Connect33 Newsletter, Q1 2024
3 minute read
Hi readers, welcome to our Connect33 Q1 newsletter covering Latin America technology trends, M&A, and expansions. In this edition, we look into McKinsey’s Technology M&A report and highlight a couple of notable acquisitions.
In some company news, we’re gearing up to launch our first product, LatAm Partners, a B2B marketplace for US companies to search, vet, and hire a strategic Latin American software development partner. Subscribe below or follow our LinkedIn page for updates. ¡Vámonos!
McKinsey Thoughtful M&A strategies: McKinsey’s report highlights mergers & acquisitions across tech, media, and telecommunications. Software drove 80 percent of all technology M&A activity in 2023, with total transaction value at $253Bn–down 60 percent from the previous year. The dominance has been consistent over the past decade, with both existing software companies and non-tech players using software M&A as a key growth mechanism.
Our take: As we kick off our M&A journey, we’ve engaged in conversations with the buyer-side (PE players) and the seller-side (dev shops), where we’ve noticed optimism after a rough 2023 cycle where deals were stagnant and many software firms conducted layoffs.
In addition, we’ve been closely monitoring activity in the region, including EPAM’s acquisition of Vates and, most recently, Sparq acquiring Uruguay’s Octobot–more below. Finally, this is a quick reminder to all the buyers: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” -Peter Drucker.
Accenture (NYSE: ACN), the leading global professional services company, is setting up generative AI studios in nine countries across Asia Pacific and Latin America to respond to growing client interest in the technology. (Accenture)
GFT Technologies, a digital transformation company, agreed to acquire 100% of shares in Colombia-based core banking expert Sophos Solutions S.A.S. to advance to one of the top 3 banking IT service providers across Latin America. (Business Wire)
Telstra, the Australian telecom company, has established a new dedicated PoP in Dallas, TX, taking the first step in extending its network capabilities into Latin America. (Business Wire)
Irisity, a Swedish software provider of AI and video analytics, is increasing its investments in Latin America, including building up its Mexico team. (BNAmericas)
Sparq, a leading US-based provider of outsourced digital engineering for technology-driven and Fortune 1000 companies, has acquired Octobot, a fast-growing nearshore digital engineering firm with team members across Uruguay, Argentina, and Colombia. (Sparq)
ACL, a technology solutions company based in Miami, announced the launch of DevelopersLATAM. (Yahoo Finance)
Similarweb (NYSE: SMWB) announced the acquisition of Admetricks, a powerful ad intelligence software creator based in Santiago, Chile. (Business Wire)
Nayax Ltd. (Nasdaq: NYAX), a leading global commerce enablement, payments, and loyalty platform designed to help merchants scale their business, has today announced a definitive agreement to acquire VMtecnologia, a leading technology provider for the automated self-service industry in Brazil. (GlobeNewswire)
Tivit, a Brazilian company providing private cloud services, announced a $60mn investment to improve and modernize the private cloud offering. The company has plans to expand operations in Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico. (BNAmericas)
Epam Systems (NYSE: EPAM), a digital transformation services and product engineering company, announced its acquisition of Vates S.A., a software development company with offices in Argentina and Chile. (EPAM)
Amazon Business (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced the expansion of its B2B procurement services to Mexico, marking its 10th market where the service is available. (PYMNTS)
Additional Reads:
How US. Companies Can Gain A Competitive Edge Leveraging LatAm Talent (Crunchbase News)
Cash-Rich VC Firms Eye New Investments in Latin American Startups (Bloomberg)
Amazon to Offer Buy Now, Pay Later in Mexico via Fintech Kueski (Bloomberg)
Latin American Startup Funding Fell Again in 2023 (Crunchbase News)
In A Latin American VC Winter, 6 Reasons For Optimism (Crunchbase News)
U.S. Tech Giants Turn to Mexico to Make AI Gear, Spurning China (WSJ)
Is This the Silicon Valley of Latin America? (NYT)
Stellantis announces major investment plan for Latin America (Reuters)
Job Board
LatAm-focused roles at US tech companies.
Amazon is hiring an AWS Field Enablement Lead
Gitlab is hiring a Customer Success Manager
Contentful is hiring a Business Development Representative
Okta is hiring an SDR & Sr. Commercial Account Executive, Mexico
Semrush is hiring an Enterprise Account Executive
MaintainX is hiring an Account Executive
Gigster is hiring an AI Industry Specialist
TaskHuman is hiring a Head of Sales
Veeam Software is hiring a Renewals Manager, Portuguese
Synapse is hiring a Sales Manager
Intercom is hiring an Account Executive, Sr. Mid-Market
Atlassian is hiring an Enterprise Account Executive, Portuguese
Dataiku is hiring a Senior Sales Engineer
Miro is hiring an SDR
ClickUp is hiring an Enterprise Account Executive
Wise is hiring a Customer Support Team Lead
WorkRamp is hiring a Sr. Fullstack Engineer
Illumio is hiring a Field Marketing Manager, LATAM
TikTok is hiring a Language Manager, Spanish
Thanks for reading Connect33 Quarterly