Dealflow.la #9 - Argentina ๐ฆ๐ท invents FX rate just for soybean exporters, Linkedin for low-skilled workers HoyTrabajas ๐จ๐ด raises $5.5M, and Costa Rica ๐จ๐ท reinstates mask mandate.
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Funding
Remote Waters ๐จ๐ฑ raised a $80,000 Seed round from CORFO ๐จ๐ฑ, with previous funding from Start-up Chile ๐จ๐ฑ, to provide water purification systems with low operation/maintence costs and fast installation for rural communities.
Embarca AI ๐ง๐ท raised $3.3 Million from Esmeralda ๐ง๐ท and Princesa dos Campos ๐ง๐ท to allow Brazilians to book travel tickets online, starting with primarily bus tickets.
SolarView ๐ง๐ท raised $750,000 from Cedro Capital ๐ง๐ท to build monitoring services for the production and consumption of electrical energy from photovoltaic systems.
Reworth ๐ฒ๐ฝ raised a $2.8 Million Seed round led by ALLVP ๐ฒ๐ฝ with funding from Creditas ๐ง๐ท, K5 Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, NOA Capital ๐ฒ๐ฝ, FJ Labs ๐บ๐ธ, Soma Capital ๐บ๐ธ, Gilgamesh Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, Rally Cap Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, Verve Capital ๐บ๐ธ, Evening Fund ๐บ๐ธ, Lotux ๐ฒ๐ฝ, Magma Venture Partners ๐ฎ๐ฑ, Bluewatch Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, JAM Fund ๐บ๐ธ, Latitud ๐ง๐ท, CEO of Bitso Daniel Vogel ๐ฒ๐ฝ, CEO of Justo Ricardo Weder ๐ฒ๐ฝ and Co-Founder of Tinder Justin Mateen ๐บ๐ธ to simplify the way banks and merchants interact with their customers, enabling them to understand, predict and influence consumer behavior through the use of cashback.
Fidu ๐ฆ๐ท raised a $5 Million Seed round from Lightspeed Venture Partners ๐บ๐ธ, NFX ๐บ๐ธ, Imaginable Futures ๐บ๐ธ, Broom Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, Co-Founder of Auth0 Matias Woloski ๐ฆ๐ท, Co-Founder of Truora Daniel Bilbao ๐จ๐ด, Co-Founder of Rappi Felipe Villamarin ๐จ๐ด, and Founder & CEO of Frubana Fabian Gomez Gutierrez ๐จ๐ด to build their educational management operating system, enabling institutions to digitally handle everything from finances to school-wide announcements.
HoyTrabajas ๐จ๐ด raised a $5.5 Million Seed round from Starling Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, Share Capital ๐จ๐ณ, SCM Advisors ๐ฌ๐ง, Rebel Fund ๐บ๐ธ, New Ventures ๐ฒ๐ฝ, Newtype Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, MAGIC Fund ๐บ๐ธ, K20 Fund ๐บ๐ธ, Co-Founder & CEO of Fitbit James Park ๐บ๐ธ, Flucas Ventures ๐บ๐ธ, Dragon Capital๐บ๐ฆ, AngelHub ๐ญ๐ฐ, Co-Founder of Dropbox Arash Ferdowsi ๐บ๐ธ, and Co-Founder of Truora Daniel Bilbao ๐จ๐ด to build Linkedin for low-skilled workers in Latin America. They allows users to exchange information about resumes and job openings in real-time as well as allow companies recruit their low-skilled workers in less than 72 hours.
Tienda Pago ๐ฒ๐ฝ raised a $12 Million Series B round led by IDC Ventures ๐ฉ๐ฐ and Women's World Banking ๐บ๐ธ with funding from Kazek ๐, Accion ๐บ๐ธ, Agrega Partners ๐ฉ๐ด, Alumni Fund Management ๐บ๐ธ, Co_Capital ๐ฒ๐ฝ, and QED ๐บ๐ธ to provide small merchants in emerging markets with mobile cashless payments and lending solutions.
Volpi ๐ง๐ท raised $30 Million from RBR Asset Management ๐ง๐ท to provide secured credit services in the real estate market.
