SOFTBANK Latin America Ventures

Using online platforms, autonomy, electric and fuel-cell tech solutions to shape the future of trucking.

Truck Industry Tech

Loadsmart is a logistics technology company specializing in freight transportation and supply chain optimization. It offers a range of digital solutions, including online freight brokerage, dock scheduling software, and transportation management systems. Loadsmart's platform integrates AI/ML to enhance warehouse management, truckload procurement, and real-time freight tracking.Its freight matching solution supports full-truckload (FTL), less-than-truckload (LTL), partial-truckload (PTL), drayage, and intermodal freight. This platform allows users to instantly price, book, and ship freight. Shippers can also get updates, track shipments, and automate invoicing via integration with transportation management systems (TMS). The company offers the service on a subscription basis.Loadsmart’s acquisitions include 1) Navtrac, a computer vision startup (September 2023); 2) Kamion, an intelligent trucking management system; and 3) Opendock, a developer of warehouse dock scheduling software <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/6481">(November 2021).</a>Key customers and partnershipsIts customers include Cabot, Stanley Black &amp; Decker, Halliburton, Alcoa, Accenture, and StoneLoads.Loadsmart had 11 TMS integrations as of July 2024, including Oracle, MercuryGate, e2open, BlueYonder, Manhattan Associates, Kuebix, Tai, Win, One Network Enterprises, Uroute, and TranzAct. The company also has partnerships with similar online freight matching companies including SmartHop <a href="https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201201005290/en/SmartHop-Partners-with-Loadsmart-To-Support-Small-Carriers-Ahead-of-Holiday-Rush">(December 2020)</a>, Trucker Path’s Truckloads <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/7826">(January 2022)</a>, and StoneLoads <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/15166?industryIds=47">(December 2022)</a> to offer more load opportunities and enhance the number of available carriers.

Platforms, apps, and cards to keep the corporate wallet in check

Business Expense Management

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 Tribal offers expense management and short-term financing solutions, mainly targeted at startup businesses. The company uses a proprietary AI-driven underwriting approval process to assess users&rsquo; creditworthiness (in place of personal guarantees and credit history). Tribal offers physical and virtual business expense cards (powered by Visa; launched in December 2019), which can be used for domestic and cross-border payments. Users can set custom spend limits to control expenses, and the cards also provide expense categorization and real-time insights to help businesses optimize their spending. Tribal generates revenue from interchange fees whenever the cards are used for payments and does not charge users for issuing cards.
 
 
 Moreover, in response to pandemic-led demand for business payout management solutions, the company launched &ldquo;Tribal Pay.&rdquo; This lets enterprises make local and global payments - primarily ad and subscription spend - in over 180 countries (as of February 2022). It also provides embedded financing solutions through credit lines of up to 120 days, for which it charges fees based on the credit line utilization. 
 
 
 Key customers and partnerships
 
 
 Although the company is based in the US, it has a strong Latin American focus with Mexico being its largest market (as of February 2022). Tribal&rsquo;s payment volumes handled in Latin America reportedly grew by 90x in 2021. Its customers span 22 countries and include several startups including Minu, Ben and Frank, and Fairplay. 
 
 
 Tribal is also a member of Visa&rsquo;s &ldquo;FinTech Fast Track&rdquo; program, which was designed to help FinTechs better integrate with Visa to deliver payment solutions.
 
 
 Funding and financials
 
 
 Tribal raised USD 60 million in Series B funding in February 2022, led by SoftBank Latin America Fund to invest in expanding its reach in Latin America by recruiting in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Peru, and Chile.
 
