Between 2017 and 2019, 17 of over 300 unicorns in the world emerged in Latin America, according to a survey completed by LABS which took into consideration the data from the following sources: the Brazilian Platform for Innovation Distrito, the Latin American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), and CB Insights.
One of those newly-minted unicorns in Latin America is Nubank, a startup that this year gained entry into the elite group of decacorns—companies valued at $ 10 billion or more.
Check out:
1. Despegar (ARG) – September of 2017, during its IPO in Nasdaq, after raising $ 332 million.
2. PagSeguro (BR) – January of 2018, during its IPO in Nasdaq, after raising $ 2.27 billion. After its debut, the company went on to be valued at $ 9 billion.
3. 99 (BR) – January of 2018, when purchased for $ 600 million by the Chinese firm DiDi Chuxing, reaching a market value of $ 1 billion.
4. Nubank (BR) – March of 2018, reached before announcing the contribution of $ 150 million during the sixth round of investments since its founding, in 2013. The contribution was led by DST Global fund. In July of 2019, it received $ 400 million in an investment round by the American TCV fund. Nubank reached a market value of $ 10 billion.
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5. Arco Educação (BR) – September of 2018, during its IPO in Nasdaq, after raising $ 194.5 million. The value made the company surpass $ 800 million in its debut. On the following day, with a valuation of its shares, Arco went on to be valued at $ 1 billion.
6. Ascenty (BR) – September of 2018, when Digital Realty, an American company of data centers, announced the purchase of Ascenty for $ 1.8 billion or BRL 7 billion.
7. Rappi (COL) – September of 2018, after raising $ 250 million in a round led by DST Global, the Russian investor Yuri Milner, with the participation from the Sequoia and Andreessen Horowitz funds; the company went on to be valued at $ 1 billion.
ALSO READ: How Colombian startup Rappi has been leading the way in Latin America’s new technology era
8. Stone (BR) – October of 2018, during its IPO in Nasdaq, after raising $ 1.5 billion.
9. iFood (BR) – November of 2018, when it announced a contribution of $ 500 million from Naspers Ventures and Innova Capital, this last one from the entrepreneur Jorge Paulo Lemann, having planned an expansion of operations in Brazil and Latin America.
10. Movile (BR) – November of 2018, with the ascension of iFood, its controller, Movile also became a unicorn. In addition to iFood, Movile also has investments in SpoonRocket, in Sympla, and in PlayKids.
11. Prisma Medios de Pago (ARG) – January of 2019, when the private equity company Advent International bought 51% of the payments leader company in Argentina for $ 700 million.
12. Auth0 (ARG) – May of 2019, when the Argentine startup offered the management of identities as a service (the Identity-as-a-Service or IDaaS), it also announced a round of $ 103 million, lead by Sapphire Ventures.
13. Loggi (BR) – June of 2019, when it received a contribution of $ 150 million, led by SoftBank and Microsoft.
14. Gympass (BR) – June of 2019, when it received a contribution of $ 300 million, led by SoftBank and by the American fund General Atlantic.
15. QuintoAndar (BR) – September of 2019, when it received a contribution of $ 250 million, led by SoftBank and by the American fund Dragoneer.
16. EBANX (BR) – October of 2019, when the startup received funding from the US fund FTV and was valued at just over $ 1 billion.
17. Wildlife Studios (BR) – December of 2019. Founded by the Brazilian engineers and brothers Arthur and Victor Lazarte, the mobile games startup received an investment round of $60 million led by the San Francisco based VC fund Benchmark Capital, reaching a valuation of $1.3 billion.
Translated by Axel Diniz
