Beek
Mexican platform Beek, a type of Audible for the Spanish language, announced a US$13 million Series A led by Lightspeed Venture Partner. Mercedes Bent, partner of the VC fund, joined the startup’s board of directors after the round. Existing VCs Greylock and Accel also participated in the round, as well as angel investors including Sam Altman (OpenAI), Dylan Field (Figma), Jorge Mazal (Duolingo), Sebastián Mejía (Rappi) and Alfonso de los Ríos (Nowports).
In conversation with TechCrunch, Bent praised among other things the “masterful command” that Beek showed in controlling the different KPIs, short for key performance indicators.
Years before its current form—a subscription to audiobooks and other audio content, aimed especially at Spanish-speaking auditors seeking to develop in various areas of their lives—Beek started out as a book review platform. Today it also functions as a marketplace for audio content creators, where they can offer premium content. Pamela Valdés, CEO of Beek, told TechCrunch that they plan to use the capital to boost content creators and improve the user experience.
Minu
Mexican fintech Minu, which offers company employees on-demand salary and other benefits, announced a US$30 million round. It is comprised of a US$10 million bridge round from Coppel Ventures, Besant Capital, Enea Capital, FinTech Collective, QED and Salkantaray, and US$20 million in debt from Accial Capital.
According to Minu, they operate in more than 350 companies in Mexico, including Grupo Modelo, Coppel, Rappi and Tecnológico de Monterrey.
The company said in a statement that the resources will allow it to continue its accelerated growth and continue to grow in Mexico.
Rounds in Brazil
Fintech Paketá, which provides loans for company employees, raised US$3.1 million. It was an extension of its Series A, and was led by the firm IOB. More details in IT Forum.
Diferente, a home-delivered organic food store, raised US$3 million in its second seed round. It was led by Caravela Capital and with the resources they plan, among other things, to launch their app and optimize the user experience with artificial intelligence. More at TechCrunch.
