Hey, it’s Yoel 👋 Back again with the 62nd 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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🏗️ LatAm Builders #1

Conversations with the people building the future of tech in LatAm

We kick off this new section with a special guest: Ignasi Vegas, co-founder of Cubbo, who shares his insights on the contrasts between Mexico and Brazil, and what’s ahead for the startup ecosystem across the region.

🇲🇽🇧🇷 Mexico vs Brazil: two different worlds

Q: You recently said São Paulo is the closest thing you’ve seen to the U.S. What’s your take on the region, and why does Brazil seem so far ahead?

Ignasi Vegas: The biggest difference between the U.S. and Europe, and between Brazil and the rest of LatAm, is market size. It’s not that American or Brazilian founders are smarter; they just have massive, unified markets with stronger purchasing power. If something works there, you can scale it way faster.

Brazil is a country of nearly 300 million people, with a single language and a protectionist tradition that forces local investment to operate. That’s allowed giants like Nubank, Mercado Libre, iFood, or 99 to emerge. When you have several $1B+ exits, you get a second wave of talent aiming for the same. The bar gets higher, and that lifts the whole ecosystem.

Mexico is different. It still hasn’t had that first generation of major local exits. CornerShop, the most prominent one, wasn’t even born in Mexico. Plus, the Mexican ecosystem exploded during the 2020–2022 bubble: we went from “zero startups” to Silicon Valley-level valuations almost overnight. Now it’s time to digest all that. There are great companies, but I think maturation will take more time. Brazil already has the flywheel turning.

Q: How different is it to operate in Brazil compared to Mexico?

Ignasi Vegas: Way more different than we expected. We wrongly assumed they’d be similar markets, and lost quite a bit of money early on because of that.

In Mexico, opening a warehouse is easy: you rent a space, set it up, and you’re operating in a week. In Brazil, if you want to handle basic products like cosmetics, you need licenses that take six or seven months. Every order needs an official tax invoice validated by the government. Labor and tax regulations are much more complex.

There are also cultural differences. In Mexico, foreigners are welcomed—if you come in respectfully and humbly, it’s easy to do business. In Brazil, you have to show real interest in their culture and way of working to earn their trust. You’re not “special” just because you’re from abroad—you have to adapt to them.

In short: the tech is the same and warehouse operations are similar, but everything else—people, culture, bureaucracy—is totally different. And at the end of the day, people are what matter most.

🚀 The future of the startup ecosystem in LatAm

Q: Where do you see the startup ecosystem in LatAm five years from now?

Ignasi Vegas: I’m very optimistic about Brazil. There have already been big exits, many funds have returned capital with strong multiples, and the flywheel is spinning. I think it will keep going: more liquidity, more ambition, and more role models for founders.

Mexico is on a different timeline. It still needs those big exits to validate the ecosystem. As I said earlier, the 2020–2022 bubble had a big impact—tons of capital came in fast, with sky-high valuations, and now there’s a correction. But there are solid companies, and some will exit. It’ll just take more time.

As for the rest of the region:

• Argentina and Chile are incredible talent factories. There’s a lot of quality, but small markets. Like Spain, they produce exportable talent, but not big enough for domestic scale.

• Colombia has a unique case with Rappi. It seemed overhyped during the bubble, but now it’s profitable and preparing for what could be a historic IPO. That exit could create a lot of local wealth and drive the whole ecosystem forward.

I think the landscape will stay roughly the same: Argentina, Chile, and Colombia will continue to be huge talent hubs, but to build massive companies, you’ll need to go through Mexico and Brazil. Those are the two markets where everything really happens.

👉🏼 If you’re interested in sponsorship opportunities, please reach out to yoel@dealflow.es

Startup funding news 💸

Rounds of $10M+:

• 🇺🇸🇧🇷 Kalshi raises $1B at an $11B valuation led by Paradigm, doubling in 2 months and making Luana Lopes the youngest self-made billionaire.

• 🇧🇷 Creditas raises $108M in Series G led by Andbank, sealing a banking license deal and forming a private banking partnership in Brazil.

• 🇧🇷 The Led secures $27.6M from Kinea to boost retail media expansion in Brazil, including in‑store digital advertising.

• 🇨🇱 Vambe raises $14M Series A to scale its AI-driven conversational commerce. The round was led by Monashees with support from Cathay and others.

Rounds $1M to $10M:

• 🇧🇷 Turbi raises $5.5M from Santander to scale operations after doubling its fleet to 7K cars; eyes $73.5M in 2025 revenue.

