Agtech ProfilePrint from Singapore enters Latin America

Singapore file agtech Which uses artificial intelligence, betting on Latin American producers.

Founded in 2017, the company has just signed agreements with the Guatemalan association Anacafé, which represents 5,000 coffee growers; with Honduran producers and Brazilian coffee traders, its founder, Alan Lai, told BNamericas.

ProfilePrint uses a predictive and didactic food ingredient analytics platform based on unique AI technology that aggregates correlative parameters and sensory data into a single fingerprint.

In this way, the company claims to be able to predict in seconds the quality and profile of a food sample, such as a coffee bean.

“If we think of the largest exporter and producer of coffee in the world, it is Brazil. So Brazil was an obvious target for us. Not only for coffee but also for sugar, grain and soil.”

The executive added that the company is also drilling in Colombia and Argentina.

the start Backed by international venture capital funds, the Singapore government and investors, including marketers goods Cargill, Louis Dreyfus, Olam, Switzerland’s Sucafina, and Sinar Mas, who also use this technology.

The company claims to have implemented its solution in more than 40 locations around the world, on different continents.

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Brazil Desktop has completed the acquisition of 70% of internet service provider Fasternet for 209 million reais (US$40.2 million), the first company said in a statement.

The deal was announced in 2022. Of the total value, Desktop paid 75 million riyals in cash, with another 25 million riyals due in January 2024.

Another 88.1 million riyals will be paid in five installments after the first year of the deal, and 21 million will be paid after the fifth year of the agreement, according to the company.

Fasternet provides fiber broadband internet services to 160,000 subscribers in the state of São Paulo and has operations in Tatuí, Cerquilho, Boituva, Amparo, Rio Claro, Itu and 30 other cities within the state.

According to Desktop, Fasternet is expected to end 2022 with a net revenue of RO 116 million.

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financial framework, start which provides loans and other services to small and medium-sized exporters in Latin America, has received a US$200 million line of credit to grow its trade finance business.

The line was led by MidCap Financial and global asset-based credit specialist Castlelake. Marco also announced a $8.2 million equity raise led by Arcadia Funds.

The company plans to use the proceeds to support the growth of its customer base and the expansion of its trade finance and business services platform.

Marco intends to fund US$750 million by the end of 2023 and focus on target sectors in the US and throughout Latin America, specifically in Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru.

Founded in 2020 by Peter Spradling and Jacob Schweet, Marco is headquartered in Miami with offices in New York and Montevideo.

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the start Chilean HR-focused software company Rankmi has merged with Mexican counterpart Osmos in a US$48 million deal following the Series A investment the former received from Softbank.

The fundraiser marks the return of Softbank’s Latin America Fund, after suffering losses and underperforming stocks in the past two years.

The merger with Osmos adds 1,200 customers to Rankmi’s portfolio, which now stands at 1,500 companies.

Founded in 2015 in Santiago, Rankmi targets markets like Brazil or even the United States.

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The information technology sector recorded the creation of 41,353 companies last year in Brazil, 88% of which were micro-enterprises. In the same period, 15,876 IT companies closed, and the net balance amounted to 25,477 new companies.

The data corresponds to regional B2B sales intelligence firm Cortex’s B2B Panorama report and is based on corporate taxpayer history.

The vast majority of IT companies, about 10,000, are established in São Paulo, followed by Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, and Brasilia.

According to Cortex, 237,000 IT companies have been founded nationwide, a number that places the sector as the 16th largest by number of companies.