The Briefing: SoftBank Commits $3B To Latin America, QED Investors Closes On $1B, And More

Here’s what you need to know today in startup and venture news, updated by the Crunchbase News staff throughout the day to keep you in the know.

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SoftBank Commits $3B to Latin America

SoftBank Group announced the launch of the SoftBank Latin America Fund II, its second dedicated private investment fund focused on technology companies in the Latin American market, with an initial $3 billion commitment.

Fund II follows the initial $5 billion SoftBank Latin America Fund, which was announced in March 2019. To date, that fund has invested $3.5 billion in 48 companies with a fair value of $6.9 billion as of the end of June, per SoftBank’s estimate. Portfolio companies from that fund include several Latin American unicorns, including QuintoAndar, Rappi, Mercado Bitcoin, Gympass and MadeiraMadeira.

— Joanna Glasner

QED Investors closes on $1B in funds

Global fintech investor QED Investors has raised Fund VII at $550 million, as well as a $500 million growth stage fund. The firm has invested in 150 companies since 2007 and has more than $3 billion under management according to the announcement. We spoke with founding partner Frank Rotman recently on the next decade of fintech investing. 

— Gené Teare

Seedtag raises $40M for contextual ads

Madrid-based Seedtag, a provider of AI-enabled contextual advertising tools for brands to target marketing campaigns, raised $40 million in a Series B round backed by Oakley Capital.

— Joanna Glasner

Insurtech

Sproutt lands $26M for life insurance: Tel Aviv- and New York-based Sproutt, a life insurance company that rewards healthy behaviors, announced it raised $26 million in a Series B funding round led by MoreTech Ventures. the funds will be used to  roll out a new predictive life insurance product that assesses behaviors that reflect healthy living.

— Joanna Glasner

Illustration: Dom Guzman