Nubank was the most talked about case at the end of last year as the fintech with the highest valuation (+US$30 billion) in Latin America. It launched its initial public offering (IPO) and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in December 2021.
This year there are 21 other venture-backed companies in the region that are valued at more than US$500 million. PitchBook, a provider of financial software and data, sees them all as candidates to launch their IPO in 2022. Among them are NotCo, Rappi, Konfío, Kavak, Loft, Tiendanube, Merama and Clic.
It is worth mentioning that valuation is not an indicator to predict that a company is close to launching its IPO. However, PitchBook states that none of these companies would be out of place in the public market; in 2021, the median IPO in the United States was valued at US$608 million.
On Target to Launch Its IPO
Many of the startups that are in the spotlight to go public this year will sound familiar to you; some because they recently became unicorns and others because they have become very popular due to the variety of services they offer.
Most of them belong to the fintech sector (38.1%), which has historically received the most investment and, according to experts, will continue to attract capital. They are followed by e-commerce (19.1%), supply chain technology (14.28%), real estate (9.5%), foodtech (9.5%), gaming (4.76%) and mobility (4.76%).
Thus, the 21 companies that could go public are:
Brazilian companies dominate this list with eight, followed by Mexican companies with six. In addition, the top 5 most valuable companies, as of the publication of this text, are:
- Kavak: the Mexican company that sells cars online is worth US$8.7 billion.
- Rappi: the Colombian startup that started offering delivery services, then financial and recently travel services, is already worth US$5.25 billion.
- QuintoAndar: the real estate company based in Sao Paulo, Brazil is worth $5.1 billion.
- Tiendanube: belongs to the e-commerce sector and was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. This company is worth US$3.1 billion.
- Wildlife: is a gaming startup that is part of the list. It originated in Sao Paulo, Brazil and is worth US$3 billion.
Venture Capitalists Investing the Most in the Region
Through 2021, Latin America received US$14.8 billion in venture capital investments; that is 174% more than in 2020. In addition, more than 660 deals were made, 121 more than in the previous year, according to CBInsights.
According to a PitchBook report, Softbank was the leader of these investments through the SoftBank Latin America Fund, with venture capital deals of around US$8 billion. However, other funds such as Endeavor Catalyst, Tiger Global, QED Investors and DTS Global stood out.
The report also noted that in 2021, more than 1,100 unique companies were active in the region, which experienced a boom in venture investment.
In addition, for the first time, non-domestic companies participated in more than US$10 billion in venture deals. This is way up from previous years, which barely exceeded US$4 billion.
PitchBook predicted throughout its recent reports that Nubank’s IPO and the trend in investments would drive more venture capital investments and “big” IPOs in the coming years.
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