Por Alejandro González Ormerod
February 19, 2020
Contxto – If Chile’s venture capital (VC) scene is crowded for such a small country, all while keeping swift and nimble—as we saw in last week’s VC ranking—, then this week’s featured country packs a punch with a just handful of players.
Related articles: Top 7 Venture Capital funds in Chile
The financial and economic turmoil that has plagued Argentina for so long now does not put a dampener on investors. At first glance, it would seem that the VC ecosystem in the country is actually rather fired up.
Perhaps, an indicator of the misfortune that has plagued this South American country is the fact that the funds in this ranking are, by far, some of the most intrepid foreign investors. They venture out into the broader Latin American startup-world with greater gusto than most… and probably to their advantage as well!
Then again if this list seems shorter than the others, it’s because it is. Clearly, the ravages of economic instability aren’t an ideal situation for finance-focused institutions (I know: No s***t, Sherlock).
Indeed, over the years, many once-active VCs have withered away, with the Argentinian venture capital ecosystem going on to diverge into local investors branching out into the world to secure their assets, or foreign-sourced capital coming into Argentina to reap the rewards of low liquidity, high interest rates and inflation.
Related article: Top 9 Venture Capital funds in Mexico
Either way, this is a thriving ecosystem that cannot be ignored. So, without further ado, we give you:
NXTP is an early-stage VC with a penchant for balanced diversity. It boasts a portfolio rife with sectoral variety, investing widely in over 10 different industries. They go from fintechs—the biggest bet in their portfolio, at almost a quarter of all its investments (24.3 percent)—, followed a little way back by the logistics industry at 16.2 percent.
Meanwhile, it keeps a relatively good balance regarding their geographic diversity, with almost exactly half their investments resting safely close to home in Argentina. They also seem pretty middle of the road when it comes to their average ticket size: between US$500,000 up to US$2 million a pop.
This VC is industry and stage agnostic, investing mainly in seed, Series A and B. It is mainly interested in finance, with 29 percent of investment going to that sector. Health and education come up behind with 10 percent each. Nothing too strange up ‘til now.
But the funny thing about it is that, even though this is an Argentinian investor, its native home is far from the most present country in Kaszek’s portfolio. That honor goes to Brazil with 28 companies in this Argentine fund’s portfolio, followed by six in Mexico, and far behind is Argentina with five startup investments.
Alaya Capital Partners is another early-stage fund based in Argentina, but is also shacked up with headquarters in Chile and the United States. Nevertheless, its largest amount of startup investments are in Argentina—58 percent, to be precise.
The rest are spread across its other two host countries and Mexico. Alaya also doesn’t seem to care too much for one singular industry. One thing’s for sure though; it does love its tech. Digital dominance is clear in this VC’s investments given its preference for adtech (16.7 percent) and e-commerce (12.5), both preeminent sections of this fund’s portfolio.
Cygnus is an early-stage VC interested in getting into the digital economy game. It is chiefly interested in developing issues in consumer internet, business to consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B), marketplaces, digital media, media networks, online gaming, mobile apps, social networks, and software as a service (SaaS).
Quite the digital mouthful, but you should expect more soon, since the VC has recently created a joint fund with Tim Draper in order to supercharge the potential of these technologies across the region, specifically in the biotech, fintech, agtech, and cleantech (that is sustainable technologies) industries.
Patagonia is a bit like a thoroughbred; it was infused with previously successful execs with a long history in the VC world and now has the track record to prove it. As it stands, this VC has 21 investments of which over half have resulted in successful exits—12 to be precise. It seems this investor’s portfolio slant on digital media, adtech, and marketing is really paying off.
Related articles: Tech and startups in Argentina!
-AG, SB
Researched by Salvador Betancourt-Ramírez with source material obtained through correspondence with the VCs or, upon non-response, cited from the funds’ websites.
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