LatAm ICT financing, investment watch

US-based digital asset mining firm Arthur Mining, which operates in various markets in Latin America including Brazil, is in advanced talks to conclude a Series A financing round with investors, CEO Rudá Pellini told BNamericas.

In September, the group, founded in 2021, raised US$2mn in a seed round led by Brazilian VC firms Green Rock and Fuse Capital. The company also aims to go public by 2023 through a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC).

Arthur Mining said it uses flare/wasted and stranded undervalued gas from the oil and gas industry as a power generation source for its mobile bitcoin mining facilities in a low-cost structure.  

The company claims that the process, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from gas flaring and venting activities, results in an efficient, profitable and carbon-offsetting mining operation. 

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Brazilian ERP company Sankhya invested an undisclosed amount in PontoTel, a provider of electronic access and workforce time management control, to expand its human capital management (HCM) portfolio.

This was Sankhya's second investment following a 425mn-real (US$90.6mn) financing received from Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC. The first was the acquisition of Neppo Tecnologia last November, a provider of AI-powered omnichannel communication solutions.

“With this initiative, we complement our portfolio by creating an ecosystem of solutions for HR in Brazil, fully integrated with our ERP in the cloud, and which brings more transparency and visibility to the time management of employees,” Sankhya CEO Felipe Calixto said in a statement.

Sanhya, which reports 16,000 ERP users in Brazil, said it expects to carry out at least six new M&A deals this year.

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The Brazilian technology sector recorded 169 M&A transactions in the first quarter of the year, considering closed deals announced, five more than in the same period of 2021, according to data from Transactional Track Record (TTR).

Values were disclosed for around 50% of the deals, reaching a total of 5.5bn reais, said TTR.

The largest transaction carried out in the period was the sale of Merchant e-Solutions by Cielo USA, a subsidiary of Brazil's Cielo, to Sam I Acquisition Corp, a subsidiary of Integrum Holdings.

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China’s Huawei this week launched its startup accelerator Huawei Spark Program in Chile, further expanding the initiative in Latin America.

The program seeks to support businesses dedicated to technological ventures at different stages of growth.

Huawei is targeting mostly startups devoted to artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI and ML), software as a service (Saas), 5G, edge computing and analytics solutions.

Selected companies will receive mentoring and a loan to hire services in Huawei Cloud, ranging from US$2,000 to US$100,000. The Spark Program is already active in Latin America in countries including Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.

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Colombian-based fintech Leal raised a US$10mn Series A round co-led by Rakuten Group (through its investment arm Rakuten Capital) and IDC Ventures to expand in Latin America, the company said in a statement.

As a first stop, the company will launch its co-branded credit card and scale its operation in Mexico. 

Leal also plans to grow its rewards program, digital wallet, payment ecosystem, user base, merchant network and Leal Coins throughout Colombia and Central America.

The Series A funds will also be used to expand the company’s financial ecosystem portfolio beyond cashback, Leal said.

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Chilean startup accelerator Aster is launching a new call to select startups focused on solutions that promote the development or contribute to the diversification of strategic industries in the Antofagasta region.

The focus is on initiatives related to mining, renewable energies, water resources, logistics, tourism and astronomy.

The companies selected will obtain free support for their business model, growth, sales and user experience, among aspects.

Submissions will open on April 7 and run until May 8. This is the second call launched by Aster since its launch in September 2021.