Here are the highlights on Brazil’s tech and business scene during October of 2017:
Oct 2
São Paulo has the largest Google Campus in the world, with 89 thousand members. According André Barrence, Head of Campus SP, Google campus size shows the strength of the startups ecosystem in Brazil.
Oct 2
SPRO IT Solutions made an investment in E-Aware Technologies, a startup of customized wireless sensors with applications in manufacturing and agribusiness. The amount of the contribution or the stake acquired was not disclosed.
Oct 4
Estoks, a company that provides reverse logistics services to industries and retailers, received a contribution from GVAngels, a group of angel investors formed by alumni of the Getúlio Vargas Foundation.
Oct 5
“Change the world? Yes, you can”. This was the topic of former President Obama’s address in São Paulo at the Forum Cidadão Global. He spoke with business leaders about education, inequality and said that “there won’t be political stability in a world where 1% controls the wealth”.
Oct 9
The City of São Paulo and IBM announced an agreement to develop innovative solutions for the health sector in the city of São Paulo in the next three years. IBM’s program will be able to support up to 300 selected startups to address current health system issues in the city that improve service to the population.
Oct 15
Brazil’s Itau Unibanco CEO readies for fintech battle. After weathering the country’s worst recession, Candido Bracher is looking to expand.
Oct 17
Vibbra, a Brazilian startup whose focus is the connection between tech professionals from different areas of the country with companies, received an undisclosed investment from Superjobs Venture Capital.
Oct 18
BayBrazil Founder & CEO Margarise Correa was featured on Brazil’s business magazine Época Negócios. She talked about how BayBrazil is promoting dialogue and unique connections among the Brazil-Silicon Valley tech community. She was in Sao Paulo to participate in various events and visit BayBrazil’s corporate members.
Oct 18
Fintech startup GuiaBolso raises US$39 million. The new round was led by Vostok Emerging Finance, a publicly traded Swedish fund with its roots in big Russian private equity. Additional investors include Ribbit Capital, the International Finance Corp. and QED Investors, while impact investment firms Endeavor Catalyst and the Omidyar Network also participated.
Oct 18
High-end Brazilian job recruitment marketplace Revelo raises US$ 4.6 million. Its latest round was led by Valor Capital, with participation from the online Australian recruiting company Seek. Previously called Contratado.me, the company raised a seed round in 2015 from Social Capital, Graph Ventures and angel investors.
Oct 19
Linx, a retail management software company, bought ShopBack, an e-commerce technology company, for a value that can reach US$ 56 million.
Oct 23
BNDES will launch two funds to capitalize on innovative companies – venture debt funds and angel investors. They will increase the list of nine existing funds in the bank, such as Criatec, for seed companies, and Funtec, with non-refundable support for applied research projects, tech development and innovation carried out by technological institutions.
Oct 24
Brazilian Startup Auctus raised R$ 1 million in ICO in Switzerland to fund the trial version of the pension fund platform. The platform works through blockchain and will be released in November.
Oct 27
Liv Up, a Brazilian frozen food delivery company, received R$ 5 million investment from KaszeK Ventures. In 2016, the company received an investment from investors Patrick Sigrist, Partner of Yellow Ventures & founder of iFood, and Guilherme Bonifácio, CEO of Rapiddo.
