Ep. 17: Fintech Verqor and Healthtech Eva raise new fundings; Khora is building a community-first ecosystem in Mexico; and Brazilian Revelo bought 2 Mexican startups
Welcome to Scenius Mexico: Your weekly newsletter on technology, innovation, and startups in Mexico.
FinTech Klar and HealthTech Eva announced this week two new rounds of funding looking like extension/bridge round giving them dry powder to navigate the tough months ahead.
At the same time, Verqor is making its debut in the Mexican Fintech world with a $2.5 million Seed round giving them the resources needed to help LatAm’s farmers.
From the founders and community side, [khôra] is actively working on its goal to be where human capital meets financial capital in Mexico with some great achievements already in the books.
Funding Rounds
Klar raises a US $70 million Series B extension reaching a $500 million valuation
This startup’s mission is to offer what it describes as a “100% digital, transparent, free and secure alternative to traditional credit and debit services” in a country dominated by a handful of banks, while the number of unbanked is estimated to be about 50% of the population.
Klar has experienced rapid growth this last year in terms of transactional volume and customer acquisition. The team will use this new funding to foster its product and foray deeper into the segment of the market untapped by traditional banks.
This extension round is a mix of debt and equity, with WTI providing $20 million in venture debt. Representing around 20% of the funds raised in the U.S., venture debt is a source of financing that will keep growing in the coming years in Mexico to offer less-dilutive options to founders.
Sector: FinTech - Challenger Bank
Total Raised: US$150 million
Founders: Stefan Moller, Daniel Autrique
Investors: General Atlantic, Prosus Ventures, Quona Capital, Mouro Capital, WTI, IFC, Acrew Capital, Endeavor Catalyst
FinTech Verqor raises US $2.5 million Seed round to help LatAm’s farmers
The startup facilitates access to credit for farm workers and connects them to potential buyers, allowing them to sell at better prices. Verqor’s platform helps farmers with the liquidity they need to acquire inputs such as fertilizers, agrochemicals, seeds, irrigation equipment, and more.
Nowadays, the platform works with 600 farmers in some states of Northeast Mexico, such as Tlaxcala, Puebla, Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Michoacán, among others.
With this new funding, the team wants to reach 2,000 producers and does not rule out the possibility of expanding operations to Central America, although the priority is to strengthen its presence throughout the country.
Sector: FinTech - Agricultural Sector
Total Raised: US$2.5 million
Founders: Hugo Garduño Ortega, Valentina Rogacheva
Investors: SP Ventures, Amplifica Capital, Mercy Corps Ventures, Magma Partners, Angel Hub
HealthTech Eva Center raises a US $7 million bridge round
To date, the Startup has raised a total of US $25 million and already pivoted once from a smart bra that helped to make timely detections on potential breast cancer to focus now on digital medical services.
Specifically, they have created their own system for the management, analysis and storage of images of radiology studies. The platform registers a month-to-month growth of 20 percent and processes more than double the number of studies than the competition, with an average of more than 90,000 studies per month, through public and private medical institutions.
With this new funding, the team wants to grow in the Latin American region, where they already have clients in Argentina, Colombia and Honduras. Last year they purchased a Brazilian company and they expect to start operations by the end of this year.
Sector: HealthTech
Total Raised: US$25 million
Founders: Antonio Torres, Julián Ríos Cantú, Raymundo González Leal
Investors: MBX, TeleSoft, Browder Capital, Cathexis, Prodigy Fund
VC - Accelerators - M&A News
[khôra] is building a community-first ecosystem of founders, investors, and talent in Mexico City
Focused on 4 pillars - Knowledge, Community, Innovation, and Inclusivity - [khôra] is betting on Mexico City to be the next Silicon Valley. With a booming economy, untapped talent pool, strong connectivity, and a leader position in FinTech, the Mexican capital makes for a serious contender for the title.
The team behind the project has already fostered a community of 3,200+ members, organized 4 community mixers & 3 curated founders and funders dinners, hosted office hours with more than 120 mentors and received 200+ user testing datasets and early product feedback.
Ultimately, [khôra]’s goal is to be where human capital meets financial capital in Mexico.
Brazilian Revelo bought two Mexican startups: Listopro and CeroUno
Founded in 2015 as a marketplace of tech professionals, the Brazilian Startup is betting on the remote work trend opening the doors of LatAm talent to companies like Dell, Intuit, Accenture, and Citibank, as well as startups like Kickstarter, Avantstay, and Carta.
In addition to the developer recruitment service, Revelo provides payroll management, benefits, and compliance services adapted to Latin American countries.
The acquisitions aim to better serve the startup's corporate customers in the US, which already account for 80% of their revenues.
Listopro was founded in 2018 and has seen revenue double annually since its inception.
CeroUno is focused on training and improving developers by using a platform offering programming, data science, cybersecurity, and DevOps courses for its base.