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We build large and transformative human-centered companies for the emerging middle-class in Latin America

Ventures

Nunnas

Autolab

Aflore

Elenas

Tani

Pacto

We are a growing global team of dream builders

"We're a start-up for start-ups. It's very meta." - Kevin McElroy, Polymath Alumni

The healthcare system in the US faces a critical shortage of nurses, with a deficit of ~2 million needed professionals as the population ages and chronic diseases become more prevalent. Concurrently, nurses in Mexico encounter limited career growth opportunities and low valuation of their profession. These insights reveal a significant mismatch between the supply of qualified nurses in Mexico and the demand in the US, where nurses can earn up to 8x what they would in Mexico. &nbsp;

Insights from Research

Nunnas provides a comprehensive ch solution that supports nurses from Mexico throughout their journey to work in the US. Our platform offers end-to-end assistance, including preparation for English proficiency, nursing certification, visa acquisition, and job placement. This ensures that US healthcare employers receive highly qualified staff ready to meet the increasing demands of the sector and also help solve the huge ~30% turnover problem that they are currently facing.

Our approach

As a digital platform operating at the intersection of healthtech and edtech, Nunnas connects US healthcare employers with exceptional nursing talent from Mexico. We guide nurses through each step of their preparation and transition, from mastering English and obtaining necessary certifications to securing their visa and finding a rewarding job. With the launch of our MVP and a focus on reaching Product-Market Fit, we are also preparing for our pre-seed funding round to scale our impact.

Business Model:

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The research started on the labor market in Latin America to understand the real status of informality and unemployment. Informality was present in a variety of sectors, including the auto repair market, in which today is concentrated the majority of transactions, however, they do not have the tools or knowledge to grow, impacting its service, quality, and overall supply chain.

Insights from Research:

Considering the relevance of this industry in the region and the impact it has on the emerging-middle-class, we took on the challenge to create a chain of car centers providing quality, growth opportunities for the shop owners and operators that are aiming to secure social and economic development for them and their families.

Our Approach

Autolab is redefining a traditional industry by providing the best value proposition in the market. Now, shop owners are empowered thanks to the professionalization of their independent businesses and car owners are having a transparent, interactive, and fully digital experience.

Business Model: 

Autolab has achieved product-market-fit in Colombia, securing outstanding metrics of satisfaction and retention:<ul><li>94% of retention from Repair Shops</li><li>5-star rating from 90% of our client base</li><li>700% Increase in profit for shops in our network</li><li>7x growth of their shop network since July of 2020</li><li>Strong leadership team with combined expertise in product, tech, and operations</li></ul>

The Venture Today

Autolabs’ adoption in the Colombian market plus the expertise of the founding team building and evolving this solution, unlock expansion opportunities for Latinamerican markets experiencing similar challenges. The company has already started its expansion to <a href="https://autolab.mx/?utm_source=referral_seo&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=polymathv_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Mexico where they initiated operations in 2021</a>. &nbsp;In the upcoming 2 years, the company will continue to expand to Peru, and Brazil, increasing its presence to over 20 cities and its network to 450 shops.

What the future holds

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During the Financial Services Ideation, our team discovered a striking cultural trend. They observed that while over 65% of the Colombian population does not engage with commercial banks, almost all interview participants received informal financial advice and services through trusted people or role models within their social circles.

After understanding the role and motivations of informal financial advisors, the team established a business concept anchored on this recurring personality within middle-class communities in Colombia: the community advisor. It became clear that human relationships built upon trust were key to offer tailored financial services for our demographic.

Aflore is a direct sales network for financial services for those neglected the formal banking sector. It recruits trusted advisors within middle-income communities, and mobilizes them with training, digital tools, and the appropriate financial products, loans and insurance, to serve the financial needs of their trusted network.

