Bloomberg Línea — This week, Brazilian startups in the cybersecurity and climate technology sector received investments this week. Data from Carta, a US platform for business property and asset management, shows that 2023 could be a poor year for startup investments. This year, 287 US companies that are part of the platform have been acquired, surpassing the total from 2019, even though Carta now has more companies on its platform than four years ago.
According to Carta, if this pace continues until the end of the year, there will be fewer acquisitions this year than in 2022. A year-over-year decline in mergers and acquisitions had not been recorded in Carta’s data in the last decade. However, in Brazil, some deals are taking place, such as the acquisition of Pismo by Visa for $1 billion, while Sinqia, to be purchased by Evertec, listed on the New York Stock Exchange for around $528.63 million.
According to Carta’s data, Series A is the most likely segment for acquisitions, followed by pre-seed stage purchases, which could be acquisitions solely for talent acquisition, absorbing the company’s structure, and seed-stage companies.
Carta states that around 30% of the companies acquired so far in 2023 have raised at least $25 million, above 2019 figures, but this may simply reflect the significant increase in average round sizes in the years following 2020, according to the platform.
However, it does not seem that acquisitions will be a viable exit path for many companies needing an exit in the next six months, according to Carta. The platform expects a steady increase in startup dissolutions and bankruptcies in the future.
One of the investment highlights of this week was Axur, a cybersecurity startup that received an undisclosed amount in series B funding from Igah Ventures.
These are the startups that raised funds in the last few days:
Axur
Axur, a Brazilian cybersecurity startup, received an undisclosed amount in Series B funding from Igah Ventures, one of the largest investments made by Igah and the since its partnership with Pátria Investimentos in December 2022. Centria Partners advised on the funding.
The startup offers an automated platform to combat threats such as fraudulent use of brands, data leaks, online piracy, and the exposure of executives’ personal information in social media, e-commerce, app stores, and the deep web. The company also removes infringing content from the Internet, such as fake profiles and websites. Founded in 2012 by Fábio Ramos, Axur had received a Series A investment from DGF Ventures in 2019.
Radix
Greentech company Radix received 1.3 million reais (around $274,000) from the Vale Fund, part of mining company Vale.
The Vale Fund and KTPL, a venture capital manager, launched an investment fund last year to take stakes in startups that have a positive impact in the area of forests and climate. The initiative foresaw investments of 200 million reais over the next five years.
Radix recovers degraded areas through sustainable forest planting and management. Since 2015, the company has been working with the monoculture of African mahogany. With the new investment, the company will switch to the mixed forestry system, which involves the planting of other types of trees and plants. According to the company, this will bring faster financial returns.
