Connect33 Newsletter | May 2025
Databricks invests in Costa Rica, Amazon expands in Chile, and OpenAI hosts its first event in LatAm.
Hi readers, welcome to our May edition covering Latin American technology trends, expansion, and M&A. This month, Databricks makes a big investment in Costa Rica, Amazon expands in Chile, and OpenAI hosts its first event in the region.
In Connect33 news, we’ll be releasing our latest Scaling Engineering Teams in LatAm series next week with Carlos Quirarte, Connect33 Advisor, who previously scaled EPAM and C3AI’s LATAM engineering teams. Lastly, our client Braze is hosting their inaugural Ignite São Paulo event next week in their new Brazilian office. Software engineers in SP interested in attending, get in touch!
Vámonos!
GenAI Uptake is Unprecedented: Bain’s latest survey shows generative AI is now a business staple, with 95% of companies in the US using it, up 12 percentage points in just over a year. The report also shows that while software code development remains the top use case domain, IT is seeing the fastest growth. Unsurprisingly, most use cases focus on improving productivity and reducing costs, but many also focus on top-line growth.
Our take: We covered Bain’s GenAI adoption report in our September update, focusing on improving software development efficiency. A short 8 months later, software code development sits at 68% adoption with a massive 26 percentage-point jump since October 2023 while IT follows closely at 60% adoption with an even bigger 28 percentage-point surge. This report suggests organizations are not just using AI for improving code anymore, they’re systematically integrating it across their entire technology stack and operations. Technology teams aren't just early adopters anymore, they're the execution engine driving enterprise AI transformation. Buckle up!
AI Summit Mexico: OpenAI hosted its inaugural AI Summit to discuss the impact of AI in Mexico and reinforce its commitment to the country’s startup ecosystem. Most notably, OpenAI highlighted that these startups’ ability to scale without a proportional increase in headcount is one of the most significant changes introduced by AI. The result is reduced operating costs, increased organizational agility, and accelerated development and product-launch cycles. You can watch the whole event here–OpenAI’s pitch begins at the 46-minute mark.
Our take: It is encouraging to see OpenAI hosting an event in Mexico this early in the company’s expansion journey. We believe the use of AI in the startup ecosystem will not only lead to the creation of many new companies but also help bring Mexican enterprises, such as the ones mentioned by the OpenAI team (BBVA and Kavak), closer to the technology when they begin to see successful use cases within the startup ecosystem. The fact that one of the most important technology companies in the world is investing in Mexico this early is an encouraging sign and one all Latin American business leaders should be excited about.
Databricks, the data and AI company, announced a new office expansion in Costa Rica, deepening investment in Latin America. (PR Newswire)
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN), the cloud computing giant, plans to invest $4 billion in Chile to launch an AWS infrastructure region. (TechCrunch)
ByteDance, the Chinese technology company responsible for TikTok, is weighing a data center project in Brazil. (Reuters)
Tricentis, the software testing company, expanded to Latin America to accelerate advancements in AI-powered software testing. (Business Wire)
Worldpay, the global payments technology company, expanded its LatAm presence with the Colombia expansion for domestic payment processing. (Business Wire)
Tivit, the IT services company, opened Latin America's largest cybersecurity detection and management operations center. (BNAmericas)
Revelo, a Brazil-based AI-powered platform helping US businesses find, hire, and manage software developers in Latin America, announces the acquisitions of Paretisa and Alto, two players specialized in recruiting Latin American developers. (PR Newswire)
Visma, aNordic provider of business software across Europe and Latin America acquired Rindegastos, a Chile-based provider of expense management solutions for businesses of all sizes. (Visma)
Visma, a Nordic software company, acquires Argentinian AI startup Lara to expand its Latin American presence. (Visma)
Softplan, a Brazilian software company, acquired Oystr, a local legal tech company specialized in automation. (Softplan)
Clara, a Mexican corporate spending management firm, raised an additional $80M in funding from investors as it seeks to bolster its operations in Brazil, led by Citi and KASZEK. (Bloomberg)
Conviso, the Brazilian information technology company that develops security software acquires Site Blindado, a Brazil-based cybersecurity services company for ecommerce firms. (Conviso)
Ricoh, the Japanese office equipment provider acquires Go2neXt, a Brazilian company specialized in IT infrastructure and cloud solutions. (Ricoh)
Sankhya, the Brazilian ERP software developer, announces the acquisition of Flowbiz, a Brazil-based digital marketing and automation company. (Flowbiz)
Izertis, the Spanish technology consulting company, strengthened its position in LatAm by acquiring 50% of the Central American group Coderland. (Izertis)
JumpCloud, a US cloud-based directory platform provider, announced the acquisition of VaultOne, a Brazilian cybersecurity company. (Jumpcloud)
Connect33 is a consulting firm specializing in expansion and engineering team building across Latin America. With strong experience across the region, we help companies scale efficiently by providing experience-based insights and services with our team of on-the-ground experts.
Our list of companies we’ve scaled with include mid-to-large enterprises, including Atrium, Bain, Braze, EPAM, phdata, Tekton, and more. Learn more at connect33.io
Additional stories we’re following
Smarter Engineers, Not Fewer: The Age of AI-Augmented Develoment (Forbes)
Globant Q1 2025 Letter to Shareholders (Globant)
Here are Latin America’s biggest startups based on valuation (TechCrunch)
Google elects Mexico as its Center of Excellence for Engineering (Wired Español)
Argentina hopes to attract Big Tech with nuclear-powered AI data centers (ROW)
Mexico’s Fintech Boom Needs Help from the Government (Bloomberg)
KKR acquires German IT firm Datagroup for around $500 million (Reuters)
LatAm-focused roles at top tech companies.
Canva is hiring a Senior Product Manager, LATAM
Spotify is hiring a Business Strategy & Operations Manager
Gitlab is hiring a Customer Success Manager - Brazil
Gitlab is hiring a LATAM Strategic Account Executive
DataSnipper is hiring a Customer Success Manager
Datadog is hiring a Manager, Commercial Sales
Smarsh is hiring a Latin America Partner Manager
Atlan is hiring an Enterprise Customer Success Manager - LATAM