U.S. Capria Ventures partners with Mexican Cometa Ventures to scale up "soonicorns" in Spanish speaking markets

Cometa is Capria’s 7th local fund manager in Latin America; also, Cometa is launching its third fund, of $100 million

Cometa Ventures Capria Ventures — Cometa's team. Photo: Courtesy

17.Feb.2022 15:34 BRT

Global investing firm Capria Ventures has partnered with Mexico-based venture capital firm Cometa to invest in the so-called “soonicorns”, startups that are on their way to becoming unicorns. With this, Capria adds the 7th fund manager from Latin America to its global network of 14 investing partners. Capria has already invested in startups like Agrofy, Aprende Institute, Urbvan, and Kueski in Latin America.

Founded in 2012, Cometa is known for investing in early-stage startups in Spanish-speaking countries, including Latin America, Spain, and the US Hispanic market. The VC firm has invested in over 30 companies in its 10-year history, including startups like Bitso, Cabify, and Kueski.

In addition, the partnership comes as Cometa is launching its third fund, Cometa III, with a target fund size of $100 million which it is closing this year.

Cometa is best known for investing in SaaS (Software as a Service) companies and in solutions that focus on the digitization of companies – a sector that accelerated during the pandemic. Six of Cometa’s portfolio companies in its prior fund-raised funding rounds of Series B and beyond during 2021 alone. Globally investors who participated in these rounds include Coatue, SoftBank, Tiger Global, Owl Ventures, Mubadala, and Stepstone Group.

Today, over 60% of these portfolio companies are valued above $100 million, and 2 of them have achieved unicorn status.

“Capria brings together a trusted peer group of fund managers from the Global South, who invest in markets with similar opportunities and challenges to ours. We were attracted by this exchange of knowledge, ideas, and experiences that we can leverage to build a strong and globally competitive portfolio,” said Rafael de Haro, Cometa’s general partner alongside José Luis Bolaños.

Susana Garcia-Robles, senior partner at Capria Ventures, said that Cometa will bring its expertise about opportunities and the nuances of Latin American innovation ecosystem. “Cometa team understands the nuances of the market and knows who the best teams of local entrepreneurs are. Capria and Cometa share the mission to help businesses scale their solutions, highlighting the innovation coming from Latam.”