Juan Pablo Mejia Gil

Contxto – Fintech Creze announced it recently closed MXN$265 million (~US$12 million) with unnamed Mexican investors. The funds will serve to update its lending platform as well as “whatever comes next.” I’m somewhat paraphrasing but they did say that: “We’re proud to announce this investment which will allow us to better face any eventuality that’s […]

Contxto – Lending fintechs in Latin America have been raising equity capital and financing rounds throughout 2020. Likewise they all take up the mantra of “democratizing access to financial services”.  Yet there is one significant problem that hasn’t been sufficiently addressed: How will fintechs procure loans to individuals and businesses who can’t prove a source […]

Contxto – There is another, less explored, facet of the startup equation. Indeed, no idea gets far without the money to do the walking. This is where venture capitalists (VCs) come in. And as one would expect, Venture Capital in Mexico and the rest of Latin America is no exception. Oft the mighty presences behind […]

Contxto – International market research wonk Atlantia Search from Mexico City recently wrapped up an undisclosed bridge round led by tapatío fund, Redwood Ventures.  “Of course, the bet in Atlantia Search is an attractive business model and scalable,” said Ian Paul Otero, a managing partner at Redwood Ventures, in recent correspondence. “It’s a robust and […]

Contxto – Payment startup Parco just parked it. Where? Well, where else other than Redwood Ventures’ portfolio, of course. For how much? For an undisclosed amount, according to a recent press release. Others joining Redwood on this occasion were Polígono Capital and past angel investors. Moreover, this startup from Guadalajara now accompanies Gurú de Viaje, […]

Contxto – Inspired by TechCrunch’s post series about Web 2.0 companies that Michael Arrington couldn’t live without, now I’m happy to share my own list of essential apps and sites. Since we’re a blog covering Latin American entrepreneurship and startups, though, I’ll focus exclusively on regional apps. Some of them are for business, some for […]

Contxto – Seems like it’s Fashion Week in the Latin American startup ecosystem. Well, not quite, but we have enjoyed covering Karün and GoTrendier’s merger with Chicfy over the past few days. Latin America’s entrepreneurial community has never looked so stylish! Now let’s talk about Troquer. The newest addition to Redwood Ventures’ portfolio is Troquer, […]

Contxto – A few weeks ago, I spoke with my former colleague at Redwood Ventures, Ian Paul Otero. We spoke about Redwood’s history, best fundraising practices and what mistakes to avoid as an aspiring founder. Our conversation reinforced the potential of venture capital in Mexico. Continue reading to learn more! I: Let me begin by […]

Contxto – The fintech startup, Yotepresto.com, just landed a US$1.8 million Bridge round led by VARIV Capital, alongside Redwood Ventures, Tonk Capital and former angel investors. The company – previously backed by Angel Ventures – needed to raise a subsequent round in order to scale operations, deploy new products and venture into balance sheet lending […]

Contxto – The Venture Capital firm, Angel Ventures, and the high impact incubator, Archetype, kick 2019 off with the right foot! After carefully analyzing dozens of applications and interviewing entrepreneurs from Mexico and some other Latin American countries, the announcement was made: 16 companies will be part of the 4th Generation of the Acceleration Program […]

Contxto – Fintech Weel raised an investment and let the world know last Thursday. The startup from Brazil announced it’s closed a round for R$80 million (about US$18.5 million) through BVx, the innovation arm of Brazilian bank, BV. Plus, this banking institution will also finance Weel for up to R$800 million (US$185 million). It’s not […]

Contxto – Earlier, a Reuters report surfaced that Brazilian VC firm monashees will be raising US$250 million to grow investments in Latin American startups. While monashees hasn’t formally announced or confirm this news, this could be an important milestone for the group. In Summary  Eric Acher and Fabio Igel founded the São Paulo-based VC firm […]

Contxto – We cover a lot of fintech excitement at Contxto. Every day there seems to be another Latin American startup making headlines based on masterfully combining finance and technology for enhanced user lives. Today’s latest comes from Brazilian fintech Creditas. The SoftBank-backed startup recently announced that it received over 800,000 applications from January to […]

Contxto – Brazillian cash flow management platform, WEEL, has raised US$6 million in an investment round with Monashees, Mindset Ventures and Banco Votorantim. About WEEL’s Fintech Model Founded in 2014 as WorkCapital, WEEL has created an innovative model based on artificial intelligence risk analysis. Essentially, it consolidates vast amounts of information – aka, Big Data […]

