Itaú Unibanco to acquire AI startup NeoSpace for 2.9 billion reais

Itaú Unibanco agreed to buy Brazilian AI startup NeoSpace A.I. Technologies in a transaction priced at 2.9 billion reais. Reports differ on the dollar conversion: The Paypers says $547 million, Retail Banker International says $589 million, and TradingKey puts it near $580 million. Part of the payment will be made at closing, and the rest will be spread over five years subject to conditions. TradingKey described the structure as all-cash. The deal still needs clearance from Brazil's competition regulator CADE and the Central Bank of Brazil.

NeoSpace, founded in 2023, develops foundational models that find patterns and complex links in large datasets. Those models are trained on Itaú's proprietary data and already support the bank's financial management, credit, customer relationship management and fraud prevention tools. The core mechanism is straightforward: the models learn from customers' transaction histories to predict which products or services they may need.

Itaú had been a NeoSpace customer and had led an $18 million investment in the company in early 2025. Chief executive Milton Maluhy said in an interview that the startup had been considering another funding round that Itaú could have joined, but the parties settled on a purchase instead. The company will retain its own management and structure, with Bruno Pierobon staying as chief executive and a team of about 80 researchers remaining in place.

Maluhy said Itaú was already an important client for NeoSpace, but the startup's workforce will now be fully dedicated to the bank, and all existing contracts will be honoured. Itaú said the combination will help it build specialised models for more personalised customer interactions and financial solutions. The bank also linked the deal to ia.i, its generative AI assistant.

The acquisition fits Itaú's broader technology push. In 2024, Itaú united several of its mobile apps into a single app as branch visits fell. CIO Ricardo Guerra said in an interview that people who use generative AI now expect the same level of service from their banks, and banks can no longer rely on ordinary technology.

Separately, Itaú shares opened down 22.13 percent on October 26 after Brazil's presidential election, according to TradingKey. TradingKey said the decline was due to political uncertainty, a weaker currency and capital outflows, not a deterioration in the bank's core operations. TradingKey reported that Itaú generated $30.79 billion in annual revenue and $8.02 billion in net profit.