Welcome to Tech Latino! This is Stanford Latino’s biweekly newsletter where we capture the emerging trends, biggest deals, and exciting ideas in the LatAm technology environment.
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In the past two weeks…
🐼 Pandas raises $6M in Pre-Seed Round: In the largest Latin American Pre-Seed round, the startup Pandas has raised $6 million. The startup connects microbusinesses in Latin America with Asian manufacturers, which substantially reduces logistical fees that the businesses would have to endure. The funding round was led by Third Kind Venture Capital. (Head to our spotlights section for a more in-depth look at Pandas! 👀)
🧑🏽💻 Nubank’s strengthens Tech team: Nubank, the largest Neobank in Latin America, has hired over 350 engineers just this year to strengthen their tech team. Now, they’ve hired 15 North American engineers from Parkland Technologies who are specialized in Clojure and Datomic.
🇲🇽 Nowports valued at $1.1B following Series C led by SoftBank: Mexican logistics company Nowports has hit Unicorn status, following a funding round where it raised $150 million. The Series C, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund, will help the founders further fulfill their goal: facilitating the imports and exports process and improving the visibility of the supply chain in Latin America. They’re now valued at $1.1 billion.
🇧🇷 Marvin raises $15M in Series A: Marvin, a B2B paytech, made history as they raised $15 million in a Series A. Operating in Brazil, their web app makes use of new Brazilian regulations to efficiently allow users to pay, analyze their cash flows, and more. Led by Canaan, this funding round marks the highest investment into Latin America by the VC company.
🛍️ Yummy keeps growing: Yummy, an app founded by Venezuelan entrepreneur Vicente Zavarce, just raised $47 million in a round led by Anthos Capital. The app lets its user get grocery deliveries, and in some countries even lets users buy concert and sport game tickets. Currently, the company has 2.5 million users, and it operates in Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Panama.
Spotlights : The Four F’s!
Every week, we spotlight one of each: a firm, a fund, a founder, and a food item. This week, we look at Pandas, Truora’s founder Maite Muñiz, Manutara Ventures, and Platanitos!
🐼 Firm Spotlight: Pandas
Pandas is a Latin American startup founded by Rio Xin and Marcos Esterli just around three months ago. The startup is based out of Colombia and works to connect Asian manufactures directly with small businesses in Latin America. This helps SMBs avoid excessive fees and directly access the manufacturer. They focus specifically on technology products. Pandas raised $6.3M in pre-seed round led by Third Kind Venture Capital.
👩🏻 Founder Spotlight: Maite Muñiz
Maite Muñiz is from Mexico and is the co-founder of Truora, a technology startup founded in 2018. Before this, Maite studied at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de Mexico with a bachelors in Economics and worked as a consultant for McKinsey for almost two years. She later dedicated herself to helping found the current startup Truora, managing product strategy, research and development, and customer relationships. She is also an activist for women in the workforce and continues to make an impact in the Latin American business world.
💸 Fund Spotlight: Manutara Ventures
Manutara Ventures is a Venture Capitalist firm based out of Santiago, Chile. The fund was founded by Cristian Simunovic and Ricardo Donoso, and has made a total of 14 investments in companies like Almacen Guru, Velocity, and FACTO.
🍌 Food Spotlight: Platanitos
Fried plantains are the featured food of the week! The sweet, crispy yet soft, slices of plantain taste amazing on their own or can be paired with many different types of food. They are enjoyed in many different Latin American countries and are a staple at every household.
💡 This week’s read:
🏦 Big Firms Approach Latin American Startups for Acquisitions and Corporate VC
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