</div>

Technology to customize and procure furniture

Furniture Tech

GAIA is a leading Mexican furniture manufacturer renowned for its commitment to sustainability and environmental protection. The company is the first in Mexico to develop furniture using certified wood sourced from sustainable forests, steering clear of materials like MDF. GAIA's product line encompasses a diverse range, including sofas, chairs, dining sets, tables, beds, wardrobes, and more, catering to residential and commercial spaces alike.
The brand prides itself on offering high-quality, natural designs that prioritize functionality and durability. GAIA's philosophy revolves around creating innovative, eco-friendly products that can be recycled, thereby minimizing their environmental impact. In addition to its nine branches across Mexico, the company has forged partnerships with local NGOs, further solidifying its dedication to sustainability.
GAIA has pioneered a new concept of modularity for its bathroom furniture line, enabling customers to customize and compose their desired solutions from various components. This approach allows for tailored aesthetics by selecting from nine distinct front panel designs, including Simple, Natura, Twist, Robin, Orizzonte, Auto, Wave, Domino, and Garden. Customers can independently create and price their ideal furnishing solutions, ensuring a personalized experience.
The company's recent catalogue expansion introduced a range of vanity unit configurations, with options for drawer modules, door modules, open compartments, and side modules. GAIA offers a versatile selection of countertop materials, including polished or matte white ceramic, crystal glass, matte resin, marble, and wood, catering to diverse design preferences.
In February 2021, GAIA unveiled its flagship store in Mexico City's Colonia Roma area, a vibrant cultural and commercial hub. The store's façade features a striking design with hand-made black concrete panels and steel beams, creating a dynamic interplay of light and shadow.

Automation to improve business efficiency

Workflow Automation Platforms

Pipefy offers a workflow automation platform that centralizes and standardizes workflows across functions for teams in HR, marketing and sales, finance, and others. Users can leverage if/then conditionals to build automated workflows for a range of tasks, such as employee onboarding, purchasing/procurement, recruiting, IT service requests, and expense reimbursement, and orchestrate operations across a range of third-party applications. These integrations span across a range of tools, including enterprise resource planning (ERP), accounting and legacy systems, and others. The company has a vast geographic presence with sales in over 215 countries.Additionally, Pipefy also offers “Pipefy Forms,” which enables users to create forms and automatically assign tasks, track due dates, monitor activity status, and obtain approvals through the form intakes. The company also launched “Pipefy Shared Inbox,” a task centralization and shared account management solution, in July 2021.In June 2023, the company launched Pipefy AI, a GenAI-based solution that leverages OpenAI’s GPT-4 model to enable users to generate insights, perform data analyses, and optimize internal processes. Users can ask questions about their current processes or datasets to identify trends and uncover root causes and create custom processes based on their requirements. It introduced new GenAI features to the platform <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/32584">in August 2024,</a> which include “AI Automation,” which handles repetitive tasks, “AI Agents,” which enhances service delivery, and “AI Co-pilot,” which creates workflows and analyzes data.Key customers and partnershipsAs of November 2023, the company reported more than 60,000 users ranging from startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to large global enterprises, such as IBM, Accenture, GE, and Telefonica, among others.The platform offers a range of integrations through Zapier, from which users can automate repetitive work through connections with over 300 apps. In May 2023, the company partnered with ABBYY, an intelligent document processing (IDP) company, to offer an integrated solution that combines Pipefy’s process automation capabilities with ABBYY’s optical character recognition (OCR) technology. The solution enables users to integrate data extracted from digital documents when building workflows.

Using autonomous, green, IoT, and digital technologies to shape the future of ocean-based transportation

Shipping Tech

Nowports is a Mexican digital freight forwarding company founded in 2018 by Alfonso de los Ríos and Maximiliano Casal. The company specializes in automating the entire supply chain process, enabling cargo movement via maritime, aerial, and ground transportation across Latin America. Nowports collaborates with leading airlines, shipping companies, railroads, and trucking firms to facilitate its operations. The company offers a range of services, including a digital platform that provides real-time visibility into shipment locations, status, and any potential issues. Additionally, Nowports provides inventory financing solutions, allowing customers to acquire merchandise for import and pay for it at a later date. The company also offers cargo insurance to protect clients' shipments during transportation.
In December 2022, Nowports achieved a valuation of USD 1.1 billion after raising USD 150 million in a Series C funding round led by SoftBank Latin America Fund. This funding will be utilized to expand Nowports' financing services across Latin America and establish additional offices in Brazil, Mexico, and Chile. The company also plans to increase its engineering workforce to drive technological advancements. Since its inception, Nowports has experienced remarkable growth, with its revenue increasing by over 12 times year-over-year in 2022, accompanied by a tenfold increase in the number of containers shipped and customers served during the same period.

