Financing watch: August funding, Petrobras startups, Atvos on agtechs and more

August funding

Latin American startups raised US$527mn across 54 rounds in August, up 73% in value over the previous month but a 56% drop year-on-year, according to a SlingHub and Itaú BBA report.

Equity funding alone accounted for US$259mn, raised in 51 rounds, said the report.

Brazil led with 37 of the funding rounds, Mexico accounted for seven and Chile for four, according to SlingHub. Pre-seed funding was again the most common stage of financing while debt issuances were the financial instrument that grew the most, month-on-month.

Series B checks

Despite the overall downward trend in Latin American funding, especially in late stage rounds, last week saw big checks coming along for startups in series B rounds.

Cayena, a Brazilian wholesale food supply marketplace, closed a series B found topping 300mn reais (US$54mn) led by Bicycle Capital and with participation from Coca-Cola FEMSA Ventures, Picus Capital, Astella, Globo Ventures, Endeavor Catalyst, Canary, FJ Labs, Clocktower and Norte Ventures.

With the investment, the startup aims to expand its presence to 500 new municipalities.

Healthtech Mevo, for its part, raised 110mn reais from US fund Matrix, followed by Jefferson River Capital, a family office of Hamilton E. James, former president of Blackstone and current chairman of Costco.

The startup expects to surpass the mark of 10mn Brazilians served with its solutions this year. It plans to allocate the resources mainly to technology and development of new products.

Colombia’s Cobre, Finkargo go high

In Colombia, corporate treasury and payments management platform Cobre raised US$35mn in a series B round led by US-based venture and growth equity firm Oak HC/FT.

The round also saw follow-on investments by funds Kaszek, QED Investors and Canary.

In February 2022, Cobre had raised US$14mn in a series A led by QED and Atlantico Partners, with participation from Canary. The trio went back for an A round extension last October worth US$13mn, led by Kaszek.

Fintech and trade platform Finkargo, menwhile, raised US$95mn in debt (US$75mn) and equity (US$20mn) from QED and Community Investment Management, said Forbes Colombia. The combined investment had the participation of existing investors Quona, Flybridge, Nazca, Maya and OneVC.

Since its launch in 2021, Finkargo has reportedly served 450 clients and facilitated more than 4,000 import operations, valued at more than US$510mn.

Petrobras’ tech call

Petrobras is launching a new call of its startups program Conexões para Inovação (Connections to Innovation), this time looking to invest 16mn reais in tech projects focusing on energy transition and asset management.

At the end of the process, winning companies can receive up to 1mn reais for soft tech challenges, such as software development; or up to 2mn reais for deep tech challenges, for the development of hardware and materials, for example.

Since the program’s inception in 2019, the Brazilian federal oil company has invested 54mn reais in startups, encompassing 63 projects.

Atvos and agtechs

Brazilian biofuels producer Atvos is partnering with PwC's AgTech Innovation ecosystem to explore opportunities in technology and digital resources, and increase data-based automation processes, it said in a release.

PwC’s program connects startups with solutions focused on agribusiness with companies and investors while also providing consultancy services to the projects. 

“With this, we will be able to expand our operations and reach in innovation, reducing the time for internal research and development to not only generate new innovative businesses and enable the company’s growth, but, above all, achieve our goal of producing in an increasingly more sustainable manner,” said Atvos’ CTO Alexandre Maganhato in a release.

Noodle gets QED funding

Brazilian fintech Noodle secured a 5mn-real seed round led by QED Investors, a fund that is showing itself to be among the most active in equity investments in the region.

Founded in 2020, Noodle focuses on providing credit to artists, creators, media groups and event organizers, among others.

Since its launch, it claims to have made 300mn reais in payments and invested more than 20mn reais in projects.