Case studies | Brixton Ventures Lab

Building the bridges between SMEs and better financial services

Vertical

Fintech

Service

Innovation program

Country

Mexico

The challenge

In Mexico, there are more than four million small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that generate around 78% of jobs and 42% of the national GDP. The UK Prosperity Fund and DAI wanted to implement an initiative that would help them support SMEs in the face of the crisis caused by COVID-19. Its ultimate goal was to reduce poverty through financial inclusion and the promotion of a digital economy.

Being a non-profit initiative, their challenge was to create a real impact and find the key companies that could help them solve the problems faced by SMEs. They needed to design a call that had a global reach, do a due diligence process, and execute the program.

The solution

Together with the British Embassy and DAI, we launched Caravana Fintech, an initiative that sought to increase adoption and awareness of Fintech solutions that would benefit SMEs and the population nationwide. We worked on the roadmap that would guarantee the success of the project, and we opened the first call that would integrate SMEs into the financial system.

We connect them with our community and network of allies to reach the best global startups that could operate in Mexico and solve the main needs of the program. In addition, we carry out the entire selection process and due diligence of the startups, approach them with key stakeholders and plan the marketing strategy.

The result

We were the right arm to execute the different stages of the program in Querétaro and Campeche. We exceeded the initial goal by 364% by receiving more than 100 applications from 19 countries around the world, we connected with 11 leaders within the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem to join as mentors, and we closed 17 strategic alliances.

In addition, during the implementation of the project we carried out three training and advisory webinars.

Testimony

"Working with the Brixton Ventures Lab team has been a unique experience. They have an incredible work plan and commitment to deliverables. They showed their passion for the ecosystem, studying each scenario with the design of creative and value proposals. they quickly adapted to changes and always proposed the best alternatives. They have great knowledge about FinTech and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Mexico, LATAM and the United Kingdom. Without thinking about it, I would work with the whole team again."

Roberto Vélez - FinTech Adoption and Socialisation Lead

Results

2 Impacted states

+100

Found startups

11 Guest advisors

17 Strategic alliances

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When the southernmost country in America
took his technology and talent north

Vertical

Edtech

Service

softlanding program

Country

Mexico/Chile

The challenge

Chile es el país con mejor educación y la principal economía innovadora en América Latina, de hecho se coloca en la posición 53 a nivel mundial. ProChile (agencia comercial del país), quería llevar a sus mejores empresas tech enfocadas en la educación, que además estaban cambiando los paradigmas en LATAM, al mercado más grande de habla hispana.

Como organización se preguntaban, ¿cómo podrían crear un programa que llevara a estas empresas a México y no quedarse en una misión comercial para la foto? Su objetivo era que realmente pudieran entablar reuniones de negocios productivas.

Las startups necesitaban entender de la manera más simple cómo funciona la cultura de negocios en México y establecer las primeras conversaciones con potenciales clientes en el país.

The solution

Together, we selected the best startups in Chile to help them in their soft landing process and facilitate at least three business meetings with clients and business partners for each of them.

We design a tailor-made program to accelerate the internationalization process in order to facilitate their entry and prepare them for their first meetings with a team of experts. We provided different workshops and mentoring sessions for entrepreneurs focused on their needs and cultural immersion.

The result

We connected the 12 participating startups with more than 40 educational institutions.

They presented their projects in front of more than 80 representatives of publishers and educational institutionssuch as Santillana, Hidalgo Bookstores, the National Polytechnic Institute, Iberoamerican University, La Salle College and the Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Testimony

"After working with the Brixton Ventures Lab team, we were happy and satisfied with the results. The capacity and management they have over their contact networks is incredible. It was a great success to have found them in Mexico”.

