With the year coming to an end –and still a couple of months left– 2021 is a record year already.
Even though this month’s numbers aren’t as ‘scary’ as October’s holiday demands, it still left us with interesting insights on how LatAm’s Venture Capital usually behaves.
October’s activity in a nutshell:
- More than 75 funding rounds
- Close to $900M invested
- Fintech remains the most funded industry
- Brazil leads startup activity
- Rise of Angel Investing
Brazil Outstands in Venture Capital Activity
Brazilian demographics and what seems to be a self-sustainable market make its ecosystem diverse and attractive. Brazil is the country with the highest number of investors, 56, during October, just after the United States with 88.
With more than $600M, Brazil is once again the top-funded country in Latin America. This means that almost 70% of the total funding during the past month fell to them.
Mexico, Chile, Argentina, and Colombia complete the list with a combined $263M.
Brazil leads the number of rounds raised once again. Brazil’s focus on early-stage investing has allowed them to raise multiple rounds month by month.
For October, almost 60% of the total funding rounds went to Brazilian startups. They led this list with a total of 44 disclosed rounds.
Brazil’s focus on early-stage ventures may explain this difference.
The Biggest Rounds
Pismo, which gives the infrastructure for financial services solutions raised a $108M Series B, led by Softbank, Accel, and Amazon. With this round, they are the top-funded startup during October.
Buk, a Chilean software for HR management, raised a $50M Series A; this round was led by Softbank and Greenoaks. These two are Buk’s first institutional investors, as the startup has been bootstrapping since its foundation in 2016. Undisclosed Founders from other Latin American unicorns such as Rappi, Ualá, Kavak, Konfio, and Brex also participated in the round.
The list is completed with Hash’s Series C, and Bionexo and Keycash’s Venture Rounds
Top Funded Industries
Unsurprisingly, Fintech remains the industry most investors keep their eye on. Almost 50% of the funding belonged to it. Most of it fell to banking, payment, and general infrastructure services for businesses,
Health Care, Human Resources, and Logistics follow as the top-funded industries. Again, B2B and management solutions remained as the most interesting categories for investors.
Different from the previous month, Fintech is again the king, and capital seems to be more equally distributed, at least for the industries following it in the chart. The absence of a terrifically huge round made the game slightly fair again.
Startups are Growth
October may have a ‘scary’ fact, as most of the rounds and funding went to early-stage ventures. The number of rounds is not a surprise, but when looking at the amounts, Series C and forward usually make most of the funding.
This time, if we consider Pre-Seed to Series A, $406M or 50% of the total funding went to these business ventures. Isn’t that crazy?
Who Is Investing?
We’ve talked a lot about where the money is going, but do we know where it is coming from? Investors could be cataloged in different ways, there are Venture Capital Funds, Family Offices, Accelerators, Angel Investors, among others.
For this month, 193 investors trusted Latin American entrepreneurs. Out of which, 106 of them were Venture Capital Funds; another 3 of them are Venture Capital branches from companies, called Corporate Venture Capital Funds.
Followed by 16 companies that invested directly as a company.
Another 35 people, including startup founders, and partners decided to join the investor club as individuals, and not along with a fund.
Finally, another 20 of the investors describe themselves as Private Equity, instead of Venture Capital Funds. Both of them invest in the private market, but they may diversify their portfolio into more developed markets, and less risky assets, along with startups.
There is more to come. So stay updated with the latest startup, venture capital, and tech news in Latin America.