Aflore has achieved important milestones and recognition for its business<ul><li>Over 23,000 disbursed loans</li><li>Tech platform with 95% of loan applications through digital channels</li><li>Secured US$10m of debt from Accial Capital in September 2020</li><li>Closed a pre-series B round of US$6.6m in February 2021</li><li>Forbes Top 100 digital startups in Colombia</li><li>Expanded their portfolio to include non-lending products with nationwide partners such as Sura, HDI, and R5.</li><li>Their core team has grown to +100 members</li></ul>

The Venture Today: 

Aflore aims to become the main financial platform for the emerging middle-class in Latin America. With a growing pool of active financial advisors, an increasingly diversified product portfolio, and rapid adoption of its digital journey, Aflore will scale its model of providing the unbanked and underbanked of the region with financial solutions designed for them.

What the future holds: 

Want to know more about Aflore?

The Working Women Seed deployed in 2013, learned about the lives and experiences of working women through the mothers, daughters, sisters, professionals, caregivers, and retirees that lived with them. They learned about the expectations put on “guerreras” (female warriors!), as they referred to themselves, as they worked to balance family, relationships, and career.

The first iteration of this seed led us to build around a strong sense of guilt from Moms (and dads) when they have to be away from their children, yet there was no willingness to pay. During the second one, we switched to providing online psychological services that resulted in great engagement but no WTP. Constant interaction with users resulted in the realization that Beauty had a big spend of pocket and that it was the way that society and working mothers had allowed them to take care of themselves.

Elenas is modernizing and automating the direct sales model, taking the good parts of the traditional system–part-time work and trust-based purchases–and combining them with e-commerce. Now, women, or "embajadoras" can sell a wide variety of products from their own homes, they decide what to sell and how much they want to mark the price up, and Facebook, while Elenas manages the back-end support for product sourcing, delivery, and payment collection.

As we learned the significance of beauty products/services for working mothers and the best mechanisms to activate sellers into the platform, we first experimented with content and a limited portfolio of products, yet this result in poor results.

Initial Challenges:

Elenas's first two years have been key to achieve Product-Market-Fit, the frequency and speed of iterations and learnings increased our success chances. The company has unlocked major milestones and is headed to achieve incredible results:<ul><li>Launched at the <a href="https://www.crunchbase.com/event/techcrunch-startup-battlefield-latin-america-2018">TechCrunch Startup Battlefield</a></li><li>Founders Zach Oschin and Thomas Harsch recognized in the top 30 founders of the country in 2020</li><li>Forbes Top 100 digital startups in Colombia</li><li>+250 distributors and brands</li><li>Closed a Series A round for US$6M in March of 2021</li><li>+90 team members in Colombia and Mexico</li></ul>

The Venture Today:

Elenas will continue its growth path in Colombia while growing its product portfolio and improving the income opportunities for thousands of women that are now opening their own endeavors thanks to the platform. After the most recent fundraising news, the team is now planning its international expansion, starting with the launch of its platform in Mexico by May of 2021.

What the future holds:

When it comes to healthcare for the middle class in Latam, our team discovered there are clear gaps in what both the formal and informal systems offer to patients when they need a medical procedure: the public system is slow and painful to navigate, while the private one can be costly and not always transparent.

We identified nine core insights that determined the path of concepting and prototyping. The common pattern between these nine insights was around access. Patients were concerned about their limitations in the current healthcare system; lack of coverage, massive delays to secure appointments, and payment limitations. &nbsp;

Our approach:

Tani is a managed marketplace of medical procedures that provides patients in the middle class with quality surgeons, price transparency, financial accessibility and most importantly continuous support in their health journey. On the other hand, Tani helps surgeons, especially emerging ones, reduce their administrative load, optimize their work and build a strong reputation.

Want to know more about Tani?&nbsp;

Pacto seeks to achieve the digitization of merchants and business owners in Mexico and Latin America and improve shop profitability by up to 5x. Integrating digital commerce with technology-based solutions with a financial inclusion platform for small and medium-sized businesses in the food and beverage industry.&nbsp;

The Pacto Operating System operates on a Software as a Service (SaaS) model, offering an all-in-one solution for restaurants. With integrated payment options, intelligent management features, and a dynamic menu accessible from any mobile device, it aims to enhance efficiency and customer satisfaction. By replacing manual processes and optimizing restaurant performance, the Pacto Operating System provides a comprehensive solution for restaurants seeking to streamline their operations.

Want to know more about Pacto?&nbsp;