:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/KHN5ZAJVNBHRJOYA56X5JVXYCQ.jpg "Spot2, Smart Doctor, Nextron and Tractian raised small rounds this week.")
Bloomberg Línea — Welcome to the rounds of the week. After venture capital investment reached a record $15.7 billion in 2021, more than what was raised by Latin American startups in the entire previous decade, and Latin America did not show signs of slowing down during the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, according to data from the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA).
In contrast to the downward trend in venture capital investments in the U.S., Latin America saw a total of $2.8 billion invested in 190 deals, according to LAVCA, making this the fourth-richest quarter on record for investments in Latin America.
The $2.8 billion invested represents a 67% increase against the first quarter of 2021 ($1.7 billion), and a 375% increase over the first quarter of 2020 ($582 billion).
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/6PL3BQT7ABG2ZJMFRZ4VSR5334.jpg "Lavca's data on VC investments for LatAm")
These were the early-stage rounds of the week:
Spot2
This Mexican commercial real estate proptech uses technology to automate and simplify the rental process from start to finish. This week it announced a $4.2 million seed capital round led by Streamline Ventures, in which HOF Capital, Acrew Capital, and H20 and a group of angel investors such as Sebastián Kreiss of Xepelin, Alister Moreno of Clickalia, Alexis Patjane of 99minutos, Enzo Cavalie of Startupeable, among others, also participated.
Spot2 seeks to improve the user experience by digitizing and automating the rental process, making renting up to six times faster for its customers.
Smart Doctor
Peruvian healthtech Smart Doctor set up shop in Brazil after a Series Pre-Seed round that raised $1.5 million, with contributions from Pareto20, Fresh-Ventures and GreenEgg Ventures.
Smart Doctor offers companies solutions focused on the health and well-being of employees and their families, prioritizing disease prevention. Through tele-consultations, Smart Doctor offers consultations with specialists in the areas of general medicine, psychology and nutrition.
Nextron
Brazil’s Nextron Energia, which connects renewable energy plants to consumers, has officially started its operations in the marketplace. Climatic technology is now debuting in the Brazilian market as the company has raised $2.28 million, led by Valor Capital Group, with the participation of Barn Investimentos, a venture capital fund focused on greentech. The seed round also had the participation of angel investors, family offices, founders and ex-C-level executives of several energy concessionaires in Brazil.
Tractian
Brazil’s Tractian has just received an investment of 80 million reais ($16.3 million) in a round led by Next47. This is the first time the U.S. fund has invested in a Latin American company. The round also included the participation of investors who have participated in previous investments, in addition to Totvs, through its CVC fund, and Gilberto Mautner, founder of Locaweb.
Tractian is an industrial machinery management and maintenance system. The startup offers solutions that reduce maintenance costs and increase the capacity of the industrial production chain.
Last year, Tractian said it achieved annual revenue growth of more than 408%, as well as more than tripling its customer base, which includes Embraer, Bosch, Danone, Hyundai and John Deere. The company also has thousands of sensors in the aeronautical, automotive, food and beverage, metallurgy, sugar and alcohol industries, airports, among others.
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