LatAm Tech Weekly
#198: GPT-5 is here, July wrap up, software in Brazil, deals of the week...and much more!
Weekly writing about what is happening in LatAm tech. By day, I lead the business development team at Itau Unibanco. By night, I am reading and learning about technology in general (now, with a focus on AI). During the weekends, I’m writing the LatAm Tech Weekly.
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Happy Father’s Day Sunday!
Father’s Day has always been a special one for me—and if you know me well, you probably know exactly why. That said, I just want to wish you, the reader, a happy Father’s Day. I hope you spent it surrounded by family, making memories that truly matter. Because at the end of the day, it’s simple: family comes first.
Today, we’re coming full circle. First up—naturally—is GPT-5 and the latest model updates. Then we’ll dive into July’s performance numbers (since last week was a special edition) before zooming in on Brazil’s software figures. From there, we’re back to our usual format: the key stories shaping LatAm tech over the past week. So, without further ado—let’s dig in.
P.S. Just a quick note for upcoming founders: one in four startups in Brazil fold within a year, and that risk keeps many young builders from starting at all. Behring Founders aims to change this—offering up to BRL 200,000 equity-free, mentorship, and network access to 10 innovators aged 16–24. Apply by August 11 at behringfounders.org.
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Opinions expressed here are solely my own and does not represent those of people, institutions, organizations that I may or may not be associated with in any capacity, unless explicitly stated.
GPT-5 is out—and the internet is split between “this is it” hype and “solid but incremental” takes. Early hands-on posts say quality and tool-use are up but not a dramatic leap, while benchmark watchers note OpenAI has reclaimed the overall top spot on composite leaderboards—even as xAI’s Grok 4 Heavy still edges GPT-5 Pro on Humanity’s Last Exam (44.4% vs. 42.0% with Python+search, per Artificial Analysis). Under the hood, OpenAI shipped three variants (GPT-5, mini, nano) via API, made GPT-5 available to all ChatGPT users (with an undisclosed free-tier cap), and kept GPT-5 Pro exclusive to ChatGPT Pro.
Pricing is aggressive—about $1.25 / $10 per million tokens—undercutting GPT-4o and most peers, and safety got real attention: the team says it logged “5,000+ hours” of red-teaming with a focus on reducing deceptive outputs, per safety lead Alex Beutel. One wrinkle: at high “reasoning effort,” GPT-5 reportedly consumes ~23× more tokens, with returns tapering beyond medium effort—fueling debate about cost/latency trade-offs. Net-net, the web’s verdict is “measured excitement”: slightly ahead of Grok 4 and o3 on most public benchmarks, cheaper to run, safer by design—and clearly positioned for the agentic era that’s now arriving.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I’m addicted to the The AI Daily Brief. While I have read several X posts and reviews on Open AI’s latest release, I think that the podcast was the best overall summary on how GPT-5 changed the artificial intelligence landscape as a whole. The most recent edition, called “Ten things that change after GPT-5” struck me differently.
Every leap in AI changes how we work, but the changes aren’t always where you expect. We’re moving from the era of “look how smart this thing is” to a more practical—and in some ways, more interesting—phase: LLMs as everyday collaborators, tool users, and strategic partners. The breakthroughs are still coming, but they’re now reshaping how we interact with AI just as much as what it can do. Here are the top 10 changes after GPT-5 release:
1. The feeling of progress – We’re exactly where the scaling laws said we’d be: models keep getting better, but returns are flattening. That doesn’t mean we’re done—there’s still an enormous amount to unlock—but the “wow” moments are less about raw IQ leaps and more about refinement.
2. From raw power to smart tools – The center of gravity is shifting from “How smart is the model?” to “How well does it work with tools?” We’re leaving the Stone Age of standalone chatbots and entering what you could call the Tool Age—but this time, the “stone tools” are APIs, databases, and integrated systems. I mentioned this analogy in LinkedIn post this past week. In the actual Stone Age, progress wasn’t about who was strongest—it was about who could use tools better to hunt, build, and survive. Today, the same principle applies: the advantage will go to the people and companies that master how to wield AI as a tool, combining it with the right data and workflows to stay ahead. The magic isn’t just in the raw intelligence of the model—it’s in how effectively we use it to extend our own capabilities.