Ualá is a technology company providing a comprehensive financial ecosystem that allows users to manage payments, request loans, and invest in various financial products. With services including a prepaid Mastercard, savings accounts, and investment options, Ualá aims to enhance financial inclusion.

Reflexivity is an intelligent investment platform aiming to give access to state-of-the-art investment technology to passionate investors. AI-powered algorithms organize the firehose of daily data and price information flow into actionable investment insights. It combines AI capabilities and institutional-grade analytics to provide investors with tools for the lifecycle of investment asset and portfolio management.

Clip is the leading commerce and digital payment platform that is empowering businesses in Mexico to interact and transact with its consumers more effectively through innovative technologies, best-in-class customer service, and the ability to accept all payment methods digitally.

CRM&Bonus is a platform that aims to increase the sales of your stores from 10% to 20% (in up to 100 days) with an effective discount of less than 2%. Our objective is to increase the profitability of companies, diluting their fixed costs through the real increase in sales that we generate. CRM & BÔNUS was established in April, 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Rankmi is aRankmi is a platform for automating all people management processes in a single location. A single SaaS platform with products connected to each stage of the employee cycle, allowing people and companies to achieve their purpose through memorable experiences. Solutions such as payroll, performance, benefits, recruitment, social hub, among many others. More than 1 million people, from different companies and industries in the world, use Rankmi!

Buk is a cloud-based human resource management software system that unifies a wide range of HR functionality into a single system. The software provides benefits, talent management, payroll, time tracking, and recruiting among other solutions. Clients can use Buk to view the organizational chart and the details of their collaborators, as well as perform actions such as salary payment, attendance control, and document signing.

Nowports is a digital freight forwarder that helps companies improve the import process. It serves as a platform through which companies and individuals can manage their imports and exports in real-time. The company uses AI to make the import process easy, secure, and transparent. The platform allows users to request a quote, register the products and providers that the company mostly uses, and book shipments from any port.

Habi is a technology-driven real estate company that helps middle-class customers buy and sell their homes more quickly and efficiently, without the uncertainty of traditional real estate transactions. Using its proprietary pricing algorithm and scalable processes. It was founded in 2019 and headquartered in Bogotá, Distrito Especial.

unico IDtech is a developer of facial recognition and identification technology created to solve document and process management. The company's solutions operate on biometric authentication, digital onboarding and paperless verticals with a focus to transform relevant business processes, making the workflow between the company, government, and the client to be simple and controlled.

Glorify is a Christian Daily Worship and well-being app designed to strengthen a user's relationship with God through bite-sized daily devotionals, a library full of meditations, declarations, prayers and exclusive music, and much more.

Tribal is a payments and financing platform using the latest emerging technologies to provide small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in emerging markets with better access to financial services. Tribal offers these SMBs access to modern payment methods like multi-currency physical and ​virtual business credit cards​, local and international wires, along with short-term financing, and a powerful ​spend management platform​ to track and control their expenses—all in one seamless interface. Tribal has raised from SoftBank Latin America Fund, QED Investors, BECO Capital, Stellar Development Foundation, and Coinbase Ventures. The company is also among an elite group of companies chosen as part of the Visa FinTech Fast Track program.

Loadsmart helps shippers move their freight fast and Carriers keep trucks full. The company’s online platform enables users to get quotes, book trucks, and track their freight from pickup to delivery. Loadsmart was founded in 2014 by Felipe Capella and Ricardo Salgado and is based in Chicago, Illinois, United States.

Creditas is a financial technology company that operates a digital platform that offers secured consumer loans. It uses credit scoring systems and borrowers’ assets, such as homes and automobiles as collateral to offer loans.  Sergio Furio founded BankFacil in 2012 that later became Creditas. It has its headquarters in São Paulo in Brazil.

