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…
🏦 New FinTech regulation in Brazil: The Brazilian Central Bank recently added new regulations to their country's financial technology sector, which will affect major companies like Nubank, PagSeguro, PicPay, and StoneCo. New rules dictate that each FinTech company must have a minimum amount of capital, which will be determined based on its size and complexity. The Central Bank shared that through this regulation, they hope to decrease barriers to entry for smaller firms. Share prices for bigger fintech companies dropped following this ruling, which will take action in January 2023.
🛒 Intuitivo raises $7.8M: Intuitivo, a startup that was founded in 2019, just raised $7.8 million in a seed round led by Mercado Libre Fund. The Argentinian startup introduces Grab & Go shopping technology to stores in Latin America, using advanced AI cameras to automatically charge customers. Intuitivo already has stores in Argentina and Peru and expects to have installed 10,000 more contactless points of sale by the end of 2023.
👾 Crypto banking keeps growing in LatAm: Let’sBit, a crypto bank founded in Argentina in 2020, recently raised a pre-seed round led by Angel Ventures to fund its expansion throughout Latin America. Having situated themselves in Colombia and their home country of Argentina, they now hope to reach a Peruvian market.
👥 Poor working conditions at delivery and mobility startups: A study conducted in 2021 by Fairwork Brazil that outlined how delivery and mobility apps treated their workers was published last week. Fairwork quantitatively measured labor practices by interviewing workers, looking at payment documentation, and accordingly rating each company out of 10. In Brazil, the highest scoring companies got 2's, and only one company provided the documentation to prove they paid their workers at least the minimum hourly wage. Fairwork previously published their reports from Chile and Ecuador. Out of all of these countries, the highest rating a company in Latin America was able to attain was a 3. For comparison, several countries in Asia, Africa, and Europe scored in the 7-9 range.
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 Addi, NXTP VC, it’s (co-)founder Marta Cruz, and importantly: Brigadeiro!
🛒 Firm Spotlight: Addi
A technology startup founded in Colombia, Addi aims to promote and permit digital commerce in Latin America. The company is reaching areas in Latin America where only roughly 25% of the population has a credit card. In the technology era, Addi’s goal is to provide transparency and ease with a buy now, pay later model. Their mission is to enable a positive payment experience and a greater affordance capacity for the Latin American population.
💰Fund Spotlight: NXTP Ventures
NXTP Ventures invests in early-stage tech companies across Latin America. It was founded in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2011 by Ariel Arrieta, Gonzalo Costa, and Marta Cruz. The first fund focuses on funding early-stage startups and has made 253 investments total. They also recently started their second fund in 2018. Between both funds, they have invested over $50M in more than 190 companies across 16 different countries.
👩🏻 Founder Spotlight: Marta Cruz
Originally from Argentina, Marta Cruz is the co-founder and director at NXTP Ventures. She received her business degree from University of Buenos Aires and her her PDD in management from IAE - Austral University. She is also the co- founder of Nextperience, a digital performance agency based in Argentina. Before her founding era, she worked for more than eight years at MRM- worldwide, a digital agency group in Latin America. She was also a senior consultant representing Argentina in the United Nations Program. Marta describes herself as a promoter of equality and rights, and now aims to spread her influence and keep making Latin America a space for women in tech.
🎤 Listen to Marta’s podcast interview with Startupeable here!
🇧🇷 Food Spotlight: Brigadeiros
Brigadeiros are a typical Brazilian sweet treat made with sweetened condensed milk and cacao. The original and most popular flavor is chocolate, but countless flavors are possible (pistachio, dulce de leche, birthday cake, etc). Brigadeiros remind Brazilians of happy times spent with family and friends.
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This newsletter was brought to you by:
Michelle Vinocour
Jaime Eli Mizrachi
Manuela Murra