Hey, it’s Yoel 👋 Back again with the 100th 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+:

• 🇧🇷 A5X raises $70M Series D to launch its derivatives exchange, led by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Kaszek.

• 🇨🇴 Rappi secured a $25M convertible-note investment from Amazon to strengthen its LatAm logistics network.

Rounds $1M to $10M:

• 🇧🇷 Doroth raises $4.5M Seed round to build LatAm’s first microfluidic chip manufacturing operation, led by Loccus with support from Finep and Fapesp.

• 🇧🇷 Bull raises $3.9M Seed round to scale its credit infrastructure platform, led by Maya Capital and Caravela Capital, with Canary participating.

• 🇺🇾🇲🇽 OrderEAT raises $2M Seed round to digitize school cafeterias across LatAm, led by Chile Ventures.

• 🇧🇷 Nuvia raises a $1.8M Seed round to expand its AI sales agents across LatAm, led by Amador Capital and Nascent.

• 🇨🇴 Emilia AI raises a $1.5M pre-seed led by Prosus to develop its AI restaurant platform and expand in Brazil.

M&A transactions 🎊

🇩🇪🤝🇨🇴 DHL acquires AGV’s OpenMarket logistics operation in Colombia, adding 21 distribution centers and 13 cross-docking facilities.

Investor & accelerator news 🚀

🇦🇷 Massotti Ventures launches a $10M fund to back 15–20 Argentine Pre-Seed and Seed startups and help them scale globally through Silicon Valley.

🇧🇷 Smaller Brazilian companies raised $31.3M through B3’s Regime Fácil, a simplified framework for accessing capital markets.

🇧🇷 Corporate VC investment surged 75% globally to $233.8B, while Brazil attracted $700M across 66 CVC-backed rounds.

🇧🇷 BRICS proposes a new startup fund to finance scalable technologies and expand capital access for emerging-market startups.

🇧🇷 Flourish Ventures sees Brazil’s startup ecosystem maturing as alumni from companies like Nubank, Rappi and Guiabolso launch new ventures.

🇧🇷 WOW Aceleradora reaches 200 portfolio startups after investing in BCS, Sensoriz, Turing DevSecOps and Cheers.

🇧🇷 Monashees is selected by Finep and BNDES to manage a $97M fund investing in AI-native Brazilian startups.

🇨🇱 Chile’s alternative digital financing users grew 72% since 2023, with $17.7B financed, according to FinteChile.

🇲🇽 Cometa launches a $150M fund to invest in early-stage LatAm startups, with IFC committing $15M plus $10M for co-investments.

Opportunities & Deadlines 👀

• 🇲🇽 TecPrize 2026 opens applications for future-of-work startups, offering $10K grants and ecosystem access. 📅 Deadline: September 30.

• 🇧🇷 Open Finance Awards 2026 opens applications across 13 categories, with submissions due September 30.

• 🇺🇸 a16z Alpha Fellowship opens Cohort 2 with up to $250K funding; 📅 September 2026.

• 🇨🇱 The AI Adoption Program launches a 12-week AI adoption program for LatAm executives, starting October 13. Early Bird price: $792.

• 🇲🇽 Decelera México 2026 opens applications for LatAm founders, offering up to $300K initial checks and expert support; 📅 October 2026 in Playa del Carmen.

• 🌎 Techstars Spring 2027 opens applications for early-stage startups, offering $220K investment, mentorship and investor access; 📅 November 18 deadline.

Startup news 💡

🇦🇷 Argentina

• 🇦🇷 ClawPump surpasses $180M in trading volume six months after launch, with 17,500+ AI agents operating across crypto protocols.

• 🇦🇷 Nuez.app launches Argentina’s first agentic neobank for AI-powered payments, investments and cards.

• 🇦🇷 Reental expands real-estate tokenization in Argentina, offering property investments from $100 through blockchain.

• 🇦🇷 Tiendanube reports 42.1% higher sales and 21.6% more orders in Argentina, while merchant margins remain under pressure.

• 🇦🇷 Ualá adds a bill-tracking tool while maintaining savings yields of up to 24% annually.

🇧🇷 Brazil

• 🇧🇷 Omni Banco appoints Dimas Pinheiro to lead its new Collections & Recovery division, integrating data, technology and operations to support growth.

• 🇧🇷 Syhus redesigns its accounting operations with AI, boosting revenue 25% and EBITDA margin by 10 percentage points without expanding its team.