TerraMagna is established in Brazil with a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities in the agricultural sector, our innovative suite of financial products include personal loans, CFB lending, embedded BNPL for agricultural inputs and crop-collateralized financing - all accessible through our web interface. We do not only provide credit - we are transforming the future of agriculture, making all links of the agricultural value chain more resilient and establishing the proper incentives to make agriculture what the world needs it to be - its powerhouse of sustainable food security.

Tul is a marketplace where users can buy and sell hardware and construction materials.  Tul was founded in 2020 and is headquartered in Bogotá, Colombia.

Open Co thinks that creating trusting relationships with clients is more important than using cutting-edge technology to create ground-breaking credit solutions. Open Co was established in 2021 as the result of the merger of Geru and Rebel, two of Brazil's most cutting-edge fintech lenders. The company's goal is to permanently turn credit into a more equitable, adaptable, and accessible tool that improves Brazilians' financial situations.

Olist is an SMB commerce enabler ecosystem that specializes in the fields of logistics and capital. Commerce has changed and platforms like shopify, amazon, meli, alibaba and their peers are more and more relevant to our economy throughout the globe. This movement triggered a new generation of enablers to support small businesses navigate in such rich and fragmented ecosystem.  Olist is leading the way as the #1 commerce enabler for SMBs in Brazil, now expanding globally. The company started with a single core connecting merchants to marketplaces and evolved to a complete ecosystem of integrated products in 3 dimensions. (1) Commerce: (a) Olist Store is the leading solution to sell on marketplaces; (b) Olist Shops is our ecommerce solution, mobile first, natively connected to social media, present in 180 countries. (2) Logistics: Olist Pax is a leading cloud based logistics and fulfillment network provider operating in Brazil. (3) Capital: Olist Credit and Olist Pay.

Worc connect the best professionals to the most renowned restaurants and bars.

Goody makes sending gifts as easy as sending a text. No address needed. It accepts payments only when the gift is received.

CargoX is a technology freight marketplace that provides shipping companies and carriers a smart and efficient solution to transport the most diverse types of products in any parts of LATAM. Through technology, we connect over 10 thousand shippers with 1.4 million trucks to eliminate excess capacity. CargoX save on shipping costs for shippers, increase earnings for truckers and reduces C02 emissions generated by empty trucks on the road.

isaac assists with financial management, allowing the school to concentrate on its educators while allocating time and resources to the process of creating plans. By developing an X-ray of the financial condition and management tools, it understands the realities of school work. Following this analysis, they transfer a monthly amount to the school, accounting for their future income, every month on the designated date.

Digital Currency Group builds and supports bitcoin and blockchain companies by leveraging insights, network, and access to capital. Based in Stamford, Connecticut, DCG has been an active seed investor in the digital currency industry with 150+ investments in over 30 countries. In addition, DCG owns and operates CoinDesk, the top media and events platform in the blockchain space, Genesis Trading, the industry's leading bitcoin brokerage firm, and Grayscale Investments, the largest digital currency asset management firm.

Pipefy is the no-code workflow management software that increases team productivity, centralizes data, and standardizes processes for teams like Finance, HR, Customer Service, and more so those requesting services, those processing the requests, and those managing the operation are more efficient. Through automated workflows and a no/low-code platform, Pipefy enhances speed, increases visibility, and delivers higher quality outcomes with ready-to-use, customizable workflows. Digitally transform the team in a matter of hours, not weeks or months.  The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California.

Pismo is a technology company providing an all-in-one processing platform for banking, payments, and financial markets infrastructure. The data centers of the company provide build-to-order services by providing more features and personalization options, allowing enterprise, cloud computing, and service provider customers to solve their needs through the patented architecture, scalable design, low cost of ownership model, and overall speed to market.

Gabriel combines nanocomputers and high definition cameras to offer video surveillance services with military-grade encryption, enterprise quality and personal customer service yet honestly priced for residential buildings and medium-sized companies. No installation costs, no hardware purchasing, no maintenance nuisance, no lock-in. 24/7 monitoring of your building, your street and your neighborhood. Perpetual video cloud storage. An app that just works. Tech from Rio, solving public and private security, serving Brazil and beyond.

