Ep. 15: Mexico gains a new Unicorn; FinTech Oyster is pivoting; Flink goes shopping.
Welcome to Scenius Mexico: Your weekly newsletter on technology, innovation, and startups in Mexico.
While Stock Markets are crashing and VC money is supposedly drying up, Mexico adds its 7th unicorn with Nowports $150 million Series C valuing the company at $1.1 billion.
In addition to the Spot2 Seed round and the Paisa pre-Seed round this week, there’s still hope for serious projects in the country to build a lasting and innovative company.
But Startup’s life is not only about raising money, it’s also knowing when to pivot, and that’s exactly what Oyster is doing by moving from a NeoBank business model to an online payment service.
Lastly, FinTech Flink is buying a local brokerage house to offer more investment products to its 1.6 million user base and allow Mexicans to invest as little as 10 pesos in the stock market.
Funding Rounds
Nowports raises a US$150 million Series C and becomes a Unicorn
Nowports is an automated digital freight forwarder in Latin America that uses digital tools to improve communication and efficiencies in the shipping process, among other things, and helps shipments get where they need to go in a timely manner.
This new round, led by SoftBank Latin America, comes just six months after the Startup announced it had secured US$60 million Series B, and values the company at $1.1 billion.
The team plans to use its new capital to do more hiring, to expand its presence in countries where it already operates and to open offices in more cities. The first planned openings will take place in Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
Sector: Logistics - SaaS
Total Raised: US$242.6 million
Founders: Alfonso De los Rios, Maximiliano Casal
Investors: SoftBank, Tiger Global, DST, Mouro Capital, monashees, Base10 Partners, Broadhaven Ventures, Foundation Capital, Soma Capital, Partech, Tekton
Spot2 raises a US$4.2 million Seed Round led by Streamlined Ventures
It all started with the founders trying to open a restaurant in Mexico City a few years ago. At least, that is the storytelling behind Spot2, a platform looking to automate and simplify the process of renting commercial spaces.
Two years later, the Startup lists 2,500 spaces and is tackling a very ambiguous and informal part of the real estate sector. A massive market opportunity with a strong impact on the economy and SMBs.
The team plans to use the funds to accelerate its growth in Mexico and double its headcount (currently at 35 employees), while building more partnerships with traditional real estate actors.
Sector: PropTech
Total Raised: US$4.2 million
Founders: Alfonso Salem, Axel Olivella, Jorge Sequeira Aldrete
Investors: Streamlined Ventures, HOF Capital, Acrew Capital, H20, Sebastián Kreis (BA), Alexis Patjane (BA), Enzo Cavalie (BA), Alister Moreno (BA)
Paisa raises a US$600K pre-seed to offer remittance-backed loans
The Startup leverages the over $100 billion in remittances received in cash in Latam as the gateway to broader financial security.
Founder & CEO, Ryan Newton’s idea is to use these remittances sent to México to back loans for families outside of the traditional financial system. Paisa is building a network of remittance agencies across the country and implementing a frictionless WhatsApp bot to offer its loans.
The funds will be used to grow the agency network beyond its current presence in Michoacán and Guanajuato, consolidate product market fit, build a more robust product and hire key talent.
Sector: FinTech - Lending
Total Raised: US$0.6 million
Founders: Ryan Newton
Investors: Magma Partners, Precursor Ventures, Latitud, Forum VC, Gaingels
Startups News
The Fintech Oyster is pivoting to payment services
Originally, the Startup was a Neobank that had developed its own core banking technology platform and was racing to become the next NuBank of Latam. In September 2020, Oyster was well on track, announcing the biggest Seed round ever raised at that time - $14 million.
But Startups pivot, and today the team is announcing that it is closing all its customer accounts (on May 27th) and will focus on building online payment methods.
Whether the switch is due to NuBank’s aggressive expansion into Mexico or, as stated by the company, to take advantage of a new trend in the country and the booming e-commerce sector, it will be an interesting development to follow and, hopefully for them, a successful pivot case.
VC - Accelerators - M&A News
Mexican FinTech Flink buys local brokerage Vifaru Casa de Bolsa for US$25 million
The operation represents the first time a Startup buys a brokerage house in the country.
Powered by this new acquisition, Flink plans to release a new product allowing its users to start investing in the stock market for as little as 10 pesos (0.5 USD).
The startup currently boasts 1.6 million users on its app, and hopes to reach 4 million by the end of the year, helped by the expansion of its operations in Colombia this year.
The purchase is still pending approval by Mexico's National Banking and Securities Commission.
Startup program Emprelatan is looking for its next cohort
The 8-week, equity-free, program is aimed at pre-seed startups willing to boost their sales, apply to international accelerators, and raise their first round of investment.
Founders can apply until June 3rd while the starting date of the program is set to June 27th. Visit the website here.
Startups having participated in previous cohorts include: Perfekto, Payhaus, Mercately, Gliber, Avify, and many more.