3. A boon for everyday users – Not long ago, picking the “best” model meant navigating benchmark charts, understanding subtle differences, and—let’s be honest—having the time (and patience) to test them all. For most people, that was a headache. Now? The default is simply GPT-5. And while I still like matching the model to the job (yes, I’ve nerded out enough to know when each one shines), the average non-Pro user doesn’t have to think twice. And that’s not a bad thing—GPT-5 is strong enough across the board that, for most use cases, it just works. The result? Less decision-fatigue, more “wow” moments for the everyday user.
4. Better strategy, not just faster answers – LLMs are moving beyond fact recall into strategy support. They’re becoming genuine collaborators—helping you weigh trade-offs, structure complex projects, and even map competitive landscapes. That’s where personal productivity gets its next big unlock.
5. The rise of “vibe coding” – If 2024 was about learning to talk to AI, 2025 is the year we mastered the vibe. “Vibe coding” is the art of crafting a single, perfectly tuned prompt that gets the model to deliver exactly what you want—no endless iterations, no trial-and-error. It’s about understanding the model’s personality, its strengths, and even its quirks, then hitting it with a request that just clicks. The breakout practice here is “one-shotting,” where developers, marketers, and creators set up their prompts so well that the first output is also the final output. This shift is reshaping workflows: less time polishing, more time producing. And as models get better at picking up nuance, the line between prompt and product keeps getting thinner. The winners in this era won’t just be those who know what to ask, but those who know how to ask it in a way that hits the AI’s “vibe” perfectly.
6. The consumer moment – OpenAI’s 700M weekly active users mean roughly 9% of the world is using GPT every week. That scale cements “AI = GPT” in the public mind, and the company’s clear priority is the mass consumer—not the niche power user.
7. Room for rivals – That consumer focus leaves an opening for others. Google’s Gemini, xAI’s Grok, Anthropic’s Claude—they can differentiate by going deeper with pros, enterprises, or specialist verticals rather than chasing the broadest audience.
8. The AI price laws – With every capability jump, token prices drop. This isn’t just Moore’s Law—it’s a competitive land grab. Expect price compression to continue until running even advanced reasoning feels “cheap enough to use everywhere.”
9. App layer supremacy – The real power is shifting to the app layer—the place where the customer relationship lives. Models may come and go, but the builders who own the workflow, the UX, and the trust of users will own the value chain.
10. From solo agents to agent teams – The next leap is multi-agent orchestration: specialized AIs working together like a human team, passing tasks, critiquing each other, and delivering more complex, reliable results without you micromanaging the process.
The story of LLM progress isn’t just about raw intelligence anymore—it’s about usability, access, and the ecosystem forming around these models. The winners won’t just be the ones with the “smartest” AI, but the ones who make it easiest for people to do things that matter. That shift—from power to practicality—is what’s going to define the next chapter of AI.
And… we are suddenly in August. Since last week I did a special edition, in this edition I’ll provide a brief summary of what went down last month. In July, global markets showed steady momentum: equity, debt, and commodity indexes all moved modestly higher, while private markets experienced notable activity, from IPOs to unicorn financing, according to PitchBook’s Global Markets Snapshot. In the public markets, the U.S. IPO pipeline continued gaining strength—2025 has seen 130 IPOs so far, with 26 priced in July alone, marking the busiest month of the year and a 56.6% increase from 2024, although proceeds were down slightly (~9%) year-over-year; SPACs remain alive, particularly in earlier-stage. On the venture side, early 2025 brought a surge in total startup funding—$162.8B in H1, driven by AI and representing the second-highest half-year total on record—but VC firms themselves raised just $26.6B across 238 funds, a 33.7% drop year-over-year, signaling a bifurcated environment where dealmaking thrives while fundraising lags. Venture capital benchmarks also reflect mixed performance: median IRR for 2017‑vintage funds stood at 11.5%, with top quartile funds delivering ~18.7%, per Carta’s Q2 2025 VC Fund Performance data .
