Baker, head of growth for Uber; Mark Goines, and early investor in Mint.com; and Peter Kellner, co-founder of Endeavor.

Major international funds are making some of their first investments in LatAm fintech. Local investors partnered with international investors for 26% of fintech deals in 2016.

  • General Atlantic made an undisclosed investment in PayClip (formerly Clip). Luis Cervantes, General Atlantic’s head of Mexico, joined the board. PayClip raised an US$8m Series A in 2015 led by Alta Ventures, with participation from AMEX Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, and Angel Ventures Mexico. General Atlantic’s current portfolio in the region includes Argentina’s Despegar.com and Brazil’s SAS Sistema de Ensino.
  • DST Global, the investment firm started by Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner, led a US$80m round in Nubank, with participation from Redpoint Ventures and Ribbit Capital. Prior investors include Sequoia Capital, QED Investors, Tiger Global Management, and Founders Fund. Nubank raised US$80m in 2015 over two rounds, and separately raised a R$200m debt round from Goldman Sachs.
  • Kueski, a lending platform for middle-class Mexicans, raised US$35m in equity and debt funding. The US$10m equity investment was co-led by Variv Capital, Richmond Global Ventures, Rise Capital and CrunchFund, with participation from Victory Park Capital and existing investors Angel Ventures Mexico, Core Ventures Group, and Auria Capital.
  • Accion Frontier Inclusion Fund led an US$8m investment in Konfio, a Mexican online lending platform, joined by Quona Capital, QED Investors, KaszeK Ventures, and Jaguar Ventures. Accion and Jaguar also invested in 2014. Konfio is KaszeK and QED’s first investment in Mexico.
  • QED Investors partnered with Scotiabank to launch a dedicated fund for fintech investments in Latin America. QED partner Bill Cilluffo tells LAVCA: “We’ve been investing in Brazil for a little over two years, with four portfolio companies (BankFacil, GuiaBolso, Pitzi, Nubank), and we did our first investment this year in Mexico in Konfio. With this new fund, we are actively looking at other opportunities in these markets, and will be exploring other countries within Latin America.”

For more information about fintech activity in Latin America:

0
Facebook Twitter Google +

Tech Growth Coalition

Video Tags

Actis Advent Alan Patricof Alaya Capital Partners ALLVP Angel Ventures Angel Ventures Mexico Astella Investimentos BNDES Bossa Nova Investimentos Brookfield Canary CDPQ Confrapar CPPIB Creditas DILA Capital DOMO Invest Dux Capital E.bricks Ventures Foundation Capital General Atlantic Global Founders Capital Goldman Sachs Inseed Investimentos Jaguar Ventures Kaszek Ventures Kinea Investimentos monashees Mountain Nazca Nubank ONEVC Patria Patria Investimentos QED Investors Redpoint eventures REDWOOD VENTURES Riverwood Capital SOFTBANK Soldiers Field Angels Thrive Capital Valor Capital Vinci Partners Wayra Y Combinator

Quote

  • This is not the first and will not be the last measure that we are going to take. We are serious about changing the rules and having a better environment for entrepreneurship to thrive…

    –Mariano Mayer

  • We are very careful about not overcapitalizing companies.

    –Alan Patricof

  • Making an investment decision comes down to the people.

    –Alex Rossi, Managing Partner, LIV Capital

  • We look at the longevity, the fit, deal attribution by team member. We look at their performance as well as how they focus and what their expertise is…What differentiates them from their peers?

    –Adam Ritter, Vice President, Harbourvest

  • The most helpful thing that an investor can do for an entrepreneur is connecting them to great people, and then taking them to experts and connecting them to early customers and partners.

    –Cyrus Massoumi

  • We never do a deal alone, never, not one single deal in our entire portfolio are we the only investor. We always have someone else.

    –Alan Patricof

  • Empathy is one of the things we value a lot.

    –Michael Nicklas, Partner, Valor Capital

Geography Tags

Alquilando Argentina Argentine Austria Belize Bolivia Brasil Brazil Canada Canary Caribbean Central America Chile Colombia Costa Rica Dominican Republic Ecuador El Salvador Guatemala Honduras India International INTL Israel Jamaica Japan Kenya LatAm Latin America Mexico Miami Nicaragua Pan-Regional Panama Paraguay Peru Portugal Puerto Rico South Korea Spain United States Uruguay US USA Venezuela