Financing watch: Vivo VC funding, Huawei on fintechs, Argentina’s cleantech and more

Telefônica contributes to CRMBonus

Vivo Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of Telefônica Brasil (Vivo), contributed US$5mn to CRMBonus’ Series B extension round.

Announced in May, the B round was led by Bond Capital and included the participation of Valor Capital, among other investors. The total raised was 400mn reais (US$71.6mn).

CRMBonus uses AI to boost relationships between companies and their customers. The startup popularized the ‘giftback concept’ in the Brazilian market, said Vivo.

The investment extends the telco's existing partnership with CRMBonus. 

Since January, one of the startup's solutions, Vale Bonus, is part of a set of benefits offered by Vivo to its customers. Bonus is a virtual currency that can be used to pay for products and services from different brands.

Record number of LatAm fintechs

Latin America ended 2023 with a record high of 3,069 fintechs across 26 countries, up more than 340% over 2017, according to a study from IDB and Finnovista. 

The regional ecosystem is led by fintechs operating in Payments and Remittances (21% of all fintechs), Loans (19%) and Business Finance Management (13%).

The countries that have the most fintechs are Brazil, Mexico and Colombia, accounting for 57% of the total in Latin America.

Details of the study, released this month by IDB, can be seen here.

Huawei agrees to provide cloud to Brazilian fintechs

Huawei signed an agreement with Brazilian fintech association ABFintechs to provide its cloud solutions to local companies.

In addition to products, Huawei said it plans to hold joint events and initiatives to promote innovation, exchange experiences and “foster new partnerships between the Brazilian ecosystem and the Chinese fintech market.”

Huawei claims its cloud can be 50% cheaper than that of competitors.

“Huawei Cloud, with its track record of reducing cloud infrastructure costs, will provide a vital competitive advantage for our associates and the Brazilian ecosystem. This significant cost reduction will allow Brazilian fintechs to invest in development and innovation, accelerating the growth and efficiency of the sector," Diego Perez, president of ABFintechs, said in a Huawei release.

Argentina’s cleantech Kilimo collects Series A cash

Argentine startup Kilimo, focused on water usage management solutions, closed its Series A at US$7.5mn. It was led by Emerald Technology Ventures, a pioneering cleantech venture capital fund.

Emerald was accompanied by the funds The Yield Lab Latam, Salkantay Ventures, Kamay Ventures and iThink VC.

"This investment consolidates Kilimo as a leading player in the generation of volumetric water benefits and also [consolidates] its operations in Mexico, Chile and Argentina," Kilimo said in a release.

Founded in 2014, the company said it has managed to benefit over 2,000 farmers in seven countries and save 72 billion liters of water to date.

The company is also working with companies that have announced water use commitments in recent years, citing Microsoft, Intel and Coca-Cola.

In Argentina, it is estimated that 56% of the territory is suffering from droughts of varying severity. There, Kilimo currently has active projects in Entre Ríos, Corrientes, Mendoza, Neuquén and Buenos Aires.

Microsoft jumps on agtech bandwagon

Microsoft entered into a tech partnership with PwC Brasil's Agtech Innovation initiative. 

Agtech is a hub that connects companies, startups, producers, investors, academia and other players in the connected agribusiness ecosystem.

Microsoft said it will provide mentoring and access to experts. The collaboration is also aimed at fostering innovation in the area, the development of new solutions and resolution of challenges through technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI), the US tech powerhouse said. 

Nubank buys for AI

Aiming at the AI sector, Latin America's largest digital bank Nubank acquired Hyperplane, a Silicon Valley-based data intelligence company, for an undisclosed sum. 

"The partnership will usher in a new era for digital banking platforms, bringing smarter, fairer and more personalized financial products and services to Nubank’s customers," the neobank said in a release.

Launched in 2022 by Brazilians, Hyperplane enables financial institutions to train, evaluate, and deploy self-supervised, deep-learning models on first-party data for decision-making, it added.

Nubank reports over 100mn customers across Brazil, Mexico and Colombia.

Omnik's e-commerce seed round

Brazilian retailtech Omnik raised 7mn reais from ABSeed, a VC fund focused on companies with B2B SaaS solutions and on seed investments.

The startup, which specializes transforming e-commerces into marketplaces, will use the proceeds for product, technology and marketing.

New cash for decentralized cash

Transfero, a company that integrates banking, crypto and financial systems through solutions based on blockchain, announced a 1.25mn-real investment in Notus Labs.

The startup is dedicated to developing onchain solutions that connect the traditional financial system (TradFi) with the world of decentralized finance (DeFi).

The investment is part of a pre-seed round and is intended to boost Notus in the development of products that encourage the adoption of blockchain and DeFi in the B2B and B2C markets, said Transfero.