Hey, it’s Yoel 👋 Back again with the 71st 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+:

• 🇲🇽 Kavak raises $300M to expand financing and invest in AI, led by Andreessen Horowitz with global investors participating.

• 🇧🇷 Listo injects $200M into its FIDC to expand auto-sector credit operations and support plans to double in size over the next two years.

• 🇧🇷 99 raises $140M through an FIDC to expand lending via 99Pay, with Bradesco BBI acting as coordinator and investor.

• 🇧🇷 Zippi raises $44M through its third FIDC issuance to expand credit for micro-merchants, backed by Credit Saison, Itaú, Bradesco BBI, and Valora.

• 🇲🇽 Solvento secures $25M in financing from BBVA Spark to expand liquidity solutions for transporters and logistics companies across Mexico.

Rounds $1M to $10M:

• 🇲🇽 EFEX raises $8M to modernize cross-border treasury, co-led by PayPal Ventures and Floodgate, with Contour Venture Partners and Nido Ventures.

• 🇧🇷 BemAgro raises $6M in a Series A to expand its AI platform for agribusiness, led by The Yield Lab Latam.

• 🇻🇪🇺🇸 Quash raised $2.6M, bringing total funding to $7M at a $35.6M valuation, to scale its AI-powered credit decision platform for U.S. credit unions.

Other rounds of funding:

• 🇧🇷 Moondo opens a $860K equity round on EqSeed to scale its lab-grown leather production and build its own lab infrastructure.

• 🇺🇾 Payflex raised $800K to scale its earned wage access platform, serving 15,000 users in Uruguay and planning expansion to Argentina.

M&A transactions 🎊

🇺🇸🤝🇦🇷 Visa acquires Prisma and Newpay from Advent, taking control of Argentina’s largest payment processing infrastructure.

🇧🇷 Laqus acquires Estar.finance to expand into secondary markets and digital assets, strengthening its regulated capital markets infrastructure in Brazil.

🇧🇷 iFood invested $1M in Speedbird Aero to scale drone deliveries in Brazil, expanding operations after 2,000+ flights and preparing new routes in São Paulo.

🇲🇽 Kubo Financiero and Crédito Maestro advance a $35.6M merger to expand digital savings and lending in Mexico, pending CNBV approval.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

🇦🇷 Grupo Galicia, via Banco Galicia and Naranja X, invested $50.9k with BELAT to finance regenerative cattle ranching through an ESG-focused crowdlending trust.

🇧🇷 ONEVC raises $50M for its third fund to back pre-seed and seed startups across Brazil and LatAm, anchored by institutional LPs including Spectra.

🇧🇷 Bossa Invest deploys $6.2M in 2025 to back high-growth Brazilian startups, reinforcing its focus on efficiency and selective early-stage investing.

🇨🇱 Chile’s venture capital investment reached $854M in 2025, with 66 startups raising funds and an average ticket of $4.1M, signaling recovery.

🇲🇽 Andrés Bilbao, cofounder of Rappi, launches 30X in Mexico, an executive program to help founders scale their businesses up to 30x.

Opportunities & Deadlines 👀

• 🇲🇽 Fintech Founders & VC’s Mixer joins FTMX Week 2026 on Feb 23 in CDMX, uniting founders and VCs to boost fintech innovation and partnerships.

• 🇧🇷 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

• 🇦🇷 Ualá CEO criticized Argentina’s tax burden on credit, arguing provinces charge IIBB on both loan interest and late payments, raising financing costs.

• 🇨🇴🇦🇷 Habi lands in Argentina by acquiring Pulppo to accelerate digital mortgage origination, expanding its proptech footprint beyond Colombia and Mexico.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• 🇧🇷 Spedy reports 143% MRR growth in 2025 and projects reaching $200K monthly recurring revenue in 2026.

• 🇧🇷 TokenOne receives CVM approval to operate as a crowdfunding platform, enabling it to launch public offerings in Brazil.

🇨🇱 Chile

• 🇨🇱 Global66 plans to seek an international banking license to expand regionally after processing $3.7B in 2025, up 157% YoY.

• 🇨🇱 Vita Wallet scales its cross-border payments platform to 6 countries and 300k users, preparing a US launch in 2026 to position as a regional supra fintech.

🇨🇴 Colombia

• 🇨🇴 Lyra Colombia launches Send, an API-based infrastructure to automate mass bank payments and modernize corporate treasury operations.

• 🇨🇴 DiDi added 2M+ new users in Colombia in 2025 and grew active drivers by 12%, with strong adoption in intermediate cities and 1.37B km traveled nationwide.

🇲🇽 Mexico

• 🇲🇽🌎 Nu, Mercado Pago, Klar, and Finsus seek banking licenses in Mexico to expand services and compete with traditional banks.

• 🇲🇽 Plata receives CNBV approval to operate as a digital bank in Mexico, enabling it to expand beyond its credit card product under a full banking license.

• 🇨🇱🇲🇽 Cenit expands to Mexico to offer AI-powered tax management for individuals under RESICO and payroll regimes, targeting 100K users in the country.

🇵🇪 Peru

• 🇵🇪 Monnet Payments launches Virtual Accounts to enable automated cross-border collections across Peru, Mexico, and Argentina via one API.

• 🇵🇪🤝🇦🇷 Bsale and Mercado Libre partner to integrate online sales, inventory, and invoicing into one system for SMEs.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• 🇺🇾 Founder Nicolás Pirozzi leveraged his startup mindset to self-fund his comeback, winning two gold medals.

🌎 Other LatAm News

• 🇨🇷 Niubox expands to Costa Rica, highlighting the country as a regional AI policy leader with a national strategy and regulatory approach in Central America.

• 🇵🇪🇨🇱🇨🇴 Khipu plans to expand to Chile and Colombia in 2026, scaling its corporate expense management platform and preparing a new funding round.

• 🇸🇻 Monetae and Ábaco launched a regulated digital asset structure in El Salvador to modernize corporate investment under CNAD supervision.

Big company & policy news 💡

🇧🇷 XP Inc., PicPay, Stone, Inter, PagBank, Nubank, and Agibank shares closed higher in the U.S., led by XP Inc. (+6.8%), while PicPay regained a $2B market cap.

🇧🇷 Senator Renan Calheiros proposes a bill to turn FGC rules into complementary law, aiming to strengthen legal certainty and oversight after recent bank liquidations.

🇧🇷 The liquidation of Banco Pleno lifts FGC payouts to $10.4B across Banco Master, Will Bank, and Banco Pleno, increasing pressure on the fund.

🇨🇴 Temu surpassed Mercado Libre and Amazon in purchase frequency in Colombia (48%), handling ~100,000 daily shipments and reshaping local e-commerce logistics.

🌎🇵🇪 inDrive ranks #1 in Travel downloads in Peru, surpassing 400M downloads globally as it expands its super app across LatAm.

Interesting reads 💡

🇪🇸 Omar Pera (CPO at Freepik) wrote “El nuevo 10x y las hostias que se vienen”

🇪🇸 Ignacio Arriaga wrote “Compound startups: ¿el futuro o la mediocridad?“

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