Here are the highlights on Brazil’s tech and business scene in September:
Sept 30
The recent BayBrazil study shows an unprecedented number of venture capital firms led or founded by Brazilians, a total of seven. Moreover, an increasing number of tech executives, engineers, product experts who work in Bay Area corporations are venturing into angel investing. Check the study and what investors are saying.
Sept 28
Brazilian company VTEX received a R$ 1.25 billion Series D investment round and became the newest Brazilian unicorn. The investment was led by Tiger Global and Lond Pine.
Sept 25
Real estate startup EmCasa raised R$20 million with Monashees, Caravela Capital, Pear Ventures, NBV, and the Mercado Livre (MELI) fund. The investment will serve to scale within São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and it will improve its algorithm for recommending real estate properties.
Sept 23
BayBrazil’s new study on Brazilian-led startups and VC funds in Silicon Valley was featured at business magazine Época NEGÓCIOS.
Sept 22
Movile led a new investment of R$ 60 million in Zoop, a Brazilian fintech platform that operates in mobile payments, banking as a service (BaaS) and credit. In the last year, Movile has invested R$ 100 million in the fintech vertical, which is almost double the R$ 55 million invested in 2018.
Sept 22
Bradesco and Itaú Unibanco invested a US$15 million in Quanto, a company developing technology to let retailers and other businesses access financial information and services. Joining Brazil’s two largest banks are Kaszek Ventures and Coatue.
Sept 21
Broker dealer Ideal raised R$ 100 million in the largest funding round ever for a Latin American fintech, led by Kaszek Ventures. The deal awaits Brazilian Central Bank approval.
Sept 21
General Atlantic LLC and SoftBank led a US$107.25 million funding round in Brazilian facial biometrics and digital admission company Acesso Digital. Both General Atlantic and SoftBank will hold a minority stake in Acesso Digital after the investment.
Sept 18
BeGreen raises US$3 million with Aliansce, a shopping center developer, to open more urban farms in Brazil. The startup aims to avoid food waste of transporting fruit and veggies from rural areas to supermarkets and restaurants in cities.
Sept 14
The pandemic’s impact on Silicon Valley tech scene: BayBrazil’s dialogue with Brazilian founders and investors was featured in business magazine Época NEGÓCIOS.
Sept 14
Goldman Sachs leads US$22.5 million investment in fintech iugu, platform to automate many of Collections departments’ processes.
Sept 10
BayBrazil annual conference’s 3-month program concluded. One conversation at a time, from June 18 through Sep 10, we presented in-depth webinars on the role of technology in the Silicon Valley–Brazil innovation economies. We missed seeing you in-person but are thrilled that a record number of people attended these dialogues, over 7,500. Thank you! Watch all dialogues here.
Sept 2
Neon Payments received a R$ 1.6 billion Series C investment round led by General Atlantic. It was joined by BlackRock, PayPal Ventures, Vulcan Capital and Endeavor Catalyst, also by investors from previous rounds as the Monashees, Flourish Ventures and BBVA (trough Propel Venture Partners) entered.
Sept 1
Brazilian startup Fazenda Futuro raised R$115 million in a round led by BTG Pactual and ENFINI Investments. They were joined by returning investors Monashees and Go4it Capital. The startup plans to launch in the United States with its meat-free meat.
