Welcome to the 20th edition of the Dealflow LatAm newsletter: a weekly summary of everything that happened in the LatAm startup and investment ecosystem.
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🇧🇷 Split Risk raises $8.6M to strengthen technical reserves and invest in technology. The round was led by HSR Soluções e Participações and La Barca Empreendimentos. The insurtech aims to reach $86M in issued premiums by the end of 2026.
🇲🇽 Niko Energy raises $8M to build Mexico’s first virtual power plant. The round was led by QED Investors, with 468 Capital and Picus Capital participating. The company also secured $15M in debt to expand solar installations and battery storage.
🇧🇷 Neofin raises $7M to enhance its AI-powered accounts receivable platform. The round was led by Quona and Upload Ventures, with several other investors participating.
🇧🇷 Cycles Nutrition raises $2.6M to expand its functional nutrition line. The round was led by Headline Ventures and XP. The funds will support product development and the launch of a health-focused app.
🇧🇷 Sindria raises $1M to democratize pre-university education. The pre-seed round included Henrique Dubugras and executives from Olist, Stark Bank, Conta Simples, and Medway. The edtech offers free AI-powered test prep for Brazilian students.
🇧🇷🤝🇲🇽 BYX Capital acquires Nvio, Bitso’s credit fintech, to strengthen its banking structure and expand beyond payroll lending. The acquisition enhances transaction security and allows BYX to enter new credit segments, including home equity, vehicle financing, and card receivables.
🇧🇷 Afinz acquires Joinkey, a platform specializing in sales and receivables reconciliation. This acquisition aims to simplify the consolidation and reconciliation of multiple payment methods for businesses, enhancing Afinz's financial solutions ecosystem.
🇪🇸 Mundi Ventures launches a fund for Brazil and LatAm, focusing on insurtechs and related sectors. The fund will invest in Series A and B startups, with checks ranging from $3M to $5M. Investors include Cofides, BID, and a European insurer.
🇦🇷 Sigma Squared Society hosts its first LatAm summit in Buenos Aires on Feb 6, uniting young entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders like Roger Laughlin (Kavak) and Marta Cruz (NXTP Ventures) to drive innovation and impact.
🇵🇷 Colmena66 opens applications for "Acércate al Grant", supporting Puerto Rican entrepreneurs in securing federal SBIR/STTR funding. The call is open until February 24, 2025.
🇨🇱 Carozzi launches Carozzi Sinergia, an open innovation program seeking startups to tackle efficiency, sustainability, supply chain, and customer experience challenges. Applications are open until March 7, 2025.
🇨🇴 StartCo 2025 will gather 150+ investment funds in Medellín on April 3-4 to boost LatAm’s startup ecosystem. Investors like 500 Startups, Kaszek, and Kamay Ventures will seek deals in EnergyTech, FinTech, and HealthTech.
🇦🇷 Endeavor launches Experiencias Endeavor 2025, with events from April to October across Argentina. The next edition is in Córdoba on May 14. 🚀
🇦🇷 Orbith will launch its own satellite in 2025 to expand satellite internet access in Argentina. The company will compete with Starlink, offering connectivity in remote areas through GEO and LEO technologies.
🇪🇸 BitBase enters Argentina with a $500K investment, launching its first crypto ATM in Buenos Aires and planning further expansion.
🇧🇷 Kiwify receives Central Bank approval to operate as a Payment Institution, enhancing security and transparency in its financial operations.
🇧🇷 Plastic Bank reaches $500K in blockchain-tracked recycling payments, preventing 7B plastic bottles from polluting oceans with IBM.
🇧🇷 Future Cow opens a $300K funding round on Captable to develop its lab-grown milk technology. The funds will help reduce production costs and scale commercialization by 2026.
🇧🇷 Brota opens a $300K funding round on EqSeed to expand its urban agriculture products. The funds will support marketing, sales expansion, and the launch of 12 new product lines by 2026.
🇧🇷 CloudWalk reports $497M in revenue for 2024, up 67%, with $63M in net income. Half of its earnings came from products launched in the past two years.
🇨🇱🤝🇺🇸 Reversso, Uber Direct, and Blue Express launch on-demand returns in Chile, enabling pickups within 20 minutes for faster e-commerce returns.
🇨🇱 Tenpo moves closer to becoming Chile’s first neobank after receiving final approval from the CMF. The fintech, backed by Credicorp, now advances to the final stage of its banking license process.
🇺🇦 KIT Global launches its marketing platform in Mexico, enhancing automation and optimization for LatAm businesses.
🇺🇸🤝🇨🇴 Walmart partners with RappiCard to offer interest-free installment payments in Walmart Supercenter, Bodega Aurrera, and Sam’s Club stores in Mexico.
🇬🇧🤝🇲🇽 Wise launches in Mexico to offer transparent and low-cost international money transfers. The service enables Mexicans to send funds to 160 countries in over 40 currencies.
🇵🇪 Monnet Payments drives Peru’s fintech growth, processing over $3.5B since 2020. The company expands real-time payments across LatAm and aims to become Peru’s first unicorn.
🇵🇪🤝🇺🇸 Niubiz and Salesforce accelerate digital transformation in Peru, optimizing payment experiences with Sales Cloud and Service Cloud to enhance efficiency and customer service.
🇺🇾 Tecspal expands to China and Asia. The Uruguayan startup, operating in 120+ countries, enters China and strengthens regional growth with a director relocating to Manila, Philippines.
🇺🇸 Visa issues 1 billion tokens in LatAm and the Caribbean, driving $3.5B in digital payments in 2024. The company invested $12B in security and fraud prevention over the last five years.
🇧🇷🤝🇺🇸 Insper and AWS launch a free course on generative AI and cloud computing. Open to anyone over 18, the program covers AI’s business impact, AWS fundamentals, and includes a hackathon.
🇲🇽🤝🇺🇸 Tecnológico de Monterrey and Microsoft launch AIGEN, a global AI education network, and expand access to TECgpt, their generative AI platform, to universities worldwide.
🇺🇾🤝🇺🇸 dLocal partners with Amazon to enable global sellers on Amazon Brazil. This deal expands product availability and allows international vendors to accept local payments.
🌎 Federico Antoni (Hi Ventures) published “AI 100 Early Stage”, the first map of early-stage AI startups in LatAm. It showcases how AI is reshaping industries like healthtech, edtech, and fintech, enabling startups to scale and compete with legacy giants.
