LatAm ICT financing, investment watch

Brazil's MK Solutions, a provider of management software for internet providers, plans to invest 30mn reais (US$5.90mn) over the next two years and expand in Latin America.

The first countries in the internationalization drive are still being defined, CEO Tulio Barbosa told BNamericas. The company, which in 2020 was acquired by TBG Investimentos, is targeting 1bn reais in annual revenues by 2025.

Capex will go mainly to new products and upgrading existing solutions, workforce expansion and partnerships with suppliers, according to Barbosa.

As part of its growth strategy, MK launched a new operation in São Paulo and entered into a partnership with Asaas, a fintech specialized in digital accounts and automation of financial management processes for enterprises. The idea is that Asaas' technology be integrated into MK's ERPs and payment solutions.

MK serves “hundreds” of providers throughout Brazil that connect around 15mn people in more than 4mn homes and firms, said the CEO.

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Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer is allocating 20mn reais to a venture capital fund for investments in startups with solutions for the aerospace, agribusiness and cargo/logistics verticals.

The MSW MultiCorp 2 fund is managed by MSW Capital. It is MSW's second multi-corporate venture fund, and its focus is on seed and series A stage startups, with investments of 3mn-15mn reais per project.

By entering the fund, Embraer, through its Embraer Ventures unit, joins Moura Baterias and BB Seguros, the insurance arm of Banco do Brasil, as its backers. MSW MultiCorp was until now mostly focused on insurance and energy initiatives.

Embraer posted an adjusted net loss of 93.8mn reais in Q3, down 47.8% from a year before. Net revenue amounted to 4.87bn reais, down 2.8%.

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Mexican venture capital fund DILA Capital closed its fourth fund for investments in Latin American startups, this time with US$115mn in resources.

The company is looking to initially invest between US$1mn and US$4mn in technology companies in pre-series A and series A rounds, managing partner Alejandro Diez Barroso said via social media.

DILA has to date invested in 11 startups, including health tech Moons and fintech Kushki, and plans to invest in 10-15 new ones with the new fund over the next few years.

The new resources came from existing investors, as well as from new US and Europe-based institutional funds, the executive said, without providing details.

DILA Capital was founded in 2004, although it started with its current fund structure in 2011.

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German software giant SAP opened new corporate headquarters in Mexico City.

Repurposed for the new hybrid working scenario, the new office is focused on workforce collaboration and integration, the company said. It has more than 1,300m2 and is located in the Chapultepec One Tower. Financial details were not provided.

SAP is said to have as many as 50,000 clients in Mexico, its second largest LatAm market after Brazil.

The launch came as SAP announced plans to cut its global workforce by 3,000. The company posted 30.8bn euros (US$33.9bn) in Q4 net revenues, up 11% year-over-year. Cloud revenue was up 33%.

SAP said in 2023 it will restructure its business to focus on strategic growth areas and accelerated cloud transformation.

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Brazilian fintech Juvo received 40mn reais from SRM Ventures, the venture capital arm of asset management group SRM Asset.

The funds will be used for loans focused on lower income tiers that Juvo intends to make available in the coming months, the fintech said in a statement. Juvo projects that its loan book will grow 10 times this year.

Over the past 18 months, Juvo said it provided more than 400mn reais in microcredits for mobile top-ups and up to 2,500 reais in personal loans for 11mn Brazilians.

Juvo is the ninth company to receive investment from SRM Ventures. The fund plans to have 20-25 institutions under its umbrella by the end of the first quarter.

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The Times of Hope Foundation and the educational program of the Zamora Terán Foundation opened a community innovation center in Costa Rica’s Hub EduTech El Faro.

The digital citizenship center has the goal of enhancing opportunities in rural communities through the training of digital and soft skills.

Hub EduTech is located in Llanito in Guanacaste province. It is equipped with Chromebook laptops, among other equipment. 

Local telco Liberty Costa Rica expanded its fixed internet network in the community and “donated” 200Mbps of connectivity to the hub. Liberty announced in recent days that it raised US$450mn via a sustainability-linked bond provided by IDB Invest for FTTH and mobile rollouts in the country.

In related news, Oracle announced a partnership with the Costa Rican government focused on digital education which is expected to benefit 3,000 students, 164 public schools, 1,300 teachers and 250 smart community centers.

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 Chilean HR-focused startup Zenda launched in Colombia and is preparing to arrive in Mexico in a couple of months.

The 2021-founded firm created a software hosted in the Amazon Web Services cloud to automate and simplify people management processes in companies, integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning tools.

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Norwegian software firm Visma bought for an undisclosed sum Argentina's Xubio, provider of cloud ERP for small and mid-sized enterprises.

Created in 2015, Xubio provides services to 50,000 businesses, with clients in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico.

Xubio allows management in areas such as electronic invoices, budgets, accounting and taxes, as well as integration with leading e-commerce platforms like MercadoLibre, MercadoPago, TiendaNube, MercadoShops and WooCommerce, said Visma.