Dealflow.la #3 - Sequoia 🇺🇸, Kevin Durant 🇺🇸, & Ronaldo 🇵🇹 invest in Draftea 🇲🇽, Argentinian Vice President assassination attempt, and El Salvador's Bitcoin Bust.

Latin America is rising. Subscribe to Semilla.VC’s Dealflow.LA Newsletter to keep up.

Funding

Doc-Doc 🇨🇴 raised a $1 Seed Round from Cardo Health 🇸🇪, with funding from 500 Startups 🇺🇸 and Seedstars 🇸🇪 to build a primary health care telemedicine service focused on specialists.

Bankme 🇧🇷 raised a $1.1 Million Seed Round led by DOMO 🇧🇷 with funding from Apex Partners 🇧🇷 to allow companies to build mini banks.

Puna Bio 🇦🇷 raised a $3.7 Million Seed Round led by Builders 🇺🇸 & At One Ventures 🇺🇸, with funding from SOSV’s IndieBio 🇺🇸, Grid Exponential 🇦🇷, GLOCAL 🇦🇷, and SP Ventures 🇧🇷 to develop technology for agriculture that increases yields, reduces carbon emissions, and restores degraded soil.

Plerk raised a $12 Million Series A led by Upload Ventures 🇧🇷, with funding from Rappi 🇨🇴, 500 Startups 🇺🇸, Magma 🇨🇱, MGV 🇺🇸, and Frubana 🇨🇴 to help companies support their workforce by starting with personalized perks and benefits for all employees, regardless of location.

Draftea 🇲🇽 raised a $20 Million Series A led by Stepstone 🇺🇸, with funding from Sequoia 🇺🇸, Kazek 🌎, Christiano Ronaldo 🇵🇹, NBA Superstar Kevin Durant 🇺🇸, NFL Superstar Travis Kelce 🇺🇸, Bullpen 🇺🇸, and Courtside 🇺🇸, to build first daily fantasy sports betting platform in the Spanish-speaking world.

Caju 🇧🇷 raised a $25 Million Series B led by K1 Investment Management 🇺🇸, with funding from Clocktower 🇺🇸, Valor 🇺🇸, Picus 🇩🇪, Caravela 🇧🇷, and FJ Labs 🇺🇸 to provide companies with access to a platform to register employees and manage benefits.

Pagaleave 🇧🇷 raised a $25 Million Series A lead by Salesforce Ventures 🇺🇸, with funding from Endeavor Brazil’s Scale-up Ventures 🇧🇷, Our Innovation Fund 🇦🇺, Janiero Energy 🇧🇷, Founder Collective 🇺🇸, and Entrée Capital 🇬🇧 to build their Buy Now Pay Later platform.

M&A Activity

VH Global Sustainable Energy Opportunities 🇬🇧 acquires the 198MW Mascarenhas hydroelectric facility in the state of Espírito Santo (just north of Rio De Janeiro) from EDP Energias do Brasil 🇧🇷 for $236 Million.

Sociopolicial Risk Report

🇦🇷 Argentina

• A 35-year-old Brazilian man pointed a gun and pulled a trigger at Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner outside her home in Buenos Aires late Thursday night. The gun did not fire and the man was arrested immediately. (The Guardian)

• President Alberto Fernández declared Friday a national holiday.

🇧🇿 Belize

• Nothing noteworthy this week.

🇧🇴 Bolivia

• Former Bolivian President Evo Morales had his cell phone stolen during the weekend, which prompted a full-scale operation to retrieve the device. (MP)

🇧🇷 Brazil

• Bolsonaro gains on Lula ahead of Brazil election. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva still has a 13-percentage-point lead over President Jair Bolsonaro according to a poll published on Thursday. (Reuters)

• Jair Bolsonaro’s ‘murky family finances’ have come under renewed scrutiny after claims the Brazilian president and close relatives used cash to pay for more than 50 properties worth millions of dollars. Critics ask where the cash came originated. (The Guardian)

• Brazil's Petrobras to lower gasoline prices 7% starting Friday. (Reuters)

