Hey, it’s Yoel 👋 Back again with the 72nd edition of Dealflow LatAm: your go-to source for all the deals, moves, and momentum in the region’s startup scene.

Plenty to break down—so let’s get into it 🚀

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Startup funding news 💸

Rounds of $10M+:

• 🇲🇽 Bravo secured a $236M credit line from Fortress to scale its debt management and lending division across Europe and LatAm.

• 🇧🇷 99Pay raised $135M through a FIDC to expand its credit operations in Brazil, after originating about $1.16B in loans since 2022.

• 🇨🇴 Addi secured $89M in structured financing from Citi to expand its BNPL platform in Colombia, strengthening its capital markets strategy.

• 🇦🇷 Humand raises $66M Series A to scale its AI platform globally, led by Kaszek and Goodwater Capital, with Y Combinator and Marcos Galperin participating.

• 🇧🇷 Comp raised $17.5M in a Series A led by Khosla Ventures, marking the fund’s first investment in Brazil and backing the HRtech’s global expansion plans.

Rounds $1M to $10M:

• 🇧🇷General Catalyst invested $8M in Genial Care’s Series B, doubling down on the Brazilian child healthtech after a prior $7M Series A round.

• 🇧🇷 Takeat raised about $2.9M in a Series A led by DGF Investimentos to expand its foodservice management platform and strengthen SMB professionalization.

• 🇧🇷 Oxus Finance raised $2.4M to scale its stablecoin-powered B2B cross-border payments platform globally.

• 🇧🇷 Tools for the Commons raised about $1.95M to build blockchain-based digital and physical economic zones across LatAm, Africa and Asia.

Other rounds of funding:

• 🇧🇷 Mercado Parts raised about $390K to scale its B2B auto parts marketplace and accelerate its asset-light transactional model in Brazil’s aftermarket.

• 🇧🇷 Growpack secured a $195K follow-on investment from Irani Ventures to scale its sustainable biomaterial packaging solutions.

• 🇨🇴 IncluirTec secured investment from The Yield Lab Latam to scale rural agri-lending, having processed $200M in loans with a 97% repayment rate.

M&A transactions 🎊

🇦🇷🤝🇺🇸 Winclap acquires U.S.-based Brkaway to accelerate its expansion in the U.S., strengthening its creator marketing platform and scaling international growth.

🇧🇷 Celcoin acquired Via Capital SCD after Central Bank approval to strengthen its credit vertical and expand its lending infrastructure.

🇧🇷 Laqus acquired Estar.finance to expand into Brazil’s secondary market and digital assets, boosting its tokenization and private credit strategy.

🇧🇷 Bradesco is merging its health assets with Odontoprev to create Bradsaúde, valued at about $7.2B, with plans for a follow-on share offering to boost free float.

🇧🇷 Indicium AI was formed from the merger of Indicium and Mesh-AI, targeting global expansion and 67% growth as an AI-focused consultancy.

🇧🇷 TYR Energia acquired GreenAnt to integrate its AI energy efficiency platform and prepare for Brazil’s market opening by 2028.

🇧🇷🤝🇺🇸 ACE Ventures and gener8tor launched a program to help five U.S. agro startups soft-land and scale in Brazil.

🇺🇸🤝🇧🇷 Live Nation’s planned stake in 30e stalled after US GAAP adjustments cut EBITDA by over half, affecting valuation.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

🇧🇷 Canary launched a new $150M early-stage fund to invest in startups across Brazil and LatAm, backing founders from ideation to Series A.

🇧🇷 Staged Ventures exited its pre-IPO secondary investment in SpaceX, achieving a 3.48x return in under two years after investing at a $186B valuation.

🇧🇷 Women-led businesses accessed $143.1M in credit in 2025 through Sebrae’s Fampe Mulher guarantee program, mostly benefiting micro and small enterprises.

🇨🇱 Chilean fintech lenders financed over 250K entities between 2023–2025, deploying $17B, 92% via digital factoring—as demand rose 72% in two years.

🇨🇴 Alive Ventures closed a $55M second fund (now $80M+ AUM) to back fintech and climate startups in LatAm, with 11 investments already deployed.

🇨🇴🇳🇱 Rockstart Latam delivered its first investor return, distributing 170% in its second fund after investing $11M across 83 startups.

🇲🇽 Fintechs are expanding credit in Mexico, but inclusion remains slow, with 16% of adults unbanked and structural gaps limiting digital adoption.

Opportunities & Deadlines 👀

• 🇧🇷 GITEX LATAM debuts in SP on Mar 16 2027, bringing the world’s largest tech and innovation event to boost digital transformation and global partnerships.

• 🇲🇽 Bitso Business confirms the Stablecoin Conference LatAm 2026, gathering global leaders on stablecoin innovation in Mexico City; 📅 June 15–16.

Startup news 💡

🇦🇷 Argentina

• 🇧🇷🇦🇷 Inter expands in Argentina with Grupo BIND to grow its Global Account and compete with Mercado Pago and Ualá.

• 🇦🇷🇺🇸 GrabrFi launched a wallet in Argentina integrating a US bank account, USD stablecoins, and cards, after processing $169M across 460k transactions.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• 🇧🇷 Will Bank halted card payment transfers after its liquidation, prompting Abecs to demand a solution over risks to the payments system.

• 🇧🇷 Shopee received Central Bank approval to launch a finance company in Brazil with $1.95M in capital to offer credit and postpaid payment services.

