Three Hogan Lovells LLP offices have helped Mexican e-commerce start-up Valoreo get a US$50 million seed investment, which is one of the largest amounts ever raised by a Latin American company in an initial funding round.
A slew of international and local start-up-focused investors, including Upper90, FJ Labs, Angel Ventures and Presight Capital, led the funding round. US fintech investor Upper90 relied on Mexico’s Nader, Hayaux & Goebel for the transaction. The investors’ international counsel asked to remain confidential.
The deal was announced on 16 February.
The funding marks Valoreo’s first-ever investment round and is among the largest-ever seed investments by a Latin American company. Seed funding refers to the initial investment received by a company, the funds of which a start-up tends to use to set up its business and cover initial operational costs.
Several angel investors – individuals who inject capital through investment rounds – also participated in the transaction. One of them was David Geisen, who heads the Mexican operations of Argentine e-commerce group Mercado Libre.
Valoreo was founded in 2020 with the aim of acquiring or investing in e-commerce businesses, scaling them up and divesting them. It also provides financial support, business tools and other resources to entrepreneurs looking to develop small and medium-sized businesses in Latin America. Aside from its Mexican presence, the start-up has intentions to expand to Brazil and Colombia.
Other Mexican start-ups have received landmark investments in recent months. E-retailer Jüsto raised US$65 million in a Series A funding round last month, the largest-ever in a second series investment round for a Latin American company. Mexican real estate start-up Casai received a US$5 million seed investment back in October, followed by a US$48 million Series A funding round.
In the second half of 2020, a slew of companies obtained substantial capital injections that resulted in them being crowned as unicorn companies – a title given to tech start-ups that are growing at an exponential speed and valued to more than US$1 billion. In September, Japanese investor SoftBank led a US$255 million funding round in Brazilian e-commerce group VTEX, which made the company a unicorn, just one week after Uruguayan start-up dLocal became a unicorn following a US$200 million investment round.
Counsel to Valoreo
Partner Nathan Cooper in Washington, DC, and associate Zachary Shub-Essig in Los Angeles
Partners Juan Francisco Torres-Landa and Federico De Noriega Olea, counsel Maria Aldonza Sakar Almirante, and Francisco Palmero and associate Pablo Corcuera Bain in Mexico City
Counsel to Upper90
Partner Javier Arreola and associate Adrián Mendez in Mexico City
