Lavca recently released their 2017 Latam Tech Tech Investment Highlights for Telefónica‘s accelerator, Wayra, which operates in Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela.
One of the big names this year: Hogaru, a Colombian startup providing cleaning services for small businesses. Hogaru first received US$50K from Wayra in 2014, with another US$60K from angel investors, and a US$300K seed investment from Velum Ventures.
Then they got into the Y Combinator, and reached net profitability in their first month. They have already created over 500 formal jobs for domestic workers in Colombia, across Bogota, Medellin, and Cali. CEO Matteo Cera wants to create 100,000 jobs as Hogaru looks to expand beyond Colombia.
In 2017, The Venture City, Y Combinator, Sam Altman, and others invested US$810K in Hogaru, betting on the competitive advantage of a business model based in Latin America.