• 🇧🇷 Gabriel reaches operational breakeven after doubling revenue and expands its smart security network from 4 to 45 cities.

• 🇧🇷 Magie targets 1,000% growth in 2026 after pivoting to B2B WhatsApp banking, while expanding across LatAm and targeting breakeven.

• 🇧🇷 Pagaleve secures Central Bank approval to operate as a payment institution, expanding its Pix-based BNPL services in Brazil.

• 🇧🇷 Stefanini Cyber adopts an AI-first cybersecurity strategy to detect and prevent attacks before they occur.

🇨🇱 Chile

• 🇨🇱 Experian finds 70% of Chileans faced attempted digital fraud last year, highlighting growing risks from AI-generated scams.

• 🇨🇱 Prex launches free virtual euro accounts with IBANs, enabling Chileans to receive and manage payments directly from Europe.

• 🇦🇷🇨🇱 Mercado Pago launches Mago in Chile, an AI assistant for personal and business financial management.

• 🇨🇴🇨🇱 Rappi invests $32M in Chile in 2026 to expand regionally and strengthen its Turbo delivery and supermarket services.

🇨🇴 Colombia

• 🇨🇴 Bancoomeva launches Scalo to provide fintechs with API-based financial infrastructure and target over $250M in loans within four years.

• 🇨🇴 Nu Colombia plans to invest $1.25B through 2030 in technology, new financial products, talent and balance-sheet growth.

• 🇨🇴 Gopass reaches 1M users after raising $23M, and expands into fleet management and Mexico.

• 🇨🇴 Cobre targets $40B in payments processed in 2026 after raising $80M+, while scaling its infrastructure in Colombia and Mexico.

• 🇨🇴 RappiPay launches a 540-day savings product offering up to 13.5% annual returns.

• 🇨🇴 Rapyd expands in Colombia with AI, biometrics and identity verification tools to prevent digital fraud.

🇲🇽 Mexico

• 🇲🇽 Paycaster secures regulatory approval to launch its digital payments platform, backed by a $16M investment.

• 🇲🇽 Jüsto begins selling 44 Kirkland Signature products in Mexico without requiring a Costco membership.

• 🇨🇱🇲🇽 ProntoPaga expands into Mexico with pay-in and pay-out solutions for regulated operators.

• 🇪🇨🇲🇽 Jelou expands WhatsApp banking in Mexico for payments, transfers and credit.

🇵🇪 Peru

• 🇨🇴🇵🇪 Bold processes $5B annually and plans to deepen SME lending while expanding its digital banking model into Peru.

🇺🇾 Uruguay

• 🇺🇾 Getnet adds conversational AI to its POS terminals for voice payments, split bills and multi-currency transactions.

🌎 Other LatAm News

• 🌎 Mastercard launches Wallet Pay to expand digital wallet interoperability and cross-border payments globally.

• 🇧🇴 Takenos surpasses $50M in Europe-Bolivia transfers as digital remittances reach 36% of the country’s total.

• 🇵🇪🇭🇳 Crehana expands into Honduras with its AI-powered talent management platform.

Big company & policy news 💡

🇧🇷 Brazil’s financial sector plans to invest $9.8B in tech in 2026, including $578M in AI, despite legacy-system challenges.

🇧🇷 Brazil’s CVM advances its DLT pilot to test three tokenization models and identify regulatory gaps for digital securities.

🇨🇱 Global66 secures U.S. FINRA approval to offer LatAm customers access to U.S. stocks and ETFs.

🇨🇴 Revolut secures a banking license in Colombia and commits an additional $62M to launch and scale its financial services.

Interesting reads 💡

🇪🇸 Inditex re-engineered its Logistics platform to achieve zero-downtime deployments across 23 highly available data centres. By migrating Java applications from local servers to Kubernetes (OpenShift, AKS, EKS) while preserving sub-10ms latency with warehouse PLCs, the retailer cut network-wide rollouts from ~300 days to about one week and eliminated ~500 annual operational stops, letting boxes and garments keep moving during updates.

🇪🇸 Tinybird founder Javi Santana published an in-depth guide on building and managing Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) teams for B2B startups. Drawing on 8 years running Tinybird—which raised ~€70M and reached tens of millions in ARR—he argues FDEs, unlike traditional consultants, keep “skin in the game” with one goal: getting clients to production fast. He covers hiring, onboarding, firing, and why customer success metrics often miss the point.

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