Here are the highlights on Brazil’s tech and business scene in May:
May 31
Former U.S. President Barack Obama is in Brazil.
In an event in Sao Paulo he said that the major force of the United States and Brazil is diversity. Reflecting on his administration he said: “it’s possible to achieve great power without corruption”
May 23
After acquiring the Body Shop in 2017, Brazilian cosmetics leader Natura expands to buy Avon.
May 21
Celcoin received a R$ 6 million from the Vox Capital fund to expand its network of resellers and establish itself as a payment institution. The fintech connects self-employed and merchants to users without access to digital services.
May 20
Venture Funding in Brazil soars to US$1.3B in 2018. Despite the political upheaval in recent years, the country’s startup scene has seen some serious acceleration, reflecting a general trend in Latin America.
May 20
Omni bought the control of PagBem for R$ 100 million. The fintech is specialized in payments in the transport sector.
May 15
monashees is leading one of the biggest seed rounds for a Brazilian startup, a US$ 10.5 million investment in Kovi. The startup is focused on providing cars for apps drivers. The round counted on other investors like ONEVC, Maya Capital, and Kevin Efrusy, partner of Accel.
May 14
Naspers sold its Brazilian online price comparison website Buscapé to rival Zoom. The deal value was not disclosed.
May 11
Hand Talk, a startup that uses artificial intelligence to translate texts and videos into Portuguese for the Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS), was one of the 20 winners of the Google Impact Challenge in AI. The startup received a R$ 3 million from Google.
May 9
Xerpa, a human resource platform, raised a R$ 16 million Series A investment from the funds QED Investors, KaszeK Ventures and Redpoint e.ventures.
May 7
The Brazilian Edtech Arco Educação made an agreement to buy the Sistema Positivo de Ensino for R$ 1.65 billion. Last September, Arco held its initial IPO on the Nasdaq, raised US$ 194.4 million and reached a market value of US$ 1.2 billion.
May 7
JOTA raised R$ 6.8 million in a seed capital round led by Astella Investimentos. JOTA is a platform focused on intelligence and data for decision-making through monitoring government activities – legislative, executive and judicial.
May 6
BayBrazil announced the 8th edition of its annual conference, Aug 22nd, at SRI International.
May 3
GPS Investimentos Financeiros e Participações will acquire a minority stake Magnetis over two years for an undisclosed amount. Magnetis is a US$ 63.5 million fintech that offers automated portfolio management and digital investment solutions.