• 🇨🇴 Unergy raises $5M Pre-Series A to deploy 80 new solar “minigranjas” in Colombia. An additional $80M will finance small-scale clean energy projects.

• 🇧🇷 Unbox raises $2.75M led by SRM Ventures to offer credit for D2C brands based on sales data from its e-commerce platform.

• 🇦🇷 Avedian raises $2.2M led by Meet Capital to expand its AI healthtech to hospitals globally, including markets like Mexico, China, and India.

• 🇨🇱 Cenit raises $1.8M led by HI Ventures to scale its AI-powered tax automation app for SMBs across Chile and Mexico.

• 🇲🇽 Emmi raises $1.75M to scale its AI-powered EdTech platform and reduce teacher burnout. A $3–5M Series A is planned to expand across LatAm.

• 🇨🇴 Finturu raises $1.3M in pre-seed funding to expand its cross-border commerce infrastructure with stablecoins, AI, and multi-currency accounts.

• 🇨🇱 Humos de la Patagonia, part of Nacimiento Co.Lab, secured a $1M investment commitment to build a pilot plant in Chile.

Other rounds of funding:

• 🇨🇭🇧🇷 oiwhite raises $920K in pre-seed funding to expand its oral care line in Brazil, focusing on DTC channels and retail partnerships.

• 🇲🇽 Moneypool secures $175K investment from Karla Berman on Shark Tank México, becoming the first regulated digital wallet to raise funds on the show.

• 🇧🇷 Hakutaku raises undisclosed pre-seed funding to refine its AI platform for enterprise data management. The round was led by Stamina and GrowthWay.

M&A transactions 🎊

🇦🇷🤝🇺🇸 BairesDev acquires Modal to boost AI upskilling and expand in North America. Darren Shimkus joins as President for the region.

🇩🇪🤝🇧🇷 NTT DATA acquires SPRO IT Solutions to expand its SAP services in Brazil’s agribusiness sector. SPRO will operate independently.

🇧🇷 GCB Investimentos joins ABFintechs as a maintainer to boost digital asset infrastructure and modernize Brazil’s capital markets through tokenization.

🇧🇷 Starian acquires Contato Seguro to expand into governance and compliance software. The deal boosts its vertical SaaS ecosystem post-Softplan spin-off.

🇧🇷🤝🇨🇦 Vela LatAm, part of Constellation, acquires Gaudium to expand into urban mobility through white-label ride and delivery SaaS.

🇨🇱🤝🇳🇴 Comunidad Feliz is acquired by Visma for ~$70M to expand its property management software across LatAm. Founders will stay to lead growth.

🇺🇾🤝🇺🇸 Exodus acquires Uruguayan startup Grateful for $3M to expand stablecoin payment solutions across LatAm and enhance its crypto wallet ecosystem.

🇲🇽 Koggi acquires Alohome to expand in PropTech, becoming LatAm’s first startup to manage home buying from lead to loan approval.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

🇨🇱 BCI to boost startup funding to $150M in 2026 and expand its support network across Chile and the U.S., with a focus on women- and 50+ led ventures.

🇨🇱 ChileGlobal Ventures launches EVOLVE, a climatech accelerator offering mentorship and up to $50K equity-free funding to early-stage Chilean startups.

🇺🇸 Capria Ventures deploys $196M to back AI-driven fintech and SaaS startups across LatAm, with $1–6M checks from early to growth stages.

🇵🇪 Krealo, Credicorp’s CVC arm, expects to close 2025 with 8 deals, focusing on fintech, financial services, and healthtech expansion.

Opportunities & Deadlines 👀

• 🇧🇷 Inova Startups 2026, by Sebrae, is open for early-stage startups in Brazil to apply for funding, mentorship, and investor access. Applications close on Dec 14.

• 🇧🇷 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

• 🇦🇷 BlinkTrip, founded by Marcelo Morales Rins, ex-Ualá, grew 400% in 2025 with over $1M in revenue using GenAI for personalized travel planning.

• 🇦🇷 Rentennials tripled users and grew revenue 88% in 2025. It plans to expand across LatAm and the U.S. in 2026.

• 🇦🇷 Agrojusto was named one of LatAm’s top impact startups after winning iImpact Latam’s ODS 17 and receiving recognition for its fair-trade food platform.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• 🇧🇷🇵🇹 Mercado Bitcoin announces €50M investment to expand in Portugal, linking Brazilian and European markets via crypto and Pix.