Sociopolitical News
๐ฆ๐ท Argentina
Petrobras leaving Argentina to seek more profitable investments. (MercoPress)
Argentinaโs currency mess sucks sales out of Uruguayโs malls; Uruguayans going to shop in cheaper Argentina leave less money for their domestic malls says Uruguayโs top mall manager sees sales falling short of 2019. (Bloomberg)
IMF warns Argentina of ad-hoc FX rates amid 100% inflation. โWe continue to believe that this is the way forward not to have ad-hoc and separate measures,โ Goldfajn told Bloomberg News in an interview on the sidelines of the IMFโs annual meetings in Washington. โIf you have them, you should do it in a temporary basis and unwind them going forward.โ The IMF board approved a waiver for Argentinaโs program last week for its โmultiple currency practices,โ after the government invented a new exchange rate just for soybean exporters in September. (Yahoo)
๐ง๐ท Brazil
Brazil's Neymar arrives at Barcelona court to face trial on fraud and corruption charges. (Reuters)
Lula losing Brazilโs biggest state forces urgent campaign rejig. Sรฃo Paulo unexpectedly fell to Bolsonaro in the first round. Now Lulaโs campaign is rushing to shore up support in the state ahead of the presidential runoff. (Bloomberg)
Lula's lead over Bolsonaro falls marginally ahead of Brazil's runoff election -poll. (Reuters)
Bolsonarism has already won in Brazil, even if Bolsonaro loses as he has gained seats in Congress amid a broader rightward shift that will keep him influential even if Lula wins. (Al Jazeera)
๐จ๐ฑ Chile
Chilean President Gabriel Boricโs approval rating sunk to an all-time low as voters say one of Latin Americaโs richest nations is worse off three years after massive protests against inequality and poor government services. (Bloomberg)
Boric Says reforms are vital as Chile braces for day of violence on third anniversary of unrest. Protests broke out on Tuesday, but were relatively small. (Bloomberg)
Scattered clashes in Chile mark third anniversary of riots. (Reuters)
๐จ๐ด Colombia
President Gustavo Petro and Vice President Francia Mรกrquez presented a bill for creating the Ministry of Equality and Equity in the Constitution Hall of the National Capitol in Bogotรก. (TeleSur)
Daniel Rendon Herrera, once the "most feared narco-terrorist in Colombia," sentenced to 35 years in U.S. prison. (CBS)
Murder rate plummets in Medellin amid 'gangster peace'. (France 24)
๐จ๐ท Costa Rica
Costa Rica reinstates mask mandate in schools and public transport. (Tico)
๐ฉ๐ด Dominican Republic
Fuel smugglers cash in on Haitian chaos. Gangs in Haiti blockade and loot key fuel supplies, the fuel crisis is now trickling over to the neighboring Dominican Republic. (ABC)
๐ธ๐ป El Salvador
The government of El Salvador has launched a tender to expand the passenger terminal at San รscar Arnulfo Romero y Galdรกmez International Airport, which serves capital San Salvador. (BNA)
El Salvador: 55,000 suspected gang members arrested since March. The crackdown continues as parliament extended emergency powers that allow authorities to arrest suspects without warrants. (Al Jazeera)
El Salvadorโs bitcoin experiment: $60 million lost, $375 million spent, little to show so far. (CNBC)
๐ฌ๐นย Guatemala
The Executive Board of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has suspended the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Guatemala. The suspension, which officially came into effective on Oct. 15, 2022, comes after the IOC claims that the NOC of Guatemala failed to solve a domestic legal dispute. (Al Dรญa)
Ex-Guatemalan minister sentenced to one year for role in paying bribes through Miami bank. (Miami Herald)
๐ฒ๐ฝ Mexico
US and Mexico make deal to ease Venezuela migration. It is hoped the deal will ease pressure at the US-Mexico border, where a steady flow of Venezuelans continues to arrive as they flee the crisis-hit nation. Starting immediately, flights will be arranged for 24,000 migrants to arrive in the United States. (BBC)
Mexico's Congress has voted in favour of extending the presence of the military on the streets until 2028. Troops have been carrying out public security duties for years as part of Mexico's war against drugs and the gangs which control their trade. (BBC)
Mexico seen falling into cecession alongside US in 2023. US recession would drag down Mexico, Bloomberg Economics says BE models show US faces 100% chance of recession next year. (Bloomberg)
Mexico president backs defense ministry's refusal to account for massive data leak. (Reuters)
Mexico mulls ending daylight saving time, that may pass this week, could potentially affecting cross-border shipments. (FreightWaves)
๐ณ๐ฎ Nicaragua
In Nicaragua, families of jailed opposition leaders fear for their relatives' lives. President Daniel Ortega alleged they and dozens of other political prisoners were behind 2018 street protests that he claims were a plot to overthrow him. (NBC)
Another Catholic priest has been โkidnappedโ by Nicaraguaโs government, says exiled churchman. (CNA)
France expresses 'deep concern' over detained dual-nationals in Nicaragua. (Reuters)
Nicaragua calls for expansion of ties with Iran. (Tehran Times)
๐ต๐พ Paraguay
Paraguay is a haven for international crime, Paraguayan Congressional report finds. (MercoPress)
๐ต๐ช Peru
Peru has had five presidents in seven years. Is Castillo next to go? (Washington Post)
๐ต๐ท Puerto Rico
More than 100 migrants stranded near Puerto Rico await help. Federal authorities say they are trying to rescue more than 100 migrants stranded on an uninhabited island near Puerto Rico during a human smuggling operation. (ABC)
Puerto Rico's agriculture minister says Hurricane Fiona destroyed $159 million worth of crops in Puerto Rico when it hit a month ago, decimating fields of plantains, bananas and other crops. (ABC)
Puerto Rico to investigate power bill complaints after hurricane outage. A growing number of customers in the U.S. territory complain about being charged for electricity when they didnโt have power and receiving higher than normal power bills. (NBC)
๐ป๐ช Venezuela
More than seven million Venezuelans have left their homeland since 2015 amid an ongoing economic and political crisis, according to new UN data. (BBC)
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