Daniel Tamayo, ICT Commercial Deputy Director, Services, Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Results/Impact

12 Participating startups

+40

Connections with educational institutions

2 Pitch Days

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When we trained the LATAM innovation teams of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world

Vertical

Innovación abierta

Service

Innovation Workshop

Country

LATAM

The challenge

AstraZeneca helps patients by offering innovative and scientific solutions around the world. The company seeks to transform the future of healthcare by focusing on the power of what science can do for people, society and the planet.

As one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies, its area of innovation in Latin America needed to develop a common understanding of itsframeworkof innovation, aligning people to the vision of the company and defining concrete actions that could be implemented to develop their innovation cycles.

The solution

After identifying your needs, yourframeworkand innovation methodology, we help the AstraZeneca team to align the different hubs in Latin America to achieve their business objectives, under two fundamental premises:

An innovation strategy is a commitment to a common innovation mission and a set of structured activities to support the growth of the organization.
The concept of innovation is the convergence of actors from the startup ecosystem to improve processes through early access to new technologies and disruptive processes.

The result

We carried out a workshop in which more than 20 innovation leaders from AstraZeneca participated in Mexico, Brazil, Costa Rica, Argentina, Peru, Chile and Colombia. What we achieved was to translate hisframeworkin tools and a concrete portfolio of innovation activities with the objective that the regional teams could execute the strategy with practical tools in the same way in the different regions of Latin America.

Testimony

"I am grateful that in such a short time, the Brixton Ventures Lab team knew that they had grasped the innovation framework and methodology that we have at AstraZeneca, translating something so complex into applied tools for the training of our Digital, Innovation & IT leaders in Latin America".

Pedro Valdés, Director of Digital, Innovation & IT LATAM - AstraZeneca

Results

1 Workshop

5 Participating LATAM regions

22 Trained innovation leaders

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When we carry out the business intelligence reports of the largest microfinance bank in LATAM

Vertical

Fintech

Service

Market research and intelligence

Country

Mexico

The challenge

Only in 2021, the investment in fintech in Latin America equaled everything invested in the previous decade.With more players participating and putting competitive pressure on the financial sector, it became increasingly difficult to keep up with trends and developments in the sector.

Compartamos Banco, in addition to serving more than four million people, had two key needs within its M&A area (Mergers & Acquisitions): on the one hand, to generate up-to-date business intelligence in the venture capital and fintech sectors and, on the other On the other hand, in the startup scouting process in segments related to the business and in the main Spanish-speaking markets of Latin America.

The solution

We collaborated with the M&A team to understand their innovation and venture capital objectives to consolidate relevant information that would lead the organization to make better decisions.

For them, we carried out recurring short-term projects (1 to 2 months) that allowed us to: exhaustively map the business segments that best fit their interests, capabilities and needs, produce a list of startups with high-level information and highlight trends in terms of activity or investment; and propose startups that would be more relevant as potential allies or investment prospects.

All this work we do based on our previous experience, investing in more than 60 startups through corporate programs.

The result

The reports are distributed among the Gentera management team. It helps them broaden their horizons, understand the dynamics of the startup and VC market, and identify relevant opportunities for the corporate. For the M&A area, the quarterly reports are a way to keep up to date and better understand new business models, always being at the forefront of what is happening in Mexico and Latin America.

Results

4 Quarterly reports on the fintech ecosystem

1 Scouting report

1 Startup valuation

Quarterly reports are disseminated to the entire management team.

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Connecting producers in the agri-food sector with new technologies to boost productivity in the Mexican countryside

Vertical

Agrotech

Service

Online event

Country

Mexico

The challenge

Mexico is one of the main agricultural producing countries in Latin America, with an approximate production value of $675 million pesos. A key element to not leave the list is to be able to improve field productivity through the use of technologies that allow much more efficient and better quality processes.

FIRA (institution dedicated to supporting the development of the sector in the country) sought how to encourage the interest of producers in the national agri-food sector towards new technologies, with the aim of supporting the development of rural areas and deepening the development of primary activities.

Therefore, they needed to understand how to connect the largest number of agricultural producers with the main technology providers in the country in the same place.

