Alex Busse and Darly Bendo, NXTP Ventures | What Is LatAm Still Missing to Ignite the SaaS Market?

The audio and video are in Spanish. These notes are a translation.

Despite the slowed growth of investment in SaaS startups, the digitalization of small, medium, and large companies is a major trend that keeps accelerating in Latin America.

Today I have as guests Alexander Busse and Darly Bendo, partners at NXTP, a venture capital fund specialized in B2B and Software as a Service startups, whose portfolio includes several unicorns such as Tiendanube, Auth0, Mural, and Betterfly.

Alex and Darly bring a deep understanding of the SaaS market in Latin America, including software adoption, market growth, and investment strategies.

Youtube Timestamps*

[03:16] - The State of SaaS in Latin America

How did Alex and Darly arrive in the fascinating world of startups?
What moment are we in for SaaS in Latin America?
What is missing to ignite the SaaS market in Latin America? Is financing missing, are founders missing, or what is the missing piece?
What other major obstacles do Alex and Darly see to the SaaS industry exploding in Latin America?
Why do they think the SaaS sector in Brazil has grown so much compared with the rest of Latin America? Are there unique ingredients in Brazil that are still absent in Mexico and other Latin American countries?
How has the competitive map of SaaS changed in the last 10 years?

[17:02] - Investment Thesis

Beyond the common traits that stand out in a founder, is there any specific quality they look for in a SaaS founder?
Alex has said that in the US there is SaaS fatigue. In Latin America, there is a gap in the market that leaves room for something more in the way of platforms. What does a company need in its product, team, distribution, and so on to become a platform?

[22:48] - Analysis of a SaaS Startup: SMEs vs Enterprise

What characteristics make a software company that serves the SME market interesting or investable?
Darly has said in other interviews that SMEs usually do not want to pay much for software, so the value proposition has to be deeper. What does he mean by this?
How do they think about SaaS startups that start with products that seem limited? And how do they factor that into their analysis if it is a small initial market?
What characteristics make a software company that serves the enterprise market interesting or investable?
What have Alex and Darly learned about how a SaaS company can build trust with large customers, corporates, when creating a new product?

[35:37] - Final Question

When they think about SaaS, what is something people are trying to disrupt but that they believe will actually never change?