Edtech Luca Raises a US$3 Million Pre-seed Round and Starts Operations in Mexico

Luca, an educational technology startup, just closed a US$3 million pre-seed investment round. Heartcore Capital and Shilling Capital participated in the round, as well as some Angel investors. They include Juan Romero, former CEO of Pearson Latam; Hugo Arévalo, co-founder of ThePowerMBA; Brian Requarth, co-founder of Latitud and Viva Real; and Gonzalo Manrique, founder of Ironhack.

The capital raised will be used to strengthen the technology and product development team. It will also go towards expanding its content production and starting operations in Mexico.

Luca, which is based in Mexico City, was founded in 2020 by Frederico Bello. It specializes in allowing basic education students to enhance their academic development through videos and their own content. The edtech was developed by experts in pedagogy who have had previous experience with educational publishers such as Santillana and Pearson, and in tech companies such as Crehana, Netflix and Uber. The founder himself worked for some time at Uber.

The startup allows students to take lessons, receive direct support from tutors and get this through a single app. With its new funding, Luca will produce more videos covering elementary education levels and up to high school levels. It will focus on topics like math, Spanish and science. It will also look to expand to more Spanish-speaking countries.

Mexico currently represents a potential market of 44 million students, with a higher level of spending on education than that of the more developed edtech markets. In this country, they begin with programs that will cover upper elementary school. These programs are aligned with the plans of the Ministry of Public Education.

Edtech is a sector that has grown extensively. According to the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), US$6.4 billion dollars were invested into Latin America in the first months of 2021. The education vertical has been one of the most important sectors for investors, following financial services, health, real estate and retail.

Specifically, an investigation by Holon IQ reports that investment in edtech startups in Latin America and the Caribbean was US$299 million last year. This is 3.6 times more than in 2020.

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