✈️ Pilots, Launches, and Partnerships
Rappi uses Crypto Payments, Ontop Partners with Visa, and more...
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…
🛵 Rappi Launches Pilot for Payment using Cryptocurrencies: Rappi, a Colombia-based delivery service app that operates in 9 Latin American countries, is launching a pilot program to pay using Crypto, in partnership with companies Bitso and Bitpay. For now, this has only been launched in Mexico, where they have 50,000 couriers in 70 cities, but Rappi plans to make this feature available depending on its national success.
💜 Morado raises $5M from A16Z, Tiger Global, H20 Capital, and others: Morado, a 2-month old marketplace for beauty salons, just raised $5M in a pre-seed round co-led by Tiger Global Management and H20 Capital Innovation. Its founder, Angela Maria Acosta from Colombia, used to work as Rappi’s Business Unit Head (#RappiMafia), and is bringing the skills she gained to digitize hair salons across Latin America. Having already taken off in Acosta’s home country, Morado plans on expanding in Colombia and moving officially to Mexico.
💰Softbank Launches a Spinoff Early-Stage Fund: Softbank Latin America Fund, a prominent fund for startups in the region, has recently announced a spin-off: Upload Ventures. Through this new entity, they hope to focus investments on smaller, more early-stage Latin American entrepreneurs, from which they reportedly have seen great success in the past. Softbank claims the spin-off should be in operation by the end of April.
🌎 Ontop Partners with Visa to Serve Customers Worldwide: Visa and Ontop, a financial and human resources technology startup founded by Colombians and based in Miami, partnered to allow remote workers to move, save and use their money anywhere Visa operates. This enables both employers and workers to live and work anywhere in the world. This alliance, according to Ontop director Thomas McAllister, aims to let the workforce "have full control over their money, how they use it and where, regardless of where they are now or in the future."
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 MadeiraMadeira, Rappi’s co-founder Sebastián Mejía, DOMO Invest, and Tacos!
🛋️ Firm Spotlight: MadeiraMadeira
MadeiraMadeira was founded in 2009 by Daniel Scandian, Marcelo Scandian, and Robson Privado. The startup is an online marketplace for home goods and decoration. Their inventory is made up of about 300,000 products for Brazilians to choose from so they can decorate, refurnish, and more. They also have about 10,000 different sellers that are featured on their platform. Recently, they created “showrooms” where the products can be seen in person; however, the transaction is all online. The startup is now a unicorn worth 1 billion dollars, and just raised $190M during their latest round of funding, led by SoftBank and Dynamo.
🕴🏻Founder Spotlight: Sebastián Mejía
Sebastian Mejia is from São Paulo, Brazil. He is one of the co-founders of the food delivery startup, Rappi, in Colombia. He first graduated with a bachelors in Business Administration and Management from Esade. He then went on to Universidad Autonoma de Madrid. He graduated in 2009, with a BS in Economics. Lastly, in 2016 he came to Stanford University to complete the Stanford-Endeavor Innovation and Growth Program. His first job was in G2 Investment Group in 2011 as an Analyst and Consultant. He then went on to co-found Grability, an online shopping place for food. Finally in 2015, Rappi was born. Now one of Latin America’s biggest startup, Rappi is dominating the delivery market.
🤑 Fund Spotlight: DOMO Invest
DOMO Invest was founded in Brazil in 2016. It was founded by Felipe Andrade, Gabriel Sidi Vieira, Guga Stocco, Marcello Goncalves, and Rodrigo Borges. The fund focuses on early-stage technology startups in Latin America and aims to give foundations to startups that will help them find their place in competitive markets and grow faster. They have a total of 81 investments in four funds.
🌮 Food Spotlight: Tacos
A traditional Mexican dish holds everyone's favorite ingredients all bundled up in a delicious tortilla. Tacos can be served with either flour or corn tortillas and the toppings vary widely; guacamole, pico de gallo, ground beef, spinach, you name it. A very popular topping combination holds shredded beef, fresh cheese, and lime juice on the side. Let us know how you like your tacos!
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