Connect33 Newsletter | January 2025
2-minute read
Hi readers,
Welcome to our first edition of 2025, covering Latin American technology trends, expansion, and M&A. This month, Salesforce, Slalom, and Coinbase made big announcements, highlighting a busy first month of the year.
In Connect33 news, we’re excited to welcome a new advisor to our team, whom we previously featured in our Scaling Engineering Teams in LatAm series, more on that below. ¡Vámonos!
Trump 2.0 toll on LatAm’s software, IT exports: The unpredictability of Donald Trump’s policies at the start of his second term as US president, with tariff threats as a major saber-rattling tool, is putting markets on edge–and Latin America’s technology and software services export sector is no exception. While it is still unknown as to what extent the IT services segment could be affected, a greater protectionist take under Trump's emboldened “Made in America” push is leading LatAm companies to buckle up.
Our take: With Latin America's software services sector revenue expected to reach US$19.54bn by 2025 (Statista), we are confident the sector will be exempt from any new taxes in the near term. Taxing these software firms would hurt many US companies with strategic partners in the region, potentially slowing technological innovation in the US, which would be detrimental to all the parties involved.
In the end, economic uncertainty is a challenge many industries face with the new administration, and adaptability is key to succeeding in the business world. Technology companies are well-suited to adapt to new regulations and/or taxes the industry may face during the next four years.
Slalom, the global business and technology consulting company, announced plans to hire 500 professionals across its new offices in Mexico and Colombia. (Consultancy)
TMF Group, a leading global PEO service provider, announced the acquisition of RSM Brasil, which specializes in accounting, tax, and payroll services. (TMF Group)
Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the world’s #1 AI CRM, announced plans to invest US $500 million USD in Argentina over the next five years. The company pledges to invest in workforce development, AI innovation, and the digital transformation of the public sector. (Salesforce)
Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN), the cryptocurrency exchange platform, received regulatory approval to launch in Argentina, where 5 million Argentinians use crypto daily. (Coinbase)
Airwallex, a global financial platform for modern businesses, announced its expansion into Brazil and Mexico. (Business Wire)
Vtex (NYSE: VTEX), the Brazilian e-commerce solutions provider, acquired local retail media platform Newtail for an undisclosed sum to grow in the digital ad segment. (BNAmericas)
Paypal Ventures, led a Series B investment in Olé Life, a leading Latin American insurtech company. (Paypal)
Wise, the London-listed fintech, is furthering its expansion into Latin America by launching its cross-border payment services in Mexico. (Forbes)
Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU), Latin America’s most valuable fintech, is considering moving its legal domicile to Britan ahead of a global expansion. (Reuters)
RT-One, an American company, announced a $1.2 billion USD AI datacenter investment in Brazil’s Paraná region. (Rio TImes)
Sunlight Solutions, a provider of cloud-based insurance software, announced its expansion into Latin America. (GlobeNewswire)
Gorilla Technology (NASDAQ: GRRR), a global solution provider in Security Intelligence, Network Intelligence, Business Intelligence, and IoT technology, announced a collaboration with the city of Santa Marta, Colombia, to develop it into an AI-powered smart city. (Gorilla)
Globant Ventures, the VC arm of Argentine-based tech consultancy Globant (NYSE: GLOB), made a strategic investment in the AI-powered marketing automation platform Connectly. (BNAmericas)
Equinix (NASDAQ: IQIX), the world's digital infrastructure company, announced the opening of its third data center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (BNAmericas)
Tether, the cryptocurrency firm, plans to move its headquarters to El Salvador, as the founders of the world's biggest stablecoin look to capitalize on the Central American country's bid to become a hub for crypto trading. (Reuters)
dLocal (NASDAQ: DLO), the Uruguayan payments firm, has secured a U.K. payment institution license, adding to the company’s growing portfolio of regulatory authorizations as it furthers global expansion. (CNBC)
We are excited to start the new year by welcoming Carlos Quirarte as our newest Connect33 advisor. With over 13 years of experience building teams from the ground up to more than 1,000 employees and $50 million in revenue, Carlos has a proven track record of assisting international companies, including Ooyala, EPAM, and C3 AI, in expanding into new LATAM markets. Welcome, Carlos!
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 teams 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
Data center companies investing in Brazil (Reuters)
LatAm’s consolidating IT consulting & services market (BNAmericas)
How Latin America is changing the tech workforce (Entrepreneur)
Brazil’s Nubank partners with convenience store Oxxo to expand in Mexico (Reuters)
Latin America Startup Funding Ticked Higher in 2024 (Crunchbase)
Latin America’s newcomers to the data center arena (BNAmericas)
Connect33 Job Board
LatAm-focused roles at top tech companies.
Adobe is hiring an Enterprise Platform, Account Executive
Airbnb is hiring a Senior Sales Operations Manager
Actian is hiring a Sales Development Representative
PriceLabs is hiring a Solutions Consultant
Zoom is hiring a LATAM Business Development Representative
New Relic is hiring a Senior Partner Sales Manager
Algolia is hiring a Renewals Account Executive
Okta is hiring a Senior Commercial Account Executive
Everest is hiring a Head of Claims
Spacex is hiring a Senior Tax Analyst
Mintel is hiring a Junior Account Manager
Intercom is hiring a Account Executive Midmarket
UiPath is hiring a Business Development Representative
Udemy is hiring a Sales Development Representative