Hey, it’s Yoel 👋 Back again with the 77th 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+:

• 🇧🇷 iCred raises $145.4M through a new FIDC to expand its INSS payroll loan business and double its market share. The funding was coordinated by Itaú BBA.

• 🇨🇴 Somos Internet raises $40M to expand in Colombia and launch in Mexico City, in a Series B co-led by Bracket Capital and Ribbit Capital.

Rounds $1M to $10M:

• 🇧🇷 Hero Seguros raises $6.8M to expand travel insurance in LatAm and new insurance verticals in Brazil. The round was led by Headline XP.

• 🇨🇱 PhageLab raised $3M in a Kaszek-led round to expand in Brazil 🇧🇷.

• 🇧🇷 Nuvidio raises $1.2M in a post-seed round led by DOMO.VC to expand across LatAm and enhance its AI identity platform.

M&A transactions 🎊

🇦🇷 BYMA acquired 70% of Quantex in a deal valuing the fintech at $9.5M. The move strengthens BYMA’s fixed-income trading infrastructure.

🇧🇷 Solum Capital plans to invest up to $19.4M in 3–4 middle-market companies in 2026 through its club deal model.

🇨🇱 Haulmer acquires Apanio to expand its ecosystem for small businesses and strengthen the launch of its new financial services brand, AndCo.

🇨🇱 Banco de Chile says the sale process for Transbank has taken longer than expected, with no clear timeline for a deal.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

🇦🇷 Mercado Libre backs Gradient’s new $220M fund to gain early access to AI startups and accelerate innovation across commerce and fintech.

🇧🇷 Spectra Investments raises $155.1M in the first closing of its seventh fund to back private equity, VC, and “invisible startups.”

🇧🇷 Unimed-BH launches the Ygeia fund with up to $11.6M to invest in growth-stage healthtechs, managed by KPTL.

🇺🇸 Runway launches a $10M fund to back early-stage AI, media, and world simulation startups, with checks of up to $500K.

Opportunities & Deadlines 👀

• 🇧🇷 Web Summit Rio confirms its 2026 edition in Rio de Janeiro, gathering 30,000+ attendees, investors, and startups; 📅 June 8–11.

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

• 🇲🇽🇵🇪🇨🇴🇦🇷 #EmprendeEnTikTok 2026 opens applications for startups, offering seed funding and mentorship; 📅 Apply by July 5, 2026.

• 🇨🇴 Colombia Tech Week confirms its 2026 edition across Bogotá and Medellín for founders, investors, and corporates; 📅 Dates TBC.

Startup news 💡

🇦🇷 Argentina

• 🇦🇷 Pomelo launches a standalone tokenization module to help large financial institutions modernize payments and reduce fraud.

• 🇦🇷 Vesseo is helping drive a 53% jump in stablecoin use in Argentina, with USDC and USDT now widely used for savings, transfers, and QR payments.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• 🇧🇷 Crystal Intelligence expands into Brazil to grow its crypto fraud and compliance analytics business, backed by Tether since 2025.

• 🇧🇷 Hotmart launches Hotmart Labs, a marketplace of AI tools for creators, including avatars, sales agents, and intelligent tutors.

• 🇧🇷 Unico opens a Silicon Valley headquarters to accelerate global expansion after acquisitions in Mexico, the UAE, and the US.

• 🇧🇷 Trela is shutting down after failing to secure new funding to continue operations. The startup was backed by SoftBank, Kaszek, and General Catalyst.

🇨🇱 Chile

• 🇨🇱 ProntoPaga will integrate Plin 🇵🇪 in Q2 2026 and aims to double Peru payment volume to US$1.2B, driven by Yape.

• 🇨🇱 Haulmer acquired Apanio to add e-commerce to its fintech ecosystem for SMEs. The deal will support more than 100,000 businesses.

• 🇨🇱 Toku launched an AI agent to automate collections and improve payment recovery. The tool helps reduce bad debt and speed up payments.

• 🇨🇱 Mercado Pago will launch a credit card in Chile to expand access to credit for SMEs and underserved users.

🇨🇴 Colombia

• 🇨🇴 Bre-B becomes Colombia’s biggest fintech milestone, surpassing 102 million registered payment keys.

• 🇨🇴 Addi warns users of a possible data leak after detecting unauthorized access on March 25, though it says accounts, passwords, and operations remain secure.

• 🇨🇴 Gopass expects to process nearly 2 million transactions and move $8.2M in toll payments during Semana Santa.

• 🇨🇴 Colombia saw GenAI course enrollments jump 288% in 2026, as companies increase spending on AI, critical thinking and digital skills.

🇲🇽 Mexico

• 🇺🇸🇲🇽 Paystand enters Mexico through Yaydoo, targeting large enterprises with B2B payments infrastructure across LatAm.

🇵🇪 Peru

• 🇵🇪 Entel Empresas and inDrive launch an exclusive mobile plan for drivers in Peru, with discounted connectivity and tailored benefits.

• 🇵🇪 Peru leads LatAm in workplace AI adoption, with 65% of workers already using it and 92% relying on AI as a virtual assistant.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• 🇺🇾 Prex launched Inversión Violeta: users earn daily returns on wallet balances with instant access; first activation requires $98.66.

🌎 Other LatAm News

• 🇲🇽🇧🇷🇵🇪 True Digital Media continues expanding across LatAm after doubling growth year-over-year, with plans to open offices in Brazil and Peru in 2026.

• 🇦🇷🇺🇾 Satellogic expands its Earth observation business with low-cost satellites built in Uruguay and R&D in Argentina, targeting defense, energy and agriculture.

• 🇻🇪 Kontigo temporarily suspended U.S. accounts for Venezuelan users, pausing international payments and dollar storage services.

Big company & policy news 💡

🇧🇷 JBS is pursuing a $30B biotech strategy to lead the “superproteins” market, expanding beyond traditional meat into alternative proteins and food innovation.

🇧🇷 PicPay, C6 Bank, and Bradesco led Brazil’s BC complaint rankings in Q4 2025, while Nubank and CloudWalk had the lowest rates.

🇧🇷 CADE opens an investigation into 99Food over alleged anti-competitive clauses that restricted partner restaurants from working with Keeta and Rappi.

🇨🇳🇧🇷 TikTok seeks fintech licenses in Brazil to offer payments, prepaid accounts, and lending services, following a model similar to Nubank.

🇵🇪 Revolut receives initial approval from Peru’s SBS to establish a bank, expanding its presence to a fifth LatAm market after Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, and Argentina.

Interesting reads 💡

🇪🇸 Cybersecurity startup Zynap explained in a blog post how they’ve built NINA AI, a multi-agent cybersecurity assistant that orchestrates specialist AI agents for threat detection and incident response

🇪🇸 JC (COO at Perk) on whether companies are really launching AI SDR at scale and for the whole value chain. Interesting discussion in the comments

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