Rounds of the Week: Piwi, Scaleup, Typcal, BioEsol and Smart Break Raise Funds

Bloomberg Línea rounds up the Latin American startups that received funding this week

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Bloomberg Línea — Even at a time of readjustment, startups in Latin America continue to receive contributions. This week, companies in the financial, food, education, and energy sectors received venture capital contributions.

These are the startups that received funding in the region this week:

Piwi

Digital brokerage Piwi has received a 21.5-million-reais ($4.12 million) investment round, which will be used in the enhancement of its digital front and the search for a greater commercial scale for the company’s operation. DNA Capital, a venture capital and private equity manager specializing in the healthcare and technology sector, led the round.

Scaleup

The angel investment association BR Angels has invested for the first time in an edtech: Scaleup. The company was selected to receive a 7-million-reais ($1.34 million) round, which also saw the participation of individual investors Diego Barreto (iFood), Helisson Lemos (Via), Igor Mascarenhas (PIER), Jonathan Martins (SERAC), Rafael Bagolin (Jusfy) and Heliomar Quaresma (IBE/FGV). The edtech aims to have 100,000 students next year.

100 Foods

Created in 2019, 100 Foods, a Brazilian foodtech of plant-based products, announced the rebranding of the brand, with a name change to Typcal, and received an investment of R$4 million, led by the Futurum Capital fund.

The startup also announced changes to its corporate body, with former volleyball coach Bernardinho joining the team, alongside his son Bruninho, a player on the Brazilian national team.

Smart Break

Smart Break, a startup for autonomous micro-markets, received an investment of 36 million reais ($6.89 million) led by Headline, a partnership fund with XP Asset. UVC Investimentos, a venture capital fund of the Ultra group, also participated in the investment.

BioEsol

BioEsol, a Mexican startup that seeks to eliminate energy problems affecting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Latin America, closed a pre-seed investment round of $1.5 million from funds such as Techstars, Katapult VC, Innlite and GVM.

The startup seeks to provide a solution to blackouts, outages, poor quality connections, and high costs through the use of renewable energy. The startup founded by Felipe Arriola, Samuel Arriola, Alejandra Alfaro, and Gabriel Bracamontes plans to expand to Colombia, Chile, and Brazil in the next three years.

Recently, BioEsol won first place in the Heineken Green Challenge, an entrepreneurship platform in conjunction with the INCmty entrepreneurship festival at the Tecnológico de Monterrey university in Mexico.

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