Top Venture Capital Firms in Latin America Investing in Startups

In 2018 Venture Capital firms in Latin America invested over $1.98 billion in up and coming startups.

Are you interested in getting a piece of that action?

If so, we’ve put in the work to create a roundup of the top 14 venture capital firms in Latin America, categorized by country.

We’ve included:

• Information on how to apply
• As much information as we could find on how much money they usually invest
• Contact information
• Any other trivia we thought was important for you to know

Good luck pitching!

VCs in Brazil

Monashees+

Why you need to know:

• With headquarters in Sao Paolo, Monashees+ is active globally, investing in technology companies with big dreams.
• Early stage investors.
• Sectors of focus are AI, EdTech, FinTech, Health Care, Logistics, Machine Learning, Mobile, Real Estate, SaaS and Transportation.
• Focusing mostly on companies in Brazil and Latin America.
• 10 of their portfolio companies have exited, most notably taxi application 99, e-commerce retailer Baby and AgTech company Strider.
• They promise to “follow along” the companies as they grow.

How much they usually invest:

• Seed round investments range around $1M-$2M.
• Leading and participating in seed rounds, series A and series B.
  Total fund size of $477.1M.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website

Kaszek Ventures

Why you need to know:

• Kaszek Ventures invests in high-impact, technology based, Latin America companies.
• Early stage VC.
• They are calling themselves “industry and stage agnostic”.
• Investing in LatAm companies, with a focus on Brazil and Argentina.
• 10 of their companies have exited, most notably Brazilian e-commerce Grupo Netshoes, food ordering app PedidosYa and Argentinian Openstack deployment Nubeliu.
• Apart from their Brazil HQ in Sao Paolo, they also have a very strong presence in Argentina.

How much they usually invest:

• No information of initial ticket but their series A investments range around $4.5M.
• Leading and participating in anything from seed rounds to series B.
  Handling a total fund size of $1 billion.

How to apply:

• Fill in the contact form here.

Official Website

VCs in Argentina

NXTP labs

Why you need to know:

• NXTP labs has invested in more than 190 companies, which have gone to raise $469M.
• Focusing mostly on early stage startups that are coming up with innovative technology solutions.
• Main sectors are AI, big data, adtech, agtech, fintech, IoT and SaaS.
• Investing in Latin American companies.
• 13 of their portfolio companies have exited, most notably containerization open-source tech Tutum, online platform for Guidecentral, and mobile app WeHostels.

How much they usually invest:

• Usually doing smaller investments ($25K) as part of their 4-month accelerator program with subsequent funding of about $1M, but they’ve also invested up to $5M in later series.
• Leading and participating in seed rounds, series A and series B.
• Handling a total fund of $103M.

How to apply:

• Fill in your application here.

Official Website

Draper Cygnus VC Fund

Why you need to know:

• A new entry in the VC Latin America scene, Draper Cygnus VC Fund launched in 2017 with headquarters in Argentina.
• Early stage investors.
• Focus sectors are Fintech, Food & Agtech, Bio & Nanotech and Cleantech.
• Targeting Argentina-based companies.
• No notable exits yet but their broader network has investments in companies such as Twitter and Skype.
• Born out of Cygnus Capital firm, who invest in innovative startups, the Draper Cygnus fund aims to further boost regional growth.
• They’re also part of the Draper Ventures Network with a presence in nine locations globally.

How much they usually invest:

• No information on initial ticket range.
• Investing in seed, series A and series B.
• Cygnus Capital’s companies have raised a total of $254M.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website

VCs in Chile

Manutara Ventures

Why you need to know:

• With its 15 years of experience and focus in globally scalable investments, Santiago based Manutara Ventures aims to elevate the Chile VC scene.
• Early stage investors.
• Broad focus is on software (IT) and biotechnology companies.
• Investing in Chilean companies.
• No exits yet.
• Since 2018, they’re part of the global Draper Network.

How much they usually invest:

• Initial ticket ranges from $400K to $2.3M.
• Exclusively leading seed rounds.
• Their initial fund for technological early stages was at $18M.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website

Magma Partners

Why you need to know:

• With their HQ in Santiago and offices in Colombia, Mexico, California and China, Magma partners have invested in 38 companies so far.
• Early stage investors.
• Focus sectors are fintech, insurance tech and blockchain.
• Investing in Chilean startups but also in global startups with LatAm teams.
• No notable exits yets.
• Also managing a Sino-Latin accelerator that helps Chinese entrepreneurs in Latin America and vice versa.

