Ep. 13: Two HealTechs getting funded; YoCritpo boosting Bitcoin in México; Nu Bank hiring campaign; Picus Capital getting its feet into México
Welcome to Scenius Mexico: Your weekly newsletter on technology, innovation, and startups in Mexico.
It’s HealthTech week! Two Mexican Startups working on disrupting the health sector in the country are announcing new venture rounds.
From the FinTech side, YoCripto wants to reward you in Bitcoin and Nu Bank to offer you a job.
Funding Rounds
HealthTech Midoconline closes a US$ 700K pre-seed round
The Startup focuses on connecting patients in rural areas with doctors over video-consulting using their app.
They operate under a monthly subscription model and have been growing fast over the last two years to reach 300.000 users today.
Midoconline plans to use the funds to expand in the U.S. and other countries of Latin America.
While founded in 2016 the startup has been flying under the radar so far and bootstrapped its way to its first round.
Interesting fact - most of the team is located in Puebla, México. Located close to Mexico City and with good universities, Puebla is gaining popularity every year and might be an upcoming place for Startups in the country.
Sector: HealthTech
Total Raised: US$0.7 million
Founders: Fernando Carvajal Pla
Investors: Angel Ventures, SOSV, John Farrell (BA), Sebastian Siebert (BA)
Prixz raises an undisclosed Series A reaching a US$ 100 million valuation
Prixz is a digital pharmacy and online consulting app. They want to offer an end-to-end solution to their users from medical consultations to medicinal products, either online or over the phone.
The startup, founded in 2015 and already well-established in the country, wants to use the funds to keep growing in Mexico, expand to Colombia and improve its distribution channels.
Started as a last-mile solution for pharmacy, the team soon realized that patients had to go to too many drugstores to find all the medicines they needed. That is how they decided to expand their product to become a health-focused super-app.
Sector: HealthTech - Pharmacy
Total Raised: Undisclosed
Founders: Manuel Manzur
Investors: SV Latam Capital, Ulu Ventures, HelthCo
YoCripto raises a US$ 4 million seed round for its credit card offering rewards in bitcoins
The recently founded startup offers a credit card with bitcoin rewards of up to 3% on every purchase and wants to offer an uncomplicated, crypto-backed credit product to young (25-35 years old) and underbanked Mexicans.
With the new funds, the team wants to grow its user base in Mexico while expanding in Latin America - meanwhile, the product is being rolled out, little by little, through a waiting list.
For now, YoCripto is the only card in LatAm to provide loans backed by crypto assets while also offering a reward program and is taking a head-start on positioning itself as a regional player in the crypto space.
Sector: Web3 - Credit Cards
Total Raised: US$ 4 million
Founders: Rafael Maya, Julian Arber
Investors: DILA Capital, Undisclosed Investors
General News
Nu Bank México opens 500 positions and announces its COO
Following last week's announcement of its US$ 650 million credit line to be invested in the expansion of its Mexican and Colombian subsidiaries, the company is now launching a massive hiring campaign in the country.
Plus, Nu México is preparing to launch digital accounts this year after it received regulatory approval for its acquisition of local lender Akala.
Venture Capital - M&A News
Picus Capital Venture Partners select Clara’s CEO as the first partner
The global venture capital firm invests primarily in pre-Seed, Seed and Series A rounds and wants to create a network for closer engagement with the startup ecosystems in Latin America.
Mexican Gerry Giacomán Colyer, cofounder and CEO of the fastest Startup to reach unicorn status in the region, will provide mentoring and support to the founders of the network.