The solution

We designed a four-day virtual event in which a series of conferences were held with experts within the sector so that they could provide much more information about the use of technologies in the field and the impact that it can have at different moments of the productive chain. Each day had a specific and relevant theme regarding the current context of the field in Mexico:

The importance of climate monitoring for risk management in the Mexican countryside.
Trends and benefits in the use of remote sensing tools for crop monitoring.
Agri-food Innovation Processes in the field technical services market to promote its development.
Impact of technologies in the provision of technical assistance and extensionism to agriculture.
Everything is connected: agricultural automation and precision agriculture.
Current trends and innovation in the agricultural machinery and process automation market.
Technological innovation in the Agricultural Storage market in Mexico.
Trends in the automation of logistics processes in agribusiness.

At the same time, we have the exhibition of specialized technological providers that offer different solutions to help improve the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of the resources used for food production. As part of this dynamic, through the event website, attendees had the facility to contact suppliers directly.

The result

Around 1,400 participants gathered, including producers, organizations, professors, students and companies with activities within the sector. We have the presence of eight experts who collaborate at the Autonomous University of Chapingo, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí, Tierra Inteligente, Agriculture/Planet, AAGEDE, Cropin and GrainChain.

Also, more than 40 technology providers such as Instacrops, Sinecta, Syngenta, Extensio, Siembro, Verqor and Nilus, presented their product/service offering to the attendees. After the event, we had over 1,500 views of the content.

Results

2150

Registered people

1465

Assistants

45 Technology providers

+15

Live event hours

+1500

Post event reproductions

6 Invited experts

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The foundation of the largest financial group in Europe that united agro and fintech for the first time in LATAM

Vertical

Agtech & Fintech

Service

Pilot program with startups

Country

Mexico

The challenge

There are 160 countries that consume products grown in Mexico and more than 6 million people are engaged in agriculture and still face an inequality gap in terms of access to financial services. The German Sparkassenstiftung (part of one of Europe's largest financial groups) wanted savings banks and cooperatives operating in rural areas of Mexico to take advantage of financial technologies.

The team needed to implement a program through which collaborative pilots between non-bank financial institutions and fintech startups could be conducted. The challenge was to find the best fintechs in LATAM and obtain real results and not stay on the presentation call.

The solution

In collaboration with the German Sparkassenstiftung, we designed a program to link financial technology or agricultural companies with non-bank financial institutions so that they could strengthen their service offerings in rural areas.

We carry out a preliminary analysis to define the best strategy and achieve the link between counterparties and startups. Based on this, we generated an operational methodology and worked to understand the financing needs and problems faced by agricultural producers.

The result

We were the executing arm and we brought ideas to reality. We achieved the expected results in the established time and successfully executed five pilots between startups and financial institutions. MXN $20 million in agricultural credits were granted and more than 100 people were impacted during the pilots and seven million people who attend savings banks were impacted.

In addition, we received more than 70 applications, we closed 11 strategic alliances, we executed a Pitch Day with 11 investment funds.

Testimonio

“Designing the first pilot program between fintechs and agriculture was a challenge as there were so many parts to the puzzle to accommodate. Working with Brixton helped us a lot to be able to know what we needed to build and how we were going to achieve our objectives as an organization in a very simple and clear way. If you have an innovation challenge in your organization and would like help to know where to start and build solutions with tangible results, you have to call Brixton Ventures Lab”

Christina Olsen, Director - Innovatech

Results

$20

Millions of pesos in credits

7 Millions of people who attend savings banks were impacted

5 Pilots between startup and financial institutions executed

+100

Agricultural producers impacted during 4 months of pilot

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When we trained the LATAM innovation teams of one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world

Vertical

Innovación abierta

Service

Innovation Workshop

Country

LATAM

The challenge

The solution

The result

Testimony

Results

1

Workshop

5

Participating LATAM regions

22

Trained innovation leaders