In July, Y Combinator, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bessemer Venture Partners, and BoxGroup topped the list of the most active U.S. startup investors, while Insight Partners, a16z, and Thrive Capital stood out as the most frequent lead investors, per Crunchbase. Startup-on-startup acquisitions have also been on the rise—427 deals globally in H1, up 18% year-over-year—with AI dominating the M&A landscape. The largest transaction so far has been OpenAI’s $6.5B purchase of io, followed by notable non-AI deals like Ripple’s $1.25B acquisition of Hidden Road and Databricks’ $1B buyout of Neon.
Now doubling down on Brazil — Since I’m based here, and given how rare it is to get this level of dedicated analysis, it’s worth spotlighting ABES’s Mercado Brasileiro de Software – Panorama e Tendências 2025 report. Brazil invested US$ 58.6B in IT in 2024, up 13.9% YoY—well above the 10.8% global average. Hardware led spending (47.6%), followed by software (30.8%) and IT services (21.6%), with the Southeast accounting for 60.8% of investments. The market is dominated by micro (61%) and small (33.5%) enterprises. For 2025, ABES projects 9.5% growth, driven by public cloud (US$ 3.5B), generative AI (US$ 2.4B), and ERP solutions (US$ 4.9B). AI-related projects are expected to jump 30%, with trends including AI agents, multicloud security, and hybrid cloud adoption. Brazil now ranks among the top 10 global IT markets and is cementing its role as LatAm’s tech leader.
General news:
Agibank raised R$4B through corporate debentures to strengthen its capital structure and expand its credit portfolio. The debt carries a 74-month maturity and CDI + 1% annual return, targeting professional investors. 🇧🇷
Impacta VC has opened applications for the second edition of its Miami Softlanding Program, which will help up to 15 Latin American startups expand into the U.S. via Miami. Run in partnership with Project 97, the initiative includes online prep and a two-week immersion starting October 27. The 2024 cohort generated $6.3M in sales, with all participants either raising or planning to raise capital. 🇺🇸
Méliuz adopted bitcoin as its primary reserve asset in March, now holding the largest BTC stash among publicly traded companies in Latin America. With bitcoin up more than 100% in 2025, the move has outperformed its previous CDI allocation. The company plans to keep buying, seeing BTC as a strategic hedge for corporate treasuries in Brazil. 🇧🇷
Alphabet has sold its entire stake in cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike via CapitalG, its independent investment arm. The exit follows a July 2024 systems failure at CrowdStrike that disrupted millions of devices worldwide, marking a strategic pullback from the sector. 🇺🇸
Mercado Livre reported Q2 net income of $523M, down 1.5% YoY and below expectations due to aggressive free-shipping policies in Brazil. Revenue still climbed 34% to $6.8B, with GMV up 21% to $15.3B. Analysts expect short-term margin pressure but note the company’s long-term commitment to e-commerce leadership. 🇧🇷
Liqi has launched a Digital Credit Rights Token (TDIC) backed by fintech UME’s R$60M in receivables. More than 60,000 contracts are now registered on the blockchain, ensuring transparency and traceability. The deal was structured by Milenio using the XDC Network, with Liqi’s protocol automating payments and liquidation. 🇧🇷
Bybit has invested $1M in EthicHub, a blockchain platform that connects unbanked farmers in Mexico and Colombia to crowdfunded loans and buyers. The partnership has already issued $5M in loans, supported over 10K farmers, and sold 300+ tons of coffee, with European shipments starting this month. 🇲🇽🇨🇴
Deals:
SAP will acquire AI-powered hiring platform SmartRecruiters, which serves 4,000+ clients including Amazon, Visa, and McDonald’s. The deal, expected to close in Q4 2025, will integrate SmartRecruiters’ automation and engagement tools into SAP’s HCM suite. 🇩🇪
