ImpactAlpha, April 29 – Positive Ventures has raised $10 million with an eye to cutting checks of up to $1.5 million in startups tackling social inequality and climate change.
The São Paulo-based impact investor, a B Corp, has eight investments under its belt, including five from its new fund, TechCrunch reports.
Most of Positive’s investments serve Brazil and Latin America: Labi Exames has developed a low-cost COVID test to reach low-income and uninsured Brazilians and help businesses reopen safely (Brazil has the second highest COVID death count and third highest number of cases worldwide). The fintech startup Provi facilitates education loans to upskill Brazil’s workforce.
In the U.S., Positive has backed the customer-owned fintech Good Money and the drug discovery platform OccamzRazor.
Investing landscape
Venture capitalists committed 9.1 billion raeis ($1.7 billion) to Brazilian startups in 2020. Fintech is the most well-funded sector, followed by information and communications technology.
The more than 30 impact investors in the country include São Paulo-based Vox Capital, MOV Investments and Kviv Ventures.