As startups begin to flourish throughout Latin American markets, available capital funding continues to adapt and evolve to better suit the needs of maturing companies in these emerging markets.
“It’s not easy to raise growth-stage capital in Latin America, but it’s getting easier… However, Silicon Valley-style Series A rounds in Latin America are still rare, especially outside of Brazil and Mexico” (
Tech Crunch).
The region’s remarkable growth in Venture Capital funding over the past year speaks to the increasing number of later-stage rounds that startups are raising across Latin America.
According to
Tech Crunch, 2018 was Latin America’s inflection point for startups, with four big trends:
1. Record-breaking rounds:
Mexico’s
Grin Scooters raised the largest Latin American
seed round to date, and Brazil’s Yellow- a bike and scooter-sharing startup- raised the region’s largest
Series A round to date. The two companies
merged into
Grow Mobility: a company that operates more than 135,000 micromobility vehicles across six countries, with plans to increase its Latin American fleet twofold in the upcoming months.
Brazil’s
iFood raised $400 million: of Latin America’s
biggest rounds yet.
2. Soaring Asian Investment
Brazil’s most popular ride-sharing app 99,was acquired by Chinese mobility giant
Didi Chuxing.
3. Exits to Latin American and U.S. Corporates:
Grocery delivery startup
Cornershop was acquired by
Walmart for
$225 million, and Falabella acquired e-commerce company
Linio for
$138 million. These notable acquisitions reveal Latin American large companies’ increasing concern about competition from startups.
4. Increasing Number of Latin American Startups Being Sent to Y Combinator:
In the past year, Latin America sent more than 10 startups to the
Y Combinator, and many more to other
international accelerators. Companies include: Grin, Higia, Truora, Keynua, The Podcast App, SkyDrop, UBits, Cuenca, BrainHi, Pachama, Calii, Cuanto, Pronto and Fintual.