BRQ Digital Solutions is merging with digital design and development firm weme to offer end-to-end, hyper-personalized solutions powered by GenAI. Weme will remain independent while both companies expand into sectors like finance, health, and mobility. 🇧🇷
Olist has acquired fintech Flip to launch a credit offering for its 50K SMB clients. Backed by a R$90M FDIC for receivables advances, the deal—paid in cash and shares—brings Flip’s founders into Olist’s leadership team. 🇧🇷
Leggal raised a R$1.7M seed round led by DOMO.VC to expand its Legal Care benefit, providing continuous legal support as an employee perk. The startup serves 30K+ users and aims for R$2.5M in 2025 revenue. 🇧🇷
General news:
iFood will invest R$17B by March 2026, plus up to R$500M in startups via Prosus Ventures. Serving 55M customers and 400K restaurants, it contributes 0.64% of Brazil’s GDP and supports over 1M jobs. The plan doubles down on AI, credit, and new verticals to stay ahead of rivals like Keeta and 99Food. 🇧🇷
Liv Up is expanding beyond frozen meals into high-protein performance dishes and breakfast items, aiming to quadruple revenue to R$1B by 2030. With 85% of sales through its own channels, the company plans nationwide growth and new distribution centers, targeting R$250M in 2025 sales while remaining bootstrapped. 🇧🇷
Stablecoins pegged to the Brazilian real processed R$5B in 2024, up 70% YoY in circulation to R$70M, with 96% concentrated in three issuers. Adoption is expanding beyond crypto into B2B payments and cross-border transactions, including payroll and supplier payments abroad. 🇧🇷
Cora has rolled out invoice receivables prepayment, building on its credit and working capital products for SMEs. AI has cut onboarding time from six to three months, and the company projects 60–70% growth in 2025 while remaining profitable. 🇧🇷
Colombia’s court ruling has dismissed a class action seeking to block ride-hailing apps like Uber, Didi, and Cabify, citing their positive impact on competition, consumers, and the economy. The decision paves the way for regulation once Congress finalizes a legal framework. 🇨🇴
Fraccional.cl, Chile’s pioneer in fractional real estate investing, will expand to Spain in 2025, targeting Madrid’s coliving market, high-yield flips, and developments. It’s the latest step after moves into Paraguay, Uruguay, and Miami. 🇨🇱🇪🇸
MeteoIA has created Brazil’s first long-term climate forecasting AI, capable of predicting disaster risks up to a year in advance. Backed by Bossa Invest, it targets sectors like agribusiness, energy, insurance, and logistics. 🇧🇷
Deals:
Visma will acquire Brazilian fintech Conta Azul for an estimated $330M, marking its entry into Brazil’s cloud ERP market for SMEs. 🇳🇴🇧🇷
QI Tech has raised $63M in a Series B led by General Atlantic and Across Capital, valuing the firm at over $2B. Funds will support acquisitions and expansion into custody, insurance, and a blockchain-based “global PIX” network ahead of a 2027 IPO. 🇧🇷
Patrick Sigrist’s IORQ, a smart credit platform in Brazil, has launched with R$35M in funding from top investors. Managing R$2.5B in credit, IORQ combines AI-driven automation with modular infrastructure to cut costs and risks in credit origination. 🇧🇷
NielsenIQ has acquired Brazilian SaaS leader Mtrix, adding real-time visibility into indirect distribution from 1.2M+ points of sale across Latin America. 🇧🇷
UBITS has acquired Mexican AI recruitment startup Valu to cut hiring times by 60% and improve retention across 14 countries. 🇨🇴🇲🇽
Radix Florestal has raised €1.5M from Ecosia to expand reforestation in the Amazon, aiming to restore 2,000 hectares by 2030 and sequester 21M tons of CO₂ by 2050. 🇧🇷🇩🇪
FIP Saúde, managed by Kortex Ventures and IKJ Capital, will invest at least R$200M in 20 Brazilian healthtechs, backed by BNDES, Finep, and Instituto Butantan. 🇧🇷
General News:
iFood unveiled three big moves: Turbo iFood, an ultrafast delivery service starting in São Paulo with orders from 10 minutes; Hits iFood, a curated menu of top-value dishes from R$15, rolling out to 14 more cities; and a credit card via iFood Pago to boost partner restaurant finances. 🇧🇷
