Financing roundup: Q3 funding and dealmaking, Axis in Chile, VC deals and more

Dealmaking operations down 20%

Latin America saw 2,088 dealmaking operations in January- September, including M&As, private equity, venture capital and asset acquisition transactions, down more than 20% year-on-year according to the latest figures from TTR.

The total value of the deals with disclosed figures was US$53bn, down 10.6%. Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Colombia and Argentina led in terms of the number of transactions, in that order, TTR said.

The leading economy in the region, Brazil, saw 1,169 deals in the first nine months of the year, down 25% year-on-year, totalling US$29.7bn in value, a drop of 11%. 

Mexico saw 253 deals in January-September, worth a combined US$13.2bn, down by 10% year-on-year in both cases, according to the report.

Startups raise US$1.5bn

Meanwhile, SlingHub and Itaú BBA tracked US$1.5bn raised by Latin American startups in 3Q24, down 43% year-on-year, while 171 funding rounds were carried out, a drop of 33%.

This was the worst-performance for startup fundraising in 2024, whereas Q3 was the best quarter last year, hence the difference, said SlingHub. On the other hand, the M&A market saw 57 startup deals, the best so far this year, it said.

Brazil led with 112 of the funding rounds, Mexico had for 19 and Chile 12. Seed funding was the most common stage of financing, while debt issuances were the financial instrument that grew the most.

The most active investor in Latin America startups in 3Q24 was Bossa Invest fund, followed by Antler, Kaszek, EqSeed, Norte Ventures, Latidud and Caravela Capital, said SlingHub.

Tech deals in Brazil on the rise

Technology dealmaking in Brazil amounted to 54 operations in September, more than doubling those the previous month, according to FZF Panorama, a monthly report from M&A tech boutique FZF Capital.

In total, these transactions generated approximately 11.7bn reais (US$2.05bn) in value, said FZF. The figure includes datacenter companies and startup investments.

Fundraising and equity alone totaled 3.9bn reais and accounted for 49% (26 transactions) of the tech deals in September.

The sectors leading these transactions were B2B software (15), financial services (5) and marketplaces (3).

Swedish firm Axis invests in Chile

Swedish-based communications equipment company Axis opened an experience, testing and demo center in Santiago, Chile.

The facility is the company’s first in the Southern Cone. It will serve industry professionals and customers from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Bolivia, according to the company.

The center will allow partners and clients to access and test Axis’ portfolio of video, audio, analytics and security controls. These clients include MercadoLibre, the Santiago metropolitan region government, and others.

Portuguese startup raises money to focus on LatAm

Portuguese startup Sensei, a provider of tech and automation solutions for retailers, raised 15mn euros (US$16mn) in a Series A round to boost its presence in Latin America, notably in Brazil, as well as in Central and Northern Europe.

Led by Portuguese firm BlueCrow Capital and with the participation of Kamay Ventures, Lince Capital, Explorer Investments, Metro AG and TechStars Ventures, the new round will enable Sensei to expand its workforce by 30%.

The company is also aiming at having 1,000 fully autonomous points of sale by 2026.

Using advanced computer vision, AI-powered sensors and real-time algorithms, Sensei created an environment where customers can shop seamlessly, without waiting in queues or manually scanning items.

Akua eyes Colombia

Payment processing startup Akua, founded by Brazilian, Colombian and Uruguayan entrepreneurs, secured a pre-seed investment of US$4.3mn from Propel, Flourish Ventures, H20, ICVentures, Plug & Play and Rally Cap.

Akua provides a cloud-native platform that integrates with various payment methods and includes features such as tokenization.

The funds will be used to grow the firm’s team, accelerate platform development and expand operations in Latin America, starting with Colombia.