Contxto – Collections departments have their work cut out for them: endless accounts and invoices to keep track of and bill… It can become very manual and time-consuming. Brazilian iugu is well-aware of this problem and developed a platform to automate many of these processes. For its customer-driven merits, it’s attracted one very interesting investor. […]

Contxto – With Covid-19, startups are expanding into new territory. Truora is a Colombian startup that (under normal circumstances) develops software to run background checks. This service is usually for fintechs to validate a person’s digital identity. Likewise HR departments employ Truora’s services to verify a potential job candidate’s record. In short, fraud prevention is […]

Contxto – There is another, less explored, facet of the startup equation. Indeed, no idea gets far without the money to do the walking. This is where venture capitalists (VCs) come in. And as one would expect, Venture Capital in Mexico and the rest of Latin America is no exception. Oft the mighty presences behind […]

Contxto – Investors are lean and hungry for dark kitchens in Latin America. Brazilian startup, Mimic can attest to that following its raising of R$37.2 million (around US$9 million) in a seed round.  Monashees led the investment, with contributions by Canary, and Valor Capital Group following suit. They were also joined by individual investors with […]

Contxto – Colombian dog-walking marketplace, Mywak had a solid 2019. It reported a 43 percent growth rate within the last year and in August, it teamed up with Rappi. As a result, the startup plans to expand into Peru and Spain during the second semester of 2020. Lassie come home! It’s heartbreaking to be unable […]

Contxto – Earlier, a Reuters report surfaced that Brazilian VC firm monashees will be raising US$250 million to grow investments in Latin American startups. While monashees hasn’t formally announced or confirm this news, this could be an important milestone for the group. In Summary  Eric Acher and Fabio Igel founded the São Paulo-based VC firm […]

Contxto – Inspired by TechCrunch’s post series about Web 2.0 companies that Michael Arrington couldn’t live without, now I’m happy to share my own list of essential apps and sites. Since we’re a blog covering Latin American entrepreneurship and startups, though, I’ll focus exclusively on regional apps. Some of them are for business, some for […]

Contxto – A U.S. pet-sitting marketplace named Rover led a US$7 million round for Brazilian pet care app, DogHero. As Rover’s international influence grows, it’s the first time the Seattle-based company invested not only in Brazil but also Latin America. Mexican VC firm, IGNIA Partners, also contributed in hopes of expanding service across the region. […]

Contxto– Emptor, an automated identity verification and background check provider, has announced its expansion into Costa Rica. The future is here! Well, actually, it may have been here for quite some years now.  Though now based in New York, Emptor was founded in 2016 and has Peruvian roots. It offers its services to several countries across […]

Contxto– In order to maintain leadership in the e-commerce business, Chilean retailer Falabella has signed contracts to work with logistics companies to optimize its delivery methods. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Falabella received backlash on social media due to a delivery service perceived as inefficient by its clients. Deliveries were extremely delayed while orders increased exponentially.  […]

Welcome to our new The Exclusive deep dive content about our Latin American ecosystem. We’re giving our registered newsletter users a sneak-peek of these soon-to-be paid for articles. Contxto—Politics, football, and Tesla’s current stock price all have one thing in common with SoftBank—Latin America’s largest foreign investor—; you should never mention them in conversation unless […]

Today’s Soapbox opinion was written by María José Contreras de Velasco, who is charged with promoting a culture of competition from COFECE. Contxto – The health crisis caused by Covid-19 has forced us to reinvent our habits. We now buy our groceries, exercise, take classes, and work, all without leaving home. As we adapt, companies […]

Today’s Soapbox opinion was written by Jia Li Tan, an Investment Professional at ALLVP. Contxto – On September 16, Mexicans around the world celebrate “Día de la Independencia”; the anniversary of the country’s independence from Spain.  It is the day when the whole of Mexico celebrates and takes a day off work. It was on […]

Contxto – Delivery de Mercado—iFood’s marketplace of restaurants and supermarkets—grew 240 percent last August when compared to March of this year. Evidently, Covid-19 has pushed consumers towards acquiring their edibles online. So to keep up with this momentum, iFood recently acquired SiteMercado—a white-label platform that helps grocery stores digitize their operations to work as an […]