• 🇧🇷 Shopee was fined $2.75M by Procon-SP for alleged consumer protection violations.

• 🇧🇷 Pismo, acquired by Visa for $1B in 2023, plans to expand to eight new markets in 2026, reaching 28 countries.

• 🇪🇸🇧🇷 Factorial grew 56% in revenue and 67% in clients in Brazil in 2025 and plans to triple its local operations in 2026.

• 🇫🇷🇧🇷 Engie is studying using surplus solar energy from its Assú Sol complex in Brazil to power Bitcoin mining, aiming to monetize curtailed renewable generation.

• 🇦🇪🇧🇷 Mansa is launching in Brazil to provide stablecoin-based liquidity for cross-border payments, reducing prefunding costs across LatAm.

🇨🇱 Chile

• 🇨🇱 Kushki grew 105.2% in Chile in 2025, reinforcing its multi-acquiring, non-bank model and targeting further expansion across key sectors in 2026.

• 🇨🇱🇨🇦 Summit Nanotech launched a DLE demo plant in Santiago to fast-track lithium project validation for 5k+ tpy projects.

🇨🇴 Colombia

• 🇨🇴 Sempli launched a vehicle loan line of up to $150K for SMEs in Colombia and expects to grow disbursements by 75% in 2026.

• 🇨🇴 Prometeo and Fiskil teamed up to enable end-to-end Open Finance in Colombia, integrating banking APIs with consent and compliance tools.

• 🇨🇴🇪🇸 RapiCredit launched operations in Spain, marking its first international expansion after issuing over 6M digital loans in Colombia.

🇲🇽 Mexico

• 🇲🇽🤝🇨🇴 Moonflow and Puntored partnered to integrate AI-powered collections with 50,000 payment points in Mexico, streamlining and scaling debt recovery.

• 🇲🇽 Klar targets Mexican SMEs with fast digital credit, a no-fee Cuenta 360 yielding up to 8.5% annually, and business cards with up to 40 interest-free days.

• 🇲🇽 Neobanks Kapital and Plata plan IPOs in Mexico (and possibly the U.S.) within 2–3 years after becoming licensed banks.

• 🇲🇽 Konfío will deploy $2.5B by 2028 to expand SME lending and invest $406M in tech, targeting 85,000 new businesses as it pursues a banking license.

• 🇲🇽 VEMO will invest $1.5B over five years to deploy 23k chargers and add 55,000 EVs in Mexico, accelerating infrastructure and fleet expansion through 2030.

• 🇲🇽 Alibaba launched “Local-a-Local” in Mexico, enabling SMEs to buy 150k products from local suppliers, plus AI tools to automate sourcing and cut costs.

• 🇺🇸🇲🇽 Félix is turning WhatsApp into a remittance engine for 400k immigrants, charging a flat $2.99 fee and expanding across key U.S.–LatAm corridors.

• 🇲🇽🇺🇸 WeShip will launch in the U.S. within three months, partnering with FedEx, USPS, and UPS, after growing 120% annually and reaching $2.2M in revenue.

🇵🇪 Peru

• 🇵🇪 Yape has disbursed 16M+ loans, evolving from a wallet into a super-app competing with Peru’s top banks.

• 🇵🇪 Adolfo Vinatea (Krealo, Credicorp) was named among “Los 26 del 26” for leading key LatAm investments, including Remitee and Welli.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• 🇺🇾 Stable Sea and dLocal partnered to enable low-cost B2B cross-border payments using stablecoins across 40+ countries.

• 🇺🇾 Uruguay ranked 45th globally in StartupBlink’s ecosystem report, leading LatAm in market perception and placing second in digital infrastructure.

🌎 Other LatAm News

• 🇨🇱🇧🇴 Vita Wallet became the first international fintech authorized to operate with crypto in Bolivia, targeting $2B in transaction volume by 2026.

• 🌎 Jeeves launched Instant Pay and a stablecoin-backed corporate card, enabling near-instant cross-border payments in 191 countries.

• 🌎 The Panamerican Insurtech Alliance published a whitepaper on connected auto insurance in LatAm and its impact on pricing and risk.

Big company & policy news 💡

🇦🇷 Mercado Libre posted $8.76B in Q4 revenue (+45%) but net income fell to $559M (-12.5%) due to heavier investments in credit, logistics, and free shipping.

🇧🇷 Nubank lost $17.4B in market value in February, with shares down 19%, leading a broader sell-off among Brazilian fintechs listed in the U.S.

🇧🇷 Financial fraud against institutions quadrupled in 2025 to 39 cases, driven by cyberattacks on Brazil’s digital payments system, per the Central Bank.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s Federal Police raided BMP over allegations it facilitated the laundering of $4.9B for criminal groups, citing compliance and reporting failures.

🇨🇱 In Chile’s e-commerce, digital wallets surged 10x to 13.4% of transactions in 2025, while credit card use fell to 20.7% and debit rose to 32.5% amid a $16M market.

🇲🇽 In 2026, Mexico will inspect Uber, Didi and delivery apps to verify IMSS enrollment and compliance with new labor laws for platform workers.

🇲🇽🇬🇧 The UK praised Revolut’s launch as a bank in Mexico, its first LatAm market, after investing $100M, with another $100M planned and a 2M-customer goal.

Interesting reads 💡

🇪🇸 Banktrack CEO and cofounder David Álvarez de la Torre shared his entrepreneurial journey from leaving a high-paying corporate job in Switzerland to building a financial management SaaS

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