How much they usually invest:

• Initial pre-seed ticket at $25K-$75K, $100k-$500k at Seed and up to $1.5M for Series A but also doing larger, follow up investments.
• Leading and participating usually in Pre-seed up to Series A rounds.
• Working more as an accelerator, with a total fund of $17.5M. Currently investing through a second, partner fund of $15M.

How to apply:

• Fill in your application here.

Official Website

VCs in Columbia

Polymath Ventures

Why you need to know:

• A hybrid of a VC and an incubator, Polymath Ventures has a different approach: instead of simply investing in startups, they get involved in building them from scratch in-house and helping them scale with capital they assemble from outside investors.
• Focus is on disruptive technology ventures in Mobility, FinTech, Employment and Wellness.
• Geared towards Latin American companies.
• None of their companies has exited yet.
• Recruiting founding teams to lead their in-house built ventures.

How much they usually invest:

• Raising around $120K-$420K in pre-seed rounds for their companies and around $1M for series A.
• Involved in pre-seed, seed and series A rounds.
• They’ve raised a total fund of $27M so far.

How to apply:

• As the Polymath approach is building companies together, you can join them as a founder of your startup or as a potential team member in one of their ventures or email them at [email protected]

Official Website

VCs in Ecuador

Devlabs

Why you need to know:

• With offices in Chile and stakeholders in Colombia, Devlabs has a strong presence in Ecuador, investing in software companies with less than 3 years of operation.
• Early stage investors.
• Focus sectors include Agri-business, Finance, Health, Tourism, Education and Operations, always from a B2B software perspective.
• Their Chile branch is focused on LatAm investments, but they also have Central America focused branches and a US focused branch.
• None of their companies have exited yet.

How much they usually invest:

• Initial ticket ranges at $100K-$300K, for a 5-15% equity.
• Have participated in both angel rounds and series A, but usually lead pre-seed rounds.
• Handling a total of $29M across two funds.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website

VCs in Peru

Angel Ventures

Why you need to know:

• The first professionally managed “angel network” in LatAm with offices in Peru, Colombia and Mexico, AV now has two VC funds investing in startups in the region, as well as its own high-impact incubator (in Mexico).
• Early stage investors.
• Sectors of focus are agriculture/Base of the Pyramid, consumer goods/retail, health/biotechnology, fin-tech and media.
• Their Peru fund focuses on strong, local startups who want to scale regionally.
• No exits through their Peru fund yet.
• Although present in the area since 2008, in 2016 AV launched a second fund, specifically targeted towards countries of the Pacific Alliance like Peru.

How much they usually invest:

• Seed round investments range around $1M.
• Leading and participating in everything from seed rounds up to series B.
• Handling a total fund of $20M and have so far invested a total of $1.2M in Peruvian companies through their Peru fund.

How to apply:

• Fill in your application here.

Official Website

Ataria Ventures

Why you need to know:

• Located in Palo Alto, California, but investing globally, Ataria Ventures has a strong presence in Peru, focusing on early-stage technology startups.
• Early stage investors.
• Focus sectors include AI, agritech, big data, consumer, foodtech, health and VR.
• Investing globally — so far they’ve invested in more than 35 companies.
• One of their portfolio companies has exited: data source platform CoolaData.
• Working mostly as a Corporate Venture Capital, investing in startups on behalf of their corporate clients.

How much they usually invest:

• Ranging from around $100K for seed rounds to $1-$10M for series A.
• Have participated mostly in seed rounds and series A.
• No information on total fund size.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website

VCs in Guatemala

Invariantes Fund

Why you need to know:

• Launched in 2015, Invariantes is Guatemala’s first early stage VC, with a focus on SDI companies.
• Early stage investors.
• Claiming to be “sector agnostic”.
• Initial target market is Guatemala, but they also invest in the US and globally.
• None of their portfolio companies have exited yet.
• Have invested in 18 companies so far.

How much they usually invest:

• No information on seed rounds initial ticket. Convertible notes range between $920K-$2.5M.
• Leading and participating in anything from seed rounds to series D and convertible notes.
• No information on their total fund size but their latest investment (to Orlando-based, autonomous vehicle software company Luminar) was $100M.

How to apply:

• Fill in the contact form on their homepage.

Official Website

E10

Why you need to know:

• A family VC in Guatemala City that focuses on technology investments with a conscious and high-impact approach.
• Early stage investors.
• Sectors of focus are clean energy and energy-related technology.
• Investing primarily in Guatemalan companies.
• No exits yet.

How much they usually invest:

• No information on a standard initial ticket, but they have invested $910K on a seed round and up to $3M on a series A.
• Participating mostly in seed rounds and series A.
• No information on total fund size.

How to apply:

• Email them at [email protected]

Official Website