Fintech funding in Latin America dropped 60% in H1 2025 to $735M, with Brazil capturing 60% of total investments and hosting 56% of the region’s startups. Early-stage deals remained resilient, taking half the total. Since 2014, digital services fintechs have led in capital raised ($5.5B), while credit tops by number of companies. 🇧🇷🇲🇽🇨🇴
Brazil’s Congress will debate Bill 4.501/2024 on Aug. 20, which would allow up to 5% of Brazil’s reserves in bitcoin, managed by the Central Bank to diversify assets and embrace the digital economy. 🇧🇷
Ibovespa rose 1.36% to 134,962 points, boosted by Itaú’s strong Q2 results and Petrobras gains ahead of earnings. Optimism over Fed easing and resilient corporate fundamentals supported the rally. 🇧🇷
Rocketbase & Galápagos Capital are launching a healthtech fund starting at R$50M, potentially growing to R$2B, to back startups from Rocketbase’s accelerator. 🇧🇷
Deals:
Creditop, a Colombian fintech offering instant POS credit without cards, raised $3.7M led by Collide Capital to expand into Central America and Peru. 🇨🇴
OpenAI is in early talks for a secondary sale valuing it at $500B, up from $300B, letting employees cash out ahead of a potential IPO. The company projects $20B in 2025 revenue. 🇺🇸
Stone secured $50M from BID Invest to expand credit for small businesses in Brazil’s Amazon region, with a focus on women entrepreneurs and underserved areas. 🇧🇷
FanBase, which builds digital fan engagement tools for sports clubs, raised $1M led by Domo.VC and OutField to expand into Colombia. 🇧🇷🇨🇴
Cocos fintech acquired Banco Voii for $20M, securing a banking license to expand its offering to over 1M users in Argentina. 🇦🇷
M3 Lending invested R$500K in AI startup Valence, aiming to integrate credit, data, and services into a full financial ecosystem. 🇧🇷
General news:
OpenAI launched GPT-5, promising smarter, safer responses with fewer hallucinations. Sam Altman likened it to talking to a PhD-level expert. 🇺🇸
Brazil’s Central Bank and banking federation are pushing for balanced AI regulation, favoring a UK-style model that blends innovation with risk controls. The AI bill, approved in the Senate, sets general rules and a national governance framework. 🇧🇷
Partners Group is bringing its flagship private equity fund to Brazil, offering local investors access to a global evergreen product with 10% annual USD returns. 🇧🇷🇨🇭
Zetta and the Brazilian Digital Credit Association joined self-regulation committees for credit portability and payroll loans, now covering 600+ financial institutions. 🇧🇷
Monnet Payments became the first Peruvian company to integrate Yape’s payments, enabling instant e-commerce payouts to 15M+ users and boosting inclusion. 🇵🇪
Lenovo’s Indaiatuba R&D lab is delivering AI and automation solutions, including PC assembly robots and predictive maintenance tools, now in talks with factories abroad. 🇧🇷🇨🇳
Brazil, Colombia, and Chile top LatAm in the 2025 Global Startup Ecosystem Index. Brazil ranks 27th globally, with São Paulo in the top 25 cities. 🇧🇷🇨🇴🇨🇱
General news:
GestãoDS, a Brazilian healthtech with 15K users and 4K clinics, is betting big on AI after a decade in medical management. CEO Marcelo Stangherlin will invest R$5M over two years — half in AI — to evolve its ERP platform. Bootstrapped and growing 40–50% annually, the company expects R$16M–R$17M in 2025 revenue. “Who doesn’t use AI will be left behind,” he says. 🇧🇷
Data-H AI built AutoGenesis, a system that monitors other AI tools and automatically creates new specialized models when gaps are found. Using Nvidia infrastructure, these self-evolving AI agents can run without human input, covering a wide range of services. 🇧🇷
TI Safe reports cyberattacks on Brazil surged 30% from July 8 through month-end, coinciding with Donald Trump’s 50% tariff announcement. Critical sectors like energy, oil, steel, sanitation, and government agencies were targeted, with the Supreme Court facing 750M+ intrusion attempts. 🇧🇷
Javier Milei will propose a strict fiscal rule banning monetary financing of primary spending in Argentina and criminalizing deficit-creating policies. Any new expense would need offsetting cuts to maintain a zero-deficit strategy. 🇦🇷
