Roundup: Unico Mexico acquisition, Deloitte startup push, Colombia deals, and more

Acquisition

Brazilian digital identity solutions provider Unico announced a deal to buy Mexico's Trully, a platform focused on digital fraud prevention, for an undisclosed sum.

Coupled with the acquisition of a United Arab Emirates firm, the announcement is part of Unico’s international expansion push, the company said.

In 2022, Trully raised US$4.1 million in a seed round led by Costanoa Ventures.

That same year, Unico acquired Brazil’s MakroSystems, an expert security provider. That deal represented Unico’s seventh acquisition in 15 years and the first since it received a financing from Goldman Sachs that raised Unico's valuation to US$2.6 billion.

Deloitte startups

DotHub, Deloitte Brazil's innovation and technology ecosystem, welcomed 11 new companies and startups.

These include Google Cloud, as a technology member; and the startups Asterisco Educação, Astron Films, Busca Legal, Cognsigns, Exato Digital, MindSelf, Simplex, Tokenizer and Nublify; in addition to supporting member Mov Locadora.

They join Acer and FITec, members since DotHub's launch in 2023 in São Paulo.

In addition to access to infrastructure, such as coworking, arena and auditorium, members will be able to benefit from the possibilities of connection, collaboration and engagement within the community, said Deloitte.

Colombian financial deals

In Colombia, two investments in the financial sector demonstrate the strength of the local market.

New York-based Cerberus Capital Management invested another US$30mn in Bayport Colombia, a non-banking payroll loan company, following a first investment in 2019.

Credicorp Capital Asset Management, for its part, invested in the form of private debt in ExcelCredit, a local company providing payroll loans to pensioners, public employees and teachers, with repayments automatically deducted from salaries.

Gringo extends series C

In a rare move for local tech firms, Gringo, a Brazilian startup focused on vehicle monitoring and driver support, added another 70mn reais (US$12.5mn) to its series C.

Last year, Gringo secured 150mn reais in a C round led by Valor Capital. That round saw the participation of Kaszek, VEF, Piton, ONE VC, ICU Ventures and Actyus.

The new extension was led by US fund manager Moore Capital.

Created in 2019, Gringo reports now more than 20mn clients in 11 Brazilian states.

Arvo AI

Arvo, a Brazil-based healthtech using AI for fraud prevention in healthcare plans, secured 25mn reais led by local fund Canary and New York-based K50, with participation from Latitud, Preface and Endeavor Scale-Up Ventures.

Proceeds are expected to be used in enhancing solutions, expanding databases and improving algorithms, notably the expansion of auditing to all stages of healthcare transactions, from pre-authorization of procedures to final payment.

Vtex buys Weni

Latin American unicorn Vtex, a global provider of e-commerce platforms, acquired Brazilian firm Weni, specialist in customer service and communication solutions. Values were not disclosed.

“The acquisition aims to enhance Vtex’s capabilities in offering a complete customer experience platform, driven by data and artificial intelligence (AI), designed specifically for enterprise brands and retailers,” Vtex said in a statement.

Weni is a business partner of Meta and serves clients such as Stone, Raízen, Cencosud and Cruzeiro do Sul. Vtex reports 2,600 global clients.