GAIA is a furniture eCommerce platform for the sale of home products and design accessories. It offers a range of products such as sofas, chairs, drawers, dressers, tables, desks, rugs, and textiles that let consumers purchase home furnishing products at affordable prices.

Avenue provide access to investing in the US market for all investors, without minimums, without barriers, without high costs, with security, with advice, controls and a lot of information.

Omie is a Brazilian software enterprise that develops Cloud ERP and Financial Services for small and medium companies. The software is a platform for integrating companies and accounting firms, so it promotes and sells through an ecosystem where entrepreneurs and accountants are bound by consultants, the enablers. Omie DNA is simple, intuitive and affordable. Omie was founded on 2013 and is headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil.

Yaydoo is a procurement platform that combines cloud-based procure-to-pay software and AI tools for automated vendor management.  It helps companies bring automation to their purchasing process and supply chain with a platform that integrates hundreds of vendor catalogs allowing companies to search and compare through thousands of products and services, many of them with pre-negotiated discounts, and a virtual procurement assistant that streamlines communication between requesters and vendors. Its customers have full visibility and control of their process using mobile apps to simplify purchase requests, approval workflows, goods receipt tracking, and invoice approval via automated 3-way-match. Yaydoo allows every company to simplify their procurement process with an affordable, easy-to-use, and automated tool to streamline repetitive tasks like updating vendor catalogs, comparing proposals, approving purchase requests, forecasting demand, tracking deliveries and managing budgets.

2TM creates an infrastructure for the financial market in blockchain, ensuring efficiency and security in funding and investment operations. It was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Betterfly is a purpose-driven wellbeing and insurance platform that empowers organizations and employees to improve their health and wellbeing while making an impact in their communities. Its unique approach to employee wellbeing rewards good habits with life insurance coverage that grows every day and converts every healthy activity into a charitable donation. It was founded in 2018 and is based in Santiago, Chile.

GBM is an investment banking that promotes investment at a national and international level. GBM provides financial products and services to large corporations and mid-cap companies, institutional investors, and Mexican and foreign individuals. The company offers investment banking services, including capital and debt market, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate restructuring services; and financial intermediation services, such as capital market promotion, international sales and trading, e-trading, investment advisory, derivatives capital, and money market services., as well as a digital platform, which has access to its clients to purchase and sale stock, and investment funds. It also provides investment administration products comprising investment funds, flexible credit, and asset management services, as well as institutional investment, trust, and private banking services. The company was formerly known as GBM GRUPO BURSATIL MEXICANO, S.A.B. de C.V. and changed its name to Corporativo GBM, S.A.B. de C.V. in 2007. Corporativo GBM, S.A.B. de C.V. was founded in 1978 and is based in Mexico City, Mexico.

Kushki is a payment platform tailor-made for Latin America that uses local logic and pricing and can be rapidly integrated. It connects LATAM through payments. Kushki offers clients an integrated payments platform and omnichannel solutions for e-commerce, m-commerce, and physical stores. The startup’s API standardizes the ecosystem’s fragmented payments landscape, including credit and debit cards, bank transfers, and cash networks with over 300,000 physical points of payment. Founded in New York City in 2016, by serial entrepreneurs, Aron Schwarzkopf and Sebastian Castro, the company has operations in Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, USA, and Canada.

QuintoAndar is a platform that simplifies the rental of residential real estate for landlords and renters. With QuintoAndar, customers can work with a top-notch team that uses the best practices and best tools, be part of a high-impact project that will affect many people's lives, have autonomy to make decisions with no endless meetings, and work in an informal environment and horizontal hierarchy. Founded in February 2013 by Gabriel Braga and Andre Penha, it is headquartered in São Paulo in Brazil.