• 🇧🇷 Cumbuca pivots to B2B as a regulated Open Finance proxy using its ITP license, offering custom payment infrastructure to large enterprises.

• 🇧🇷 Pix hits a new record with 313.3M transactions totaling $33.05B in a single day (Dec 5), according to the Central Bank of Brazil.

• 🇺🇾 dLocal enables biometric payments via Pix in Brazil, allowing users to approve purchases with facial or fingerprint recognition.

🇨🇱 Chile

• 🇧🇷 Company Hero invests $1.84M to launch in Chile, kicking off its LatAm expansion with virtual office services for SMBs.

• 🇨🇱 Rema and Ainwater win the Decarb-volution Demo Day for their scalable climate tech in soil remediation and AI-powered water management.

• 🇨🇱 Buk partners with Pluxee to unify benefits and compensation management, boosting employee wellbeing and HR efficiency in Chile.

🇨🇴 Colombia

• 🇨🇴 MejorCDT surpasses 550K users and $30M in returns, cementing its role as Colombia’s leading fixed-income investment platform.

• 🇨🇴 Bancamía launches a mobile-managed debit card with Pomelo to boost financial inclusion for underserved Colombian microentrepreneurs.

• 🇨🇴 Rappi reports a 40% YoY surge in delivery workers and double-digit growth in orders, ticket size, and active merchants, per its new real-time economic index.

🇲🇽 Mexico

• 🇨🇴 Spybee lands in Mexico with its AI and drone platform to cut construction delays and costs, after 200+ projects in Colombia.

• 🇧🇷 Nubank to invest $2.5B in Mexico over 5 years to boost its tech platform and expand services, aiming to reach the 60% still underserved.

• 🇦🇷 Bitso launches 24/7 commission-free global stock and ETF trading in Mexico, starting from 20 pesos, to broaden financial access.

🇵🇪 Peru

• 🇵🇪 Ligo and LigoPay join Peru’s Central Bank pilot to enable instant, interoperable payments with a national QR system.

• 🇵🇪 Tupay grew revenues 800% and expects to process nearly $500M in 2025, driven by its all-in-one digital payments platform and sector diversification.

• 🇨🇱 ScaleX, Chile’s alternative stock market, expands to Peru to offer growth-stage startups new financing options beyond traditional credit.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• 🇺🇾🤝🇨🇭 dLocal partners with XanderPay to simplify cross-border payments for hotels and OTAs in 13 emerging markets.

• 🇺🇾 dLocal plans Africa expansion, fueled by Chinese e-commerce demand and a rising young population.

🌎 Other LatAm News

• 🇸🇻 El Salvador named fastest-growing startup ecosystem by StartupBlink, jumping 400+ spots in the 2025 global ranking.

• 🇻🇪 Ridery launches Panita, Venezuela’s first AI virtual assistant on WhatsApp, enabling transport, ticketing, and more via chat—fully built by local talent.

• 🇻🇪 Lysto and Rapikom win antitrust case in Venezuela, ending Cashea‘s exclusivity deals and opening up the BNPL market to more competition.

• 🇲🇽 Tala expands to Guatemala to scale its AI-powered credit platform across LatAm, targeting underserved and informal segments.

Big company & policy news 💡

🇦🇷 Mercado Pago seeks a banking license to offer salary and ANSES accounts, aiming to tap into 22M users and cut customer acquisition and lending costs.

🇬🇧🇨🇴 Revolut secures banking license in Colombia, aiming for a 2026 full-service launch with local payments and instant remittances.

🇧🇷 BC and CMN enforce new BaaS rules ending informal setups and mandating exclusive partnerships, raising compliance costs and pushing market consolidation.

🇧🇷 Cyberattacks diverted over $275M from banks and fintechs in 2025. The Central Bank confirmed no customer losses and imposed stricter security rules.

🇨🇳🤝🇧🇷 TikTok, in partnership with Patria and Casa dos Ventos, will invest +$37B to build its first LatAm data center in Ceará, powered by 100% renewable energy.

🇲🇽 Spin by OXXO plans to launch credit cards as part of its alliance with Visa, expanding FEMSA’s fintech offerings in Mexico.

🇺🇾 Zapia exits WhatsApp and sues Meta over chatbot ban, pivoting to its own app after a $7.5M raise led by Prosus Ventures.

Interesting reads 💡

🇨🇴 The rise and fall: the story of Merqueo, once a pandemic star, ends with its shutdown in July 2025 after debt and failed pivots.

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