EP. 25: Ex-Revolut founded DolarApp raises $5 million, Fullfil99 by 99minutos, Ualá enables free remittance, and more.
Welcome to Scenius Mexico: Your weekly newsletter on technology, innovation, and startups in Mexico.
The dream team behind web3 startup DolarApp, composed of ex-Revolut players, announced its US$5 million Seed round this week. Also in the news, HealthTech Cuéntame and Supply Chain Alima raised a pre-seed and seed round respectively.
Famous Mexican startup 99minutos is launching its more than welcome fulfillment service - smartly named Fullfil99.
And Argentine FinTech Ualá launches a new free remittance product for its Mexican users.
Funding Rounds
Mental health focused Cuéntame raises a US$1.1 million Pre-Seed round
The Startup’s idea came to Cuéntame's CEO and co-founder, Regina Athié, via disappointment when she found out that her dad’s depression wasn’t covered by any Mexican insurance companies.
Therefore, in 2019, she decided to build a platform to attend mental health issues for companies’ employees. To that end, she united forces with her ex-ITAM schoolmates, Chávez and García, and Enrique Jiménez, an engineer from Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Their first MVP was a marketplace to connect patients with professional therapists before pivoting to a more lucrative B2B-focused product. An interesting feature of the platform is that it is not only focused on a company's employees, but on its family members as well.
The pandemic brought an opportunity to grow faster and positioned the startup to raise a successful pre-seed round. The new capital will be used to strengthen its presence in Mexico, Colombia and Chile.
Sector: HealthTech - Mental Health
Total Raised: US$1.1 million
Founders: Regina Espinoza Athié, Omar García, Enrique Jiménez Vázquez
Investors: Impacta VC, Colectivo Jaguara, 99 Startups, Fondation Botnar, New Ventures Capital, Pareto20, Investo
Logistics startup Alima raises a US$1.5 million Seed round
The team is developing data-driven tools for businesses to source the produce they need and have it delivered directly to them. Alima’s platform digitizes and optimizes procurement, transport and traceability using artificial intelligence and analytics integration so that less food is spoiled.
The market for fresh produce in Mexico is expected to grow by $4 billion over the next four years, so Vizcayno and co-founder Blanca Espinosa started Alima in June 2021 to help solve these problems in anticipation of that growth.
The startup grew revenue 10x since January and continues to grow each month in double digits. It currently works with 600 customers in Mexico and will use the new funding to scale its operations.
Sector: Logistics - Produce Procurement
Total Raised: US$1.5 million
Founders: Blanca Espinosa Escorza, Jorge Vizcayno García
Investors: Soma Capital, Y Combinator, The Dorm Room Fund, Seed9, Pareto20
Ex-Revolut founded startup DolarApp raises a US$5 million Seed round
DolarApp users can open a bank account going from peso to stablecoin USD Coin (USDc) and back in seconds. They can also save in USDc, earning 3% annually, and pay with an international Mastercard with up to 4% cash back. In addition, users can send and receive payments in the United States for a flat fee of $3 versus the $3 fee plus 2% charge that other money transfer companies charge. The company makes money from the flat transfer fee and from revenue on the balances.
The DolarApp founders met while working at Revolut and took part in the YC Summer 21 batch. The company started a beta program over the summer and will funnel the new funds into adding to its team, which is currently composed of 11 people, as well as marketing efforts and gearing up for a full launch.
Sector: FinTech - Web3
Total Raised: US$5 million
Founders: Fernando Terrés, Zach Garman, Álvaro Correa Gallardo
Investors: Kaszek, Y Combinator
Startup News
Welcome Fullfil99 by 99minutos
Familiar with Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)? Well, here comes Fulfill99 by Mexican startup 99minutos. This new service helps e-commerce sellers outsource shipping to the Startup. With this fulfillment option, 99minutos stores, picks, packs, ships, and delivers the products to customers.
One year ago I tried to launch an e-commerce site in Mexico as a side project and was surprised to learn that no such services were available. I am glad to see that someone is now tackling this challenge and wish them the best!
Digital Wallet Belo announces a partnership with Mexican Airtm
Belo is a digital wallet that enables trading between Argentine pesos and cryptocurrencies. Airtm is a platform with which users can save, spend and receive digital dollars, and it also allows simultaneous transactions in 190 countries.
The relevance of this partnership lies in Airtm’s technology, as it converts almost any incoming money into digital dollars. Through this partnership, Belo becomes one of Airtm’s payment methods.
Now, users can send Argentine pesos or stable cryptocurrencies as DAI through the Belo wallet and receive them in their Airtm account. Pesos or cryptocurrencies sent through this channel are automatically converted into AirUSD.
VC - Accelerators News
Impacta VC launches a capital raising program for LatAm startups
The program is designed to teach startups to understand the VC game so they can create their own fundraising strategy to access pre-seed, seed or Pre-Series A rounds.
Impacta’s team will help selected founders to plan and execute for oversubscribed rounds and select the best investors from that pool of potential partners.
For the 50 Startups selected, the program will run for 12-weeks, starting on September 27, and have a US$150 entrance fee.
To learn more about the initiative and apply, visit the website here.
Rest of the World
Argentine FinTech Ualá enables free remittance for its Mexican users
Launched last Friday, the bank’s newest service is made possible through the Mexican bank ABC Capital that Ualá acquired a few months ago.
People living and working abroad will have the option to send up to US$900 monthly, commission free, through MoneyGram to friends and family using the app Ualá ABC in Mexico.
Knowing that remittance fees are usually around 6% and that Mexico is one of the biggest markets in the world for this kind of service, this new product offered by Ualá might be well received by many Mexicans and grow its user base here.
Chilean FinTech Xepelin gets backed by Goldman to grow faster in Mexico
Xepelin specializes in B2B transactions, including supply chain finance. Its platform helps users organize accounts and automate payments to suppliers.
Already active in the Mexican market since its Series A, the startup wants to use this US$140 million credit line from Goldman Sachs to expand its payment and credit services to B2B SMEs in Mexico and reach 1 million clients by 2025, up from 15,000 today.
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