Laura Chicurel, regional director and partner at Innova360 powered by Bluebox.
Mexican corporate venture capital-as-a-service firm Bluebox Ventures and Chilean consulting group Innova360 have merged to oversee $15m across eight Latin American investment funds, LaTercera Pulso reported this week.
The new entity, dubbed Innova360 powered by Bluebox, had begun the merger discussion in early 2023. It has absorbed both companies’ structure and accounts, with 35 people on its teams across Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Chile.
While the firm is looking to connect startups and corporates in all industries in Latin America, it will focus on pre-seed to series A CVC funds targeting financial, insurance, agricultural, food, construction and industrial technologies.
Founded in 2015, Innova360 has helped more than 30 Chilean and Latin American corporations adopt open innovation or corporate venturing models. Its clients include insurer Seguros Sura, diversified conglomerate Comfenalco and banking firm BCI.
Bluebox was created in 2011 and provides similar services and has helped more than 25 firms launch CVC units, such as Sigma Ventures, TyA Ventures and Roquin, part of food producer Sigma, property developer Tierra y Armonía and casino operator Foliatti.
“Joining both businesses will allow us to better position ourselves in the Latin American market while strengthening us financially to consolidate our position as the main player in corporate venturing in LatAm,” Laura Chicurel (pictured), founder of Innova360 and now a Southern Cone-focused partner of the new firm, told Pulso.
“We merged in this first phase the ventures unit, which focuses mainly on more consultative services for the execution of corporate innovation programmes.”
