Weekly Roundup: Latin American tech news and startup deals

Techloy -

Here are the technology news, startup, and VC deals we tracked across the Latin American region this week.

Colombian fintech company Movii raised $17 million in a Series C round backed by Square, the U.S. fintech founded by Jack Dorsey, making it Square’s first investment into a Latin American startup.

  • The company earlier raised $15 million as part of a Series B round from Jack Dorsey and Hard Yaka’s company last October.
  • Movii will use the funds for its expansion in Peru.

Biotech startup Sistema closed $15.5 million in a Series B round made up of shares, debt, and venture capital led by KawiSafi Ventures.

  • The funding will be used to strengthen partnerships and distribution, carbon reduction activities, research and development efforts, as well as its overall operations in LatAm, Africa, and Asia-Pacific.
  • Sistema plans to provide clean and renewable energy to 1 million farmers and their families by 2025.

Fintech company Flexio raised $3 million in a seed round led by Soma Capital, a fund specialized in B2B companies.

Brazil-based fintech Agroforte, which is focused on agribusinesses, raised $1.13 million led by Futurum Capital, with participation from The Yield Lab, Kelei Ventures, and Catalice Investimentos.

  • The startup offers credit to small rural producers and helps finance poultry, pig, egg, and dairy producers.
  • The funding will help Agroforte expand its offer of credit products and solutions in conjunction with a national growth strategy.
  • It plans to grant around $28 million in financing over the next 18 months.

The Draft provides a weekly roundup of the most important tech news across key emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. Follow the rest of our coverage @techloy on Twitter.