SoftBank shares jumped 13% to a record high after a Q1 profit beat, driven by a $30B commitment to OpenAI and leadership in a $500B U.S. data center project. Net profit hit ¥421.8B vs. a loss last year. 🇯🇵
Depay partnered with Airtm to enable QR code payments in Argentina and Brazil using Airtm’s dollar balances without conversion or cards. 🇦🇷🇧🇷
Shopper, a Brazilian online grocer, will launch 20-minute deliveries in São Paulo this October, aiming for R$2B revenue in 24 months. 🇧🇷
Deals:
Monato, a Mexican fintech, raised a $13M seed round led by Monashees and FinTech Collective to offer modular, API-first financial infrastructure. 🇲🇽
Meta acquired WaveForms, a generative AI voice startup founded by an ex-OpenAI researcher, to bolster its Superintelligence Labs. 🇺🇸
Descartes Systems Group bought U.S.-based Finale Inventory for $40M to expand its cloud-based inventory management offerings. 🇺🇸
Jusfy, a Brazilian lawtech, will launch a fintech for lawyers in September after a pre-Series A valuing it at $30M, offering credit, receivables advances, and payment cards. 🇧🇷
BR Angels will invest up to R$4.5M in healthtechs as part of its R$20M fund, targeting three scalable companies with U.S. structures and experienced founders. 🇧🇷
Finsus, a Mexican digital bank, acquired Anticipa’s technology to offer instant SME liquidity backed by future card sales. 🇲🇽
BlindPay, a Brazilian stablecoin payments startup, raised $3.3M from YouTube cofounder Jawed Karim, Bitso, and major VCs to expand cross-border services. 🇧🇷
Liquid, a Brazilian fintech, raised R$12M led by SaaSholic to automate real estate credit analysis with AI. 🇧🇷
Saf.money, a Guatemalan paytech, raised an undisclosed pre-seed from Fulgur Ventures and others to bridge traditional banking with Bitcoin and stablecoins. 🇬🇹
You will see below an updated list of events, including for the second half of the year. If I forgot your event, and you want to include it - please sure to send those my way asap!
Cubo Conecta 2025
Date: September 2025 (exact dates to be announced)
Location: São Paulo, SP
Description: Celebrating its 10th anniversary, Cubo Conecta is the flagship event of Cubo Itaú, bringing together thousands of entrepreneurs, investors, and innovation leaders from across Latin America. The event offers over 90 hours of content and facilitates more than 5,000 digital connections, highlighting the potential of the technology and innovation ecosystem in the region.
Brazil Climate Summit 2025
Date: September 13–14, 2025
Location: New York, NY, USA
Description: The Brazil Climate Summit focuses on Brazil's role in the global green transition, emphasizing the importance of private sector involvement and international capital to accelerate low-carbon businesses. The event gathers leaders from various sectors to discuss sustainable development strategies.
More infoGartner CIO & IT Executive Conference 2025
Date: September 22–24, 2025
Location: São Paulo, SP
Description: A gathering of CIOs and IT leaders to discuss digital transformation, organizational leadership, and innovation strategies across industries.
More infoMoney 20/20 USA 2025
Date: October 26–29, 2025
Location: Las Vegas, NV
Description: One of the world’s leading fintech and payments conferences, Money 20/20 gathers global leaders across banking, payments, tech, and startups to explore the future of money and financial services.
More infoWeb Summit Lisbon 2025
Date: November 10–13, 2025
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Description: One of the world’s most influential tech conferences, Web Summit Lisbon connects 70,000+ attendees from startups, enterprises, and media to discuss trends shaping the tech industry.
More infoBrazil Tech Summit 2025
Date: December 9, 2025
Location: São Paulo, SP
Description: Part of the Global Startup Ecosystem Series, Brazil Tech Summit brings together entrepreneurs, government leaders, and investors to foster tech-driven innovation across Latin America.
More info
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