Ep. 29: Competing Startups Clara and Mendel make the headlines, an exotic Seed II round for Yave, Google Wallet to launch in Mexico, and more.
Welcome to Scenius Mexico: Your weekly newsletter on technology, innovation, and startups in Mexico.
As usual since the beginning of the economic downturn, this week has its lot of early-stage funding rounds with even an exotic Seed II round for Yave.
Still, Mendel managed to close a US$60 million Series B while its main competitor, Clara, is laying out its strategy for going public.
Another unicorn, another challenge, Konfío is in talks with the CNBV to get granted a banking licence.
And lastly, the multinational company Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA) is grabbing NetPay technology to expand its financial digital solutions.
Funding Rounds
B2B Fintech Mendel closes a US$60 million Series B
The startup is building a platform for companies to manage their expenses through virtual and physical credit cards. By using technology applied to finance, it allows companies to control and allocate expenses for their teams. They are competing with Clara for the Mexican market with a very similar approach. You can dive deeper on the business model by reading our full analysis here.
Founded in 2021, the team has so far successfully completed the famous Y Combinator program and managed to attract important clients in Mexico, such as the Liverpool chain of stores, Kavak, Mercado Libre, and ABInBev.
Sector: FinTech
Total Raised: US$95 million, in a mix of Debt and Equity
Founders: Alejandro Zecler, Alan Karpovsky, Helena Polyblank, Gonzalo Castiglione
Investors: Victory Park Capital, Industry Ventures, Broadhaven Ventures, Magma Partners, ALLVP
Perfekto closes a US$1.1 million Pre-Seed round
The Startup wants to change the broken food system in Mexico with its strict industry standards and supply chain inefficiencies that lead to loss of edible food due to cosmetic imperfections, short shelf-life, surplus and others.
Launched in 2021 and part of Y Combinator’s summer 2021 batch, Perfekto already works with over 70 producers to rescue food and deliver it to consumers.
Based on a subscription model, the company counts over 3,000 active monthly subscribers and reached $1 million in annual run rate.
Sector: FoodTech
Total Raised: US$1.1 million
Founders: Jan Heinvirta, Anahí Sosa Padilla
Investors: Goodwater Capital, Y Combinator, Alan Rutledge
Leadsales raises a US$400 thousands Pre-Seed round
After announcing its participation in Meta’s acceleration program “The Future of Messaging” last week, Leadsales is back with the closing of a pre-seed funding round.
The team is working on building a software allowing multiple team members to manage a single WhatsApp Business account at the same time and on diverse devices (web and mobile). The idea is to allow companies to centralise their orders and communication from WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook into one single platform.
So far the Startup counts a thousand customers in more than 20 countries and is planning to double this number by April 2023.
Sector: CRM - Messaging
Total Raised: US$0.4 million
Founders: David Villa, Roberto Penacastro Ortega
Investors: Ulu Ventures, Ganas Ventures, Cross Ocean Ventures, Angel Hub, The Board Perú
Yave raises a US$7.5 million Seed II round
Despite a slowdown in the global housing market, demand for tech-enabled mortgage origination continues to grow in Mexico. The Startup enables homebuyers to access an online mortgage application process, which is faster than a traditional bank because it originates and services all mortgages executed through its platform.
Yave has primarily served local Mexican homebuyers to date, with 30 partners using its platform and has executed $80 million in mortgages since its launch in 2018, but is looking to expand and help originate mortgages for U.S.-based buyers looking to purchase a home in Mexico.
Sector: FinTech - Mortgage Credits
Total Raised: US$7.5 million
Founders: Bernardo Silva, Andres Avalos Aguilar
Investors: Better Tomorrow Ventures, Metaprop, Goodwater Capital, Activant, Moore Capital, Magma Partners, DILA Capital, Wollef Ventures
Trully closes a US$4.1 million Seed round for its KYC solution.
Trully is a collective intelligence identity enrichment platform. In other words, the team is developing a software to improve the authentication of KYC (Know Your Customer) systems and prevent identity theft and financial fraud through facial recognition using machine learning to obtain more accurate data.
In a region where 1 out of 5 transactions is rejected for potential fraud threat many startups are already tackling the KYC problem. Trully differentiator is on avoiding identity theft by feeding an advanced machine learning model with facial detection data and pooling its database between all its customers to take proactive steps in future fraud tentatives.
Sector: CyberSecurity - KYC
Total Raised: US$4.1 million
Founders: Fernando González Paulin, Carl W. Handlin, Eric Balderrama
Investors: Costanoa Ventures
Startups News
Unicorn Clara lays out strategy for going public
Latin America fastest unicorn seems to be willing to break another record by being the fastest company to exit by going public. Recently hired Clara’s CFO has started the groundwork for an international share sale next year.
The startup's main product is dedicated to business credit cards for SMEs and international companies and thus need capital to finance lending.
Despite the pessimism about the global economic climate, the company lined up a US$150 million credit line from Goldman Sachs in August, and might be well positioned for an IPO.
Google Wallet set to launch in Mexico
Currently only available in Chile for the Latin America region, Google announced that the next country on its expansion plan for its digital wallet will be Mexico.
Supported by a network of partners of the likes of Mastercard, Visa, Nu México, and Banorte, Google digital wallet gives its users a new means to use credit cards, loyalty program cards, as well as digital boarding passes and event tickets directly from their smartphones.
Konfío in talk with the CNBV to get granted a banking licence
The FinTech that recently reached the well convoited unicorn status is now looking for its next challenge - becoming a bank. But the journey to access a banking licence from the local regulator is a complicated one. Another option would be the acquisition route. So far the Startup has acquired three companies to grow into new verticales and purchasing a bank could be the fastest way - as done by Ualá acquiring ABC Capital in Mexico.
As a reminder, Konfío closed a US$100 million Series E one year ago.
Conekta launches its purchase returns in cash feature
The startup provides payment gateway solutions to businesses. It enables businesses to accept online payments from customers via credit/debit cards, bank transfers, and wallets.
With this new feature, companies using Conekta’s product will have a new way to reimburse purchases made online but paid in cash. It is a very helpful feature for unbanked customers using online services.
VC - M&A News
Mexican FEMSA to acquires FinTech NetPay
The international Mexican company Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA) is expanding its financial digital solution by acquiring NetPay technology - a payment aggregator solution for SMEs in Mexico.
Back in 2019, the Monterrey based company first took a minority position into NetPay and will now buy 100% of its shares.
More specifically, NetPay will be integrated to Digital@FEMSA, a group unit focused on building an omnichannel portfolio of digital products and financial services to serve the Business-to-Business (B2B) sector.
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