Connect33 Newsletter | December 2024
4-minute read
Hi readers, we hope you had a wonderful holiday season.
Welcome to our December newsletter, our last edition of 2024. In this update, we recap a busy year by highlighting notable US tech investments, regional expansion, and top M&A deals.
A special thank you to our avid readers for helping grow this newsletter in 2024; we have now reached 150+ monthly readers from top technology companies and investment firms worldwide. We look forward to continuing to bring you our monthly updates in 2025. ¡Vámonos!
AI for IT Modernization: McKinsey’s latest AI report highlights how companies have barely scratched the surface when it comes to effectively applying gen AI to modernize legacy technology and reduce technical debt. Focusing on how to orchestrate gen AI agents on meaningful business technology opportunities is the only way companies will be able to cut back tech debt and enable their tech estate to drive innovation and value.
Our take: We previously highlighted GenAI’s influence on software engineering in Github’s survey and ISG’s report on Brazil’s GenAI adoption to improve application delivery speed. This report examines large organizations' ability to modernize their legacy IT systems more efficiently via GenAI. McKinsey estimates a 40–50% acceleration in tech modernization timelines and a 40% reduction in costs derived from technology debt while improving the quality of the outputs. While we are still in the first inning, we are excited to see the evolution of the software services industry regarding the adoption of Gen AI.
At the heart of virtually every large organization is a massive anchor slowing a business down: the tech debt found in legacy IT systems. Often built decades ago, these large systems form the technical backbone of companies and functions across almost every sector. As much as 70 percent of the software used by Fortune 500 companies was developed 20 or more years ago
Connect33 Year In Review: Our Year In Review recaps Connect33’s 2024 coverage of Latin America’s technology M&A deals and expansions by international companies. We’ve included some of our highlights below.
US Tech Investment: Large US tech players, including Google, Oracle, Crowdstrike, and Microsoft, continued to invest in cloud and AI infrastructure and data centers.
International Expansion: Consulting firms Slalom and Hitachi Vantara expanded into Latin America, along with US technology companies Braze, Addepar, C3 AI, Udemy, and others.
Mergers and Acquisitions: EPAM and Globant continued their buying spree, acquiring additional strategic players to bolster their Latin America operations. Sparq, TD Synnex, Grid Dynamics, Improving, Point B, Blend, and Fresh Consulting also joined in on the M&A action.
Slalom, the global business and technology consulting company, expanded into Colombia shortly after expanding into Mexico in Q3. (Contxto)
Prosus, a global technology company, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Despegar (NYSE: DESP), a leading Latin American OTA (Business Wire)
Bilendi, a European leader in technology, data and AI solutions for market research industry, acquired NielsenIQ, a leader in technology and market research in Iberia and Latin America. (EQ News)
Klar, a Mexican fintech, agreed to acquire Tribal, a B2B payments and financing platform. (Axios)
Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) and America Movil, two of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, announced the signing of a MoU to promote sustainability actions in the region. (Ericsson)
SLK Software, a global technology services firm announced its strategic investment in Greymatter Innovationz to expand its presence in Latin America. (SLK)
Mouts IT, a Brazil-based software development company, acquired Custom IT Sistemas, a Brazil-based firm specializing in agriculture, health, and logistics technology. (IPNews)
Transfero Group, a Swiss fintech specializing in blockchain-based infrastructure for banking and payments, acquired Fuse Capital, a Brazilian asset management firm specializing in blockchain technology and asset tokenization. (Valor Globo)
Advent, a leading global private equity investor, has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Siesa, the largest independent Colombian ERP provider. (Advent)
Selbetti Tecnologia, one of Brazil's largest IT solutions providers, acquired Eiti, a Brazilian company specializing in IT management, cloud solutions and consulting projects. (Amanha)
KEO, a fintech leader in B2B payment solutions based in Miami, FL, announced their expansion into Brazil via a partnership with BTG Pactual Bank. (Business Wire)
Connect33 is a consulting firm specializing in international expansion and software development services in Latin America. We provide clients with experience-based insights to successfully enter and scale in the region, saving them valuable time and resources.
Our team also supports companies in finding and hiring strategic software development partners in the region via our Latam Partners platform.
Additional stories we’re following
Globant 2025 Tech Trends Report (Globant)
Cisco AI Readiness, Mexico (Cisco)
Uruguay’s push as a haven for LatAm tech founders (FDI)
The Tech Ecosystem Powering Latin America’s Growth (Fast Company)
Uruguay payments provider DLocal explores sale (Reuters)
Sweating the small stuff could work for Argentina (FT)
Why Chinese EV Makers Are Expanding in Latin America (WSJ)
What US Tech Companies Should Consider When Outsourcing To Latin America (Forbes)
Connect33 Job Board
LatAm-focused roles at top tech companies.
Snowflake is hiring a Sales Development Representative
Semrush is hiring a Customer Success Manager
Ericsson is hiring an Account Manager
Udemy is hiring a Sales Development Representative (trilingual)
Kyndryl is hiring a Head of Microsoft Alliance
Actian is hiring a Director of Solutions Engineering
Ledger is hiring a Sales Lead
Niantic is hiring an Emerging Markets Manager
Finastra is hiring a Senior Sales Executive
Articulate is hiring a Channel Manager
Thanks for reading Connect33 Newsletter.