Contxto – What happens when directors from eight major Argentine funds gather in the same room? In-depth discussions about co-investing in the country’s next unicorn, of course.
A few weeks ago, Wayra (the corporate VC arm of Telefónica) organized a Co-Investment Day with seven other partners. Together, they are seeking to invest up to US$4 million in the Argentine startup yielding the most potential to become a unicorn.
Also present at this event were Argentine funds such as MELI Fund (the corporate VC arm of Mercado Libre), Globant Ventures, YPF Ventures, Alaya Capital Partners, NXTP Labs, Jaguar Ventures and Draper Cygnus.
The purpose of this collaboration is to increase cooperation between Argentina’s startup ecosystem, especially among VC funds. With more joint-investments, there will be more resources to support local startups in their scaling endeavors. This way, less will have to venture abroad to seek funding.
“We organized this event convinced that there is a great opportunity in the ecosystem to work together and strengthen ourselves, favoring co-investment, at a time in the life of startups in which the raising of capital is crucial in their evolution,” said Agustín Rotondo, country manager of Wayra Argentina of Wayra.
“When we work together instead of competing, we generate synergies,” added Rotondo. “That is why at Wayra, we think of this event as an opportunity to articulate the need of startups with the investment possibilities of those who today have the ability to support them from the private sector and corporate investment, incorporating innovation to meet the challenges of digital transformation.”
Presentations
On August 1, partners watched startups from various industries present for Co-Investment Day. Some specialize in IoT innovations while others focus on energy, applied technology, agriculture, human resources, as well as last-mile transportation.
All of these mature-staged companies are also collectively seeking close to US$20 million of capital.
Agree Market
Smart food trade is what Agree Market brings to the table as the world’s “first global (agriculture) commodities marketplace,” according to its LinkedIn. The online market permits users to buy and sell grains, oilseeds, as well as by-products and other specialties in both the global and domestic markets.
Dynami Battery Corp
This tech company designs products that others can’t thanks to its ultra-thin lithium batteries. What Dynami does differently is tailor batteries to products rather than the other way around. With this, the company offers customized designs, technology development and full-service engineering to partners.
S4
Biological assets become financial ones with S4 and its indexing technology. Meant to reduce crop production risks, the technology is specifically designed to combat climate change.
Acordar
Based on its proprietary AI models, this startup has developed a trading platform meant for debt recovery, personalized sales and improve customer relations. Its machine learning mechanisms and centralized management platform help partners get the results they need for optimal operations.
Quiena
As a Latin American investment management company, Quiena allows you to check your investment results 24/7. The process is one hundred percent online and it allows investors to transfer money from their local banks to their U.S. investment accounts. Also, monthly reports and annual tax declarations are available.
Brandtrack
The startup makes music curation easy for businesses purposes. Specifically, Brandtrack improves customer experience with its background beats. Business owners can select from a set of expertly curated playlists the most suitable music for their company. All playlists are made by DJs that also specialize in marketing.
Pobuca
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software that uses artificial intelligence to assist companies in contacting customers, some of whom may owe money. Pobuca has a built-in bot that can search and update the information stored on the software.
Apperto
With multiple functions over its social media meets e-Commerce platform, Apperto strives to develop small to medium-sized Argentine cities. Trying to build community, it connects users with pertinent local info ranging from discounts, peer-to-peer digital payments, customer engagement, news, plus other features.
Drixit
Drixit develops advanced sensor-based technology for users. This way, they can precisely track shipments while also resorting to real-time data from the cloud-based analytics. Common uses range from tracking assets to reduce risk, boost safety and improve performance. Similarly, clients also effectively maintain warehouse inventories, ensuring that everything is accounted for.
Treggo
Urban shipments are getting even easier with Treggo’s solution, available around the clock. Through its platform, users can receive immediate quotes, see the nearest deliverer, as well as monitor deliveries in real-time. Its collaboration with Mercado Flex Shipping also makes it possible to receive goods in one hour.
Argentine unicorns
Argentina actually has quite a few unicorns roaming around compared to the rest of Latin America. As of today, Argentine startups worth over US$1 billion include Prisma, Despegar, Mercado Libre, Globant, OLX, and Auth0. Check out our Market Map to learn about other Latin American unicorns.
In the meantime, I’m excited to see which one of these startups the co-investment group decides to accelerate.
-JA
