:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bloomberglinea/Z2M7M4LHRFF4LN3EIT2WZLUNQU.jpg "This week, Latin American startups Mecanizou, Cometa, Jungle and Makasi received their first funds")
Bloomberg Línea — February 2023 was the worst month for Latin American startups in the last three years, according to data from the innovation platform Sling Hub. The volume raised was the lowest since July 2020: $289 million in 53 rounds, 60% less than in January.
However, the early-stage startups continue raising capital and these are the Latin American startups that received funding in recent days:
Mecanizou
Brazilian startup Mecanizou, which connects automotive workshops to parts dealers and suppliers through technology and the use of data, raised a Series A investment round worth $14.5 million (R$76 million).
The investment is led by Monashees and also features participation from Alexia Ventures, FJ Labs, and Dalus Capital.
This is the second round of investment received by Mecanizou in just over a year. In January 2022, the company had already raised $4 million in its Seed round.
Cometa
Mexican startup Cometa closed an investment round of more than $5 million with the support of Kaszek, Reach Capital, Homebrew, Latitud, Investo VC, 500 Startups, and Salkantay Ventures.
Cometa offers a solution for the administrative management of private schools, promising to reduce tuition defaults.
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Jungle
Gaming startup Jungle received a Seed round of just over $6 million from Bitkraft and Framework Ventures. Funds Delphi Digital, Karatage, Fourth Revolution Capital, Monoceros, and 32bit Ventures also participated in the round, in addition to North Ventures.
The firm not only wants to develop new games but also acquire developed titles and publish new ones that help integrate the next generation of gamers with Web3 platforms. Jungle acquires underutilized IPs from established game companies, develops the product vision and go-to-market strategy, and then launches the title with a focus on web3 distribution, growth, and monetization.
Makasi
Brazilian startup Makasi has raised R$5 million in a Seed investment led by Terracotta Ventures and Honey Island by 4UM. Launched in December 2022 by Caio Bonatto, Fabiane Pellegrino, and Lucas Maceno, the startup wants to become the facilitator of construction finance.
The company says its portfolio adds up to about R$50 million worth of homes and land, generating approximately R$40 million in construction financing from partner financial institutions.