TelevisaUnivision is a media company. The company operates in two segments, Media Networks and Radio. The Media Networks segment operates approximately 10 digital and mobile properties; 2 broadcast television networks; TUDN, a multi-platform sports media brand and cable sports network; 10 cable networks, including Galavisión, a Spanish-language cable entertainment network.

MadeiraMadeira is an online marketplace that specializes in home products. It offers over 300,000 products so customers can build, furnish, renovate, and decorate their homes using only their smartphone or computer. MadeiraMadeira was founded in 2009 and is based in Curitiba, Brazil.

KAVAK is an online platform that offers insight into buying and selling used cars. It specializes in the fields of e-commerce, automotive, and retail. KAVAK e-commerce for the purchase and sale of pre-owned cars in Latin America.  It was founded in 2016 and headquartered in Mexico City, Distrito.

iClinic is a digital health company that is leading the digital transformation on independent practices in Brazil. By offering a complete end-to-end platform for practice management, the company helps doctors to improve and optimize their businesses and provide a better patient care. The company is the SaaS market leader in Brazil, having more than 20k users spread across the country. It's cloud based platform is composed by 4 core products: EMR, Calendar, Marketing and Billing. iClinic was founded on 2012 and is based in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil.

PetLove operates as an online store offering a wide range of pet products. PetLove is formerly known as PetSuperMarket and began to sell pet products over the Internet in 1999 when the Internet began in Brazil. After 12 years as PetSuperMarket changed the brand and website for PetLove to reaffirm its commitment to the relationship between its clients and their pet. PetLove's clients are entitled to receive a discount on over 10,000 pet products since their first purchase registering automatically to the loyalty program.

AlphaCredit provides fast, cheap credit lines to individuals and small companies via a programmed deduction system, which has low default rates thus allowing for low-interest rates. AlphaCredit is one of the fastest-growing FinTech companies in Latin America. AlphaCredit has more than 1,200 employees and operations in Mexico and Colombia. We have granted more than 514,000 credits to more than 310,000 clients. Our products, distributed through mobile applications, include consumer credit for public and private employees, pensioners and / or independent contractors, as well as financial solutions for SMEs (factoring, leasing and productive credits). We have an area of innovation and exceptional technological development, focused on financial services.

VTEX is a developer of a cloud-based eCommerce platform used to help companies future-proof their businesses and free them from software updates. It offers an end-to-end omnichannel commerce platform that allows users to increase sales and reduce overhead by uniting with partners, suppliers, and even competitors to eliminate channel conflict to seamlessly serve customers, enabling retailers, brands, and B2B manufacturers to collaborate with third-party suppliers and grow their business by launching their own marketplaces.

TIAXA provides innovative financial services to people across the globe, with a particular focus on financial inclusion through mobile technology.  Each day, Tiaxa provides more than 2 million Nano-Credits through users'​ mobile Operators in 14 countries including Argentina, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and the Philippines. Tiaxa also provides the mobile telecommunications market with infrastructure, clearinghouse and revenue enhancement services, improving the efficiency with which the current prepaid user base is managed, and increasing revenues for Operators around the world, including China Telecom, Telefónica Movistar, America Móvil and Smart Communications.

Spring’s Command Center helps you sell more and outperform your competitors by leveraging Big Data analytics and artificial intelligence for better informed decision making and more effective planning, all in one dashboard. Don’t sell blind, tap Spring’s powerful analytics tools and actionable insights to make the most of your field sales efforts.

BitTime.com, a developer of online incentive and loyalty solutions specialized in Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking audiences.

From2.com offers an online platform that enables students to find and share information and experiences related to studying abroad. It enables them to find insights and services about housing, insurance, and applying for VISA. It offers its services in the Netherlands. From2.com is partnered with IPS Insurance Passport for Students. It was acquired by Arzoon in March 2001. From2.com was founded in 2000 and is based in Miami, Florida.

SOFTBANK Latin America Ventures (SBLV) is an initiative of SOFTBANK CORP. SBLV is dedicated to helping build the Internet economy in Latin America by focusing on critical resources, technology, capital, and SOFTBANK's comprehensive network of partners in the region.

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