Kaszek Ventures, one of Latin America’s premier venture firms, has raised $975 million across two funds.
Specifically, the São Paulo-based company has closed Kaszek Ventures VI, a $540 million seed fund and Kaszek Ventures Opportunity-III (KVO-III), a $435 million vehicle for later stage investment.
In recent years, there has been an explosion of global investor interest in Latin American startups. The startup scene in the region experienced explosive growth, with a major spike in fundraising in 2021 using venture capital a total of $15.9 billion in 2021 (compared to $2 billion in 2018) according to LAVCA. While that frenzy has abated ($7.8 billion was deployed in 2022), Latin America is still home to a growing number of unicorns and successful startups.
Since 2011, Kaszek has backed more than 120 companies, which the company says have collectively raised more than $15.5 billion in capital.
Kaszek plans to put money into 20 to 30 companies from his seed fund (in the seed, Series A and Series B stages), with checks ranging from $500,000 to $25 million, according to Hernán Kazah, co-founder of Kaszek and a managing partner. Investments in the Opportunity Fund will be more concentrated, with the company aiming to support 10 to 15 companies with checks ranging from $10 million to $50 million. KVO-III will primarily provide later-stage capital to Kaszek’s portfolio companies, but will also look for primary and secondary opportunities outside the company’s early-stage portfolios, Kazah said.
“We seek exceptional founding teams whose business plan focuses on the strategic use of technology to gain a competitive advantage. We do not limit ourselves to a specific sector,” says Kazah. Indeed, the portfolio includes companies across a range of industries such as fintech, enterprise/SaaS, proptech, insuretech, health tech, edtech, e-commerce, food tech, climate tech, biotech and blockchain. They contain Nubank, QuintoAndar, Kavak, Creditas, NuvemShop, Bitso, Gympass, Notco, MadeiraMadeira, Loggi, Konfio, Technisys, Kushki and Cora.
The company’s most notable exit is digital bank Nubank, which it first invested in during the pre-seed round “when the company was just a PowerPoint presentation,” said co-founder and managing partner Nicholas Szekasy. That company went public on the NYSE in December 2021.
Geographically, Kaszek has been most active in Brazil and Mexico, and has also invested in teams in Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and Uruguay.
MercadoLibre co-founder Kazah and the company’s ex-CFO Szekasy founded Kaszek 12 years ago after leaving what some describe as LatAm’s answer to Amazon. (The company’s name comes from a combination of their two surnames: Ka-Szek.) Rounding out the team are Nicolas Berman (former VP at MercadoLibre), Santiago Fossatti, Andy Young, Mariana Donangelo, and Angie Udry.
Image Credits: Kaszek
Kaszek set up his first fund in 2011 and raised $95 million, an impressive amount at the time. Funds II and III closed in 2014 and 2017 and raised $135 million and $200 million, respectively. By 2019, Kaszek had closed its fourth fund, raising $375 million, and its first Opportunity Fund, earmarking $225 million for later-stage investments in existing portfolio companies. It last raised money in 2021$475 million for early stage investments and $525 million for its opportunity fund.
According to the company, each of its two new funds was “oversubscribed.”
The company’s LP base remains consistent with that of its previous funds, according to Kazah, and includes endowments from universities, philanthropic foundations, technology investors and entrepreneurs around the world.
In 2022, said Szekasymost companies in Latin America “used the year to recalibrate their plans and trade some sales growth to improve margins and pave a path to profitability.”
“Looking ahead to 2023, pipeline opportunities are robust,” Kazah added. “The technology sector has faced some short to medium term pressure globally due to recent market adjustments. However, it is important to note that the long-term trends in this sector remain unchanged. In fact, historically, some of the most iconic and successful companies have been built in times of scarcity and economic uncertainty.”