Contxto – Y Combinator is always full of excitement. However, we were all delightfully surprised on Demo Day after being privately contacted by a Mexican startup, Orchata. Turns out, they too had been selected for this year’s Summer Batch.  Thus, the final YC tally stood at: The obvious question is, why did this Mexican startup […]

Contxto – Despite the uncertainty surrounding Cornershop’s corporate governance, nothing seems to be stopping the company from achieving what it sets itself to. According to América Economía, the company—which seems to be operating under Uber’s control now—established a new strategic partnership with Chilean retail consortium, Cencosud. What this means is that the supermarket companies operating […]

Contxto – OMNi is a Costa Rican startup that operates in Central America and the Caribbean. It claims to have developed the first super-app in the region, offering e-bike sharing services, a neobank, and soon ride-hailing and digital payment solutions.  In correspondence with Contxto, David Luza Echeverría, Executive Assistant at OMNi, said he believes that […]

Contxto – As Chilean-Mexican Cornershop looks to scale throughout Latin America, it needs help carrying out background checks for its shoppers. To that end, it partnered with Peruvian Emptor to automate the due diligence process. Through the deal, many manual processes for screening candidates are ditched, according to an announcement made last Wednesday (29). For […]

Contxto – Some might think that the story of fintech in Latin America is that of an underdog: A rebellious bunch of disruptors playing by their own rules and trying to conquer a game as old as time. However, the most recent strategy adopted by challenger banks doesn’t portray them as dissidents – in fact, […]

Contxto – We already talked about the hottest startups among LinkedIn users in Mexico this week. Now, it’s Brazil’s turn. Remember that, when it comes to its top startup rankings, the social network for professionals factors in variables like employee growth, jobseeker interest rates, as well as engagement levels between startups and their employees. And […]

Contxto – Santander InnoVentures, the investment arm of Spanish bank Santander, is undergoing some serious innovations of its own.  On Friday (11), it announced that it’s re-branded into Mouro Capital. Furthermore, it’s not just a matter of name-changing. It’s also shaking up the way it will approach entrepreneurs and funding in general. And to kick […]

Contxto –  São Paulo-based fintech Liber Capital knows there’s more to lending than what it’s current operations allow. Consequently, today (23) it announced it will buy a majority stake in fintech Adianta to dilute the risk when lending to businesses. As is, Liber Capital offers companies a lending platform for their accounts receivable departments. However, […]

Contxto – Coronavirus has exposed not just our physical wellbeing. It’s also revealed the weaknesses within healthcare systems and supply chain. Case and point are small-sized clinics who are scrambling to stay provisioned. To add some efficiency and transparency to the process, Brazilian logistics startup Rapicare recently closed a seed investment for R$5 million (~US$1 […]

Contxto — The private equity sector has been progressing rapidly in Brazil. With economic stability firmly established, dropping interest rates, and low country risk, the local market is already an attractive option for venture capital in Brazil. However, storm clouds gather ahead. Brazil was going through rough economic waters even before the Covid-crisis. We shan’t […]

Contxto – Santander Bank’s corporate venture capital (VC) arm, Santander InnoVentures led a US$5 million investment in Brazilian fintech a55. Yes, yet again there’s a loaning startup that’s raised capital. But a55 has a very specific market and a different approach when it comes time to charge borrowers. A55’s got its eye on SaaS streams   […]

Contxto – Funding may be tight within the current Covid-19 context, but some startups are still closing equity deals. This is fintech ADDI’s case. Yesterday (21), the loaning startup announced it received a capital injection for US$15 million in an investment round led by Quona Capital. Other contributors include Foundation Capital, S7 Ventures, as well […]

Contxto – To say that 2020 has been a tough year for Japanese investor, SoftBank, is an understatement. Its first US$100 billion Vision Fund may very well be its last, as it acknowledged a US$18 billion loss for its recent fiscal year last Monday (18). The struggle for profitability, coupled with coronavirus has put some […]

Contxto – Recessions are industry-agnostic things and job cuts continue for all sorts of startups across Latin America. In Brazil, marketplace GetNinjas, fintech Conta Azul, and Indian hospitality startup Oyo’s Brazilian offices have confirmed layoffs. Brazil hosts the region’s most robust startup ecosystem. So knowing how it’s evolving can offer a glimpse as to what […]