🇨🇱 Chile

• Chile is set to vote on one of the most progressive constitutions in the world. The draft has a strong emphasis on indigenous self-determination and on the protection of the environment. If the constitution passes, the highly privatized water rights system will be dismantled, among other things. (CNN)

🇨🇴 Colombia

• President Gustavo Petro’s proposed tax-the-rich legislation would raise $11.5bn a year with measures including wealth tax and a levy on oil exports. (The Guardian)

• Colombia and Venezuela reestablish diplomatic relations. (CNN)

• Defense Minister says Colombia will suspend aerial bombings against armed groups in a strategy shift to protect civilians, including children forced to join rebel groups. (Al Jazeera)

🇨🇷 Costa Rica

• Costa Rica's new president calls the press the enemy. Journalists warn 'nothing like this had ever happened.' (NBC)

🇩🇴 Dominican Republic

• Nothing noteworthy this week.

🇪🇨 Ecuador

• Ecuador begins a regularization process for thousands of Venezuelan migrants. (Yahoo)

• Ecuador’s state oil company told Singapore-based commodity trader Trafigura Group to avoid importing Russian fuels 12 hours after Trafigura finished discharging a cargo ship filled with Russian diesel at the Ecuadorian port of Esmeraldas. It’s unclear if Trafigura, the top supplier of fuels to the country, will comply with the request. (Bloomberg)

🇸🇻 El Salvador

• The verdict is in for El Salvador’s bitcoin experiment: It Failed. (NR)

• ‘Overpromised and underdelivered’: El Salvador’s Bitcoin bond is delayed again. (Fortune)

🇬🇹 Guatemala

• Guatemala pledges support for Taiwan, as China Accuses Taiwan of ‘political manipulation.’ (VOA)

🇭🇳 Honduras

• Honduras’ friendship with Taiwan is “also a promise to the US” per Hondras’ Ambassador to Taiwan. (TN)

🇲🇽 Mexico

• German automaker Volkswagen 'profoundly disappointed' after Mexico factory workers reject union pay deal. Volkswagen said outside interests influenced the voting process and impacted the result with false arguments. (Auto News)

• Poll shows Mexico City mayor narrowly leads ruling party presidential race. (US News/Reuters)

  • Mexican presidents are limited to a single six-year term, called a sexenio. No one who has held the post, even on a caretaker basis, is allowed to run or serve again.

🇳🇮 Nicaragua

• Fleeing Nicaraguans strain Costa Rica's asylum system. (AP News)

• The United States considers halting Nicaraguan imports over concerns about its government. (VOA)

• Nicaragua continues their assault on the Catholic Church. (NBC)

🇵🇦 Panama

• Panama approved the consumption of marijuana for medicinal and therapeutic use. (Al Día)

  • If you’re interested in learning more about Medical and recreational marijuana in Latin America. Watch our Semilla.VC interview with Antonio Gómez, Co-Founder and CEO of Mexico City-based Tryp.

🇵🇾 Paraguay

• Paraguay President squashes bitcoin & crypto mining bill with ‘Total Veto.’ (Crypto News)

• The Brazilian and Paraguayan Presidents celebrated the new binational bridge between the cities of Foz do Iguaçu (Brazil) and Presidente Franco (Paraguay) which will "alleviate" the traffic on the Friendship Bridge, the only other link between the two cities built in 1965. (Al Día)

🇵🇪 Peru

• Mixed GDP figures muddy picture for Peru. (BNA)

• Peru president’s sister-in-law sent to jail amid corruption probe. (Al Jazeera)

🇵🇷 Puerto Rico

• Banker at center of Puerto Rico corruption scandal denies guilt. (Bloomberg)

• Police repress demonstrations against Luma Energy, the power company responsible for power distribution and power transmission on the island. (TeleSUR)

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• Brazillian air carrier GOL plans to increase connectivity between Brazil & Uruguay. (Simple Flying)

🇻🇪 Venezuela

• Chevron applies for Venezuela license renewal, and proposes wider business. (Nasdaq)

• Hugo Chavez and Socialism get erased from the Caracas skyline; ads for jeans and makeup replace Socialist symbols. (Bloomberg)

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