INFOGRAPHIC: LATAM's Top Weekly Startup Funding—Week 25, 2025

It was a strong week for Latin America’s startup ecosystem, with fintechs, payments platforms, and foodtech startups from Brazil and Mexico raising significant capital to expand operations, enhance product offerings, and embrace emerging technologies like AI and crypto.

In Brazil, financial technology company CloudWalk secured the region’s largest raise of the year with a $572 million FIDC, its tenth fund of this kind and the biggest operation of its type in Brazil in 2025. Led by Itaú BBA, alongside Banco do Brasil BI, J. Safra, Bradesco BBI, and BTG, the fund will help scale CloudWalk’s InfinitePay platform, which allows over 4 million entrepreneurs to anticipate credit card receivables. The São Paulo-based fintech, which grew revenue by 67% to R$2.7 billion in 2024, says half of its income now comes from products launched in the last two years, including instant payment solutions and smartphone-based Tap to Pay terminals.

Fellow Brazilian fintech Meliuz followed with a $32.7 million raise through a follow-on stock offering booked by investment bank BTG Pactual. The company, known for its cashback and loyalty products, is taking a bold step into crypto by allocating its new funds toward buying bitcoin. Calling itself “the first bitcoin treasury company” in Brazil, Meliuz said the move reflects a new strategy to use digital assets as part of its cash reserve management.

Cross-border payments startup Frente, also based in Brazil, raised $5.5 million in a Series A round led by Magma Partners, which marked the VC’s first entry into Brazil’s financial sector. Frente specialises in streamlining foreign exchange transactions for businesses and individuals moving money into and out of the country. The investment will support its global expansion and help scale Comm.Pix, its cross-border Pix solution for Brazilians abroad. Frente reported handling more than $2 billion in transactions in 2024, driven by partnerships with companies such as PicPay, MoneyGram, and Smiles, and the consolidation of its units FrenteTech, Frente USA, and Simple.

Another notable Brazilian company, Future Cow, raised $4.9 million in a mix of equity and grant funding to develop its animal-free milk product made using precision fermentation. The São Paulo-based foodtech secured backing from investors including Big Idea Ventures, Antler, and Captable, with additional public research support from FAPESP and Embrapii. The funding will accelerate the startup’s path to commercial-scale production by 2026 and support the licensing of its sustainable, lab-grown dairy technology to larger food manufacturers.

In Mexico, fintech startup Lounn closed a $1 million pre-seed round led by Kolab Ventures and Canadian venture studio Highline Beta. Focused on streamlining access to credit for small and medium-sized businesses, Lounn operates a digital marketplace where companies can apply for financing and receive automated assessments. While loan disbursements are currently managed off-platform, the company is working toward a fully digital and AI-driven lending solution. With Mexico’s SME financing market projected to reach $4.1 billion by 2028, Lounn aims to become a key player by automating credit evaluation and improving financial decision-making for underserved businesses.

These recent rounds reflect growing momentum in Latin America’s fintech and tech-driven sectors, where startups are not just solving local challenges but also setting the pace for global innovation across finance, crypto, cross-border payments, and sustainable food production.