IguanaFix, an Argentine Start-Up, Raises $16 Million

IguanaFix, a home-administrations start-up situated in Buenos Aires, has raised $16 million from Temasek Holdings, a speculation organization in Singapore, and Qualcomm Ventures.

The new financing round, which shut on Monday, will fuel the organization's extension past its base, specifically in Brazil and Mexico, said Matias Recchia, the prime supporter and CEO of IguanaFix.

The organization, established in 2013, is an on-request home change commercial center and specialist co-op. It interfaces experts like handymen and circuit repairmen with customers and retail locations. The organization bears similitudes to the Indian start-up Housejoy, which Qualcomm Ventures likewise backs.

An early financial specialist, RCV Capital, a vehicle that the private value firm Riverwood Capital keeps up for its accomplices, additionally joined in the round.

For Temasek, which put in $8 million, or half of the round, such a little speculation is atypical. Nor has Latin America been a need. Just 2 percent of its generally $168 billion portfolio is put resources into the locale.

In correlation, Qualcomm Ventures, the speculation arm of the media communications organization Qualcomm, has been dynamic in Latin America. This year, it shut five new speculations and four take after on ones, an expansion from the three new speculations and three take after on ones in 2015, as indicated by Carlos Kokron, VP and overseeing chief for Latin America for Qualcomm Ventures.

It as of late put resources into QuintoAndar, a Brazilian web organization attempting to facilitate the loft leasing process here. Acacia Partners in New York additionally upheld that organization in the round.

Qualcomm Ventures has given financing to 16 organizations in Latin America, all situated in Brazil. The company's worldwide portfolio has more than 140 organizations.

"Regardless of the chaos in Brazil, the tech start-up industry keeps on advancing," Mr. Kokron said.

IguanaFix and Qualcomm Ventures initially associated over two years back yet were on various ways. IguanaFix was centered around Argentina, and Qualcomm Ventures, whose Latin America office is situated in São Paulo, Brazil, looked for new companies situated in that nation.

This year, notwithstanding, Qualcomm Ventures "chose the time has come to be proactive and go past Brazil," Mr. Kokron said.

IguanaFix says it is prepared to develop in the locale.

70% of its income originates from Argentina, yet Mr. Recchia anticipates that that figure will drop to around 30 percent before the end of 2017.

Mr. Recchia experienced childhood in Venezuela and worked there at Procter and Gamble. He was at the counseling firm McKinsey and Company in the United States before joining joined Vostu, a social gaming start-up in Buenos Aires, in 2010.

Vostu was established by Daniel Kafie, Mario Schlosser and Joshua Kushner, sibling of Jared Kushner, who is the child in-law of President-elect Donald J. Trump. It was planned to be an informal organization for Latin America, however it turned into a diversion organization.

Mr. Recchia was made CEO of Vostu in 2012, basically to redesign the organization. He cleared out in mid 2013. One day, he said, he laid off 400 representatives at Vostu, 80 percent of the organization's work constrain, in what he depicted as "one of the most noticeably bad days of my life."