LATAM
In Latin American countries like Brazil and Chile, messaging platform WhatsApp has become one of the most popular apps to use to buy things online. It was even the e-commerce…
Sequoia bets big on Stripe, LatAm fintechs clean up and one African startup’s outsized Series A
Welcome to TechCrunch Fintech! This week, we’re looking at Sequoia Capital’s effort to give its LPs liquidity on the firm’s investments in Stripe, how LatAm fintechs are still catching investors’…
Hello, and welcome to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines.
For LatAm startups, investments from foreign VCs can bring in experienced advisers and contributors who can help the company expand to new markets.
Less than one year after Upload Ventures spun out of SoftBank’s investment arm, the Latin American–focused investment arm is seeking to raise a $250 million fund, filings show. TechCrunch reached…
HealthAtom is aiming to be the go-to cloud-based operations system for small and midsize healthcare companies across Latin America (LatAm). Although the company has been around since 2012, this is…
Uils wants to lend LatAm’s rideshare drivers cash based on their driving record
When Uils launched in 2021, it was a car rental service for rideshare drivers. But after the founders realized that many rideshare drivers don’t have access to credit, particularly in…
Nicolás Giménez, the co-founder of Argentina-based startup Fidu, has convinced over 1,000 schools across the Latin America region to place their operations in the hands of a scrappy edtech startup.…
Draftea, which calls itself the first daily fantasy sports company in Spanish-speaking Latin America, is taking fantasy football (not fútbol) to the region in a new partnership with the National…
Egyptian startup Convertedin raises $3M, caters to e-commerce brands in MENA and Latin America
Convertedin, an Egyptian startup that operates a marketing operating system for e-commerce brands, has raised $3 million in a seed round led by Saudi Arabia-headquartered Merak Capital. Other participating investors…
Kolors is following a model that it describes as “if Uber and Southwest Airlines had a baby,” providing a technology layer to bus operators to help them operate more smoothly.
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. Alex and Grace are back…
Welcome to The Interchange, a take on this week’s fintech news and trends. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here. Greetings from Austin, Texas, where the temps have been over…
Colombian proptech Habi reaches unicorn status with $200M raise co-led by SoftBank and Homebrew
Habi, a Bogota-based proptech, has closed on $200 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Homebrew and SoftBank Latin America Fund. The startup did not reveal its exact…
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Meet Morado, a two-month old Colombian marketplace for the beauty industry that just raised $5M
Morado, a two-month-old Colombian startup aiming to digitize beauty salons in Latin America, has raised $5 million in a pre-seed round from a bevy of global investors. Tiger Global Management and H20 Capital Innovation co-led the round, which also included participation from Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), QED, Latitud and Village Global…
Fintech NovoPayment raises first venture round in 15 years to expand its full-stack banking API platform
The digital transformation of banking and payments services is a red-hot trend that’s shown no signs of slowing down. Banking-as-a-service (BaaS) products like Synapse, Unit and Bond have helped fuel the…
SoftBank Latin America is certainly having massive exits, but not the lucrative kind. Paulo Passoni and Shu Nyatta, two managing investment partners of SoftBank’s Latin America practice, are leaving the…
Hello and welcome back to Equity, a podcast about the business of startups, where we unpack the numbers and nuance behind the headlines. This week was…
SoftBank Latin America Fund announced today that it is spinning out its early-stage Latin American investment arm into a new autonomous entity, dubbed Upload Ventures. The new fund will back…
Cross-border payments platform dLocal is one of the most notable Latin American startups in recent history — the company became Uruguay’s first unicorn in 2020 and went public on the…
Infrastructure startups continue to attract venture dollars across the globe, especially in the case of payments infrastructure providers. No-code too also remains a draw. A startup that is a blend…
Fintech Roundup: Due diligence makes a comeback and a former Better.com employee speaks out
Welcome to my new weekly fintech-focused column. I have been publishing this every Sunday, but on March 27, this column turns into a newsletter! So, if you want to have…
Welcome to Startups Weekly, a fresh human-first take on this week’s startup news and trends. To get this in your inbox early, subscribe here. On Tuesday, AngelList Venture closed its…
Mara, a São Paulo-based startup that aims to “reinvent” the grocery shopping experience for the underserved in Latin America, has raised $6 million in a funding round co-led by Canary…
Mundi, a financial services platform for cross-border trade, announced today it has raised $16 million in a Series A funding round led by Union Square Ventures. The investment marks Union…
FanDuel founder and Sequoia bet on Spanish-language fantasy sports app Draftea
Founder Alán Jaime Misrahi grew up devoted to soccer, eventually playing in Mexico’s third division. While he didn’t necessarily make it to the “big leagues” playing the sport, his new…
Nigerian ethical credit-recovery fintech Bfree secures $1.7M, expands to Asia, Europe, South America and across Africa
Bfree, a Nigerian credit management fintech, has embarked on global expansion after raising $1.7 million in a pre-Series A round, to tap the opportunities in emerging markets, where digital lending…
Delivery Hero calls last orders on Foodpanda in Germany, Japan as it tightens focus on Q-commerce and logistics-as-a-service
German on-demand delivery giant Delivery Hero is pulling its food delivery service out of Germany again. At the same time it has announced it will exit the Japanese market, by…
The Seaya Cathay Latam Fund will invest in between 12 to 15 companies and will write check sizes of between $5 and $10 million.
Swap, a São Paulo-based BaaS startup, announced today it has raised $25 million in a Series A led by Tiger Global Management. The financing was “heavily oversubscribed,” according to the…
