Millicom plots regional push as AI trade wobbles and stablecoins go mainstream

Millicom plans to turn its Telefónica acquisitions into a regional platform with Colombia as a core bet.

CEO Marcelo Benítez told Bloomberg Línea that integrating the Movistar assets gives Tigo's parent the scale to fund infrastructure investment neither company could carry alone.

Telefónica's retreat is consolidating regional telecoms into fewer, better-capitalised operators.

Archimed agreed to acquire Genetica, a Brazilian provider of bio-based industrial wastewater treatment, biogas generation and crop protection.

Terms were not disclosed. The European private equity firm is taking a position in Brazil's industrial bioeconomy, where agro-industrial clients are seeking lower-cost effluent and energy solutions.

Imersa raised R$250,000 in a first angel round and is seeking at least R$500,000 more.

The Brazilian startup builds a sales copilot for B2B commercial teams and took the cheque, at a valuation of close to R$4m, from angel investor Flávio Szenkier, whose portfolio includes Tractian; R$100,000 is tied to performance milestones. The founders aim to close the remainder this year.

Tether invested in EFY Finance to accelerate institutional stablecoin usage across Latin America.

The amount was not disclosed; it extends Tether's pattern of funding regional on- and off-ramp infrastructure directly rather than through third-party distribution.

Damisa and PPRO partnered on stablecoin-powered cross-border payments, starting in Latin America.

PPRO uses Damisa's network to move funds across borders on the same day; the rollout that began in the region now extends to further markets, targeting merchants frustrated by correspondent-banking delays in LatAm corridors.

Incognia🇧🇷 Brazil

Incognia detailed a Brazilian fraud farm that grew from 8 to 159 devices accessing more than 11,150 accounts within months.

The Brazilian-founded location-intelligence company said apartment-level location analysis tied the devices to one physical operation that device-level signals alone would have missed, a useful reference for fraud risk in Brazilian digital banking.

Brazil leads the West in agentic commerce, with the share of consumers who have tried or would delegate purchases to AI agents rising from 39% to 72% in a year, according to Global Payments.

In the same edition, Brazilian telecom operator Salvy launched an MCP integration to position itself as the carrier for companies serving customers through AI agents, targeting its base of more than 10,000 business clients.

Latin American currencies recovered ground against the dollar as the Bloomberg Dollar Spot index fell 0.3%, while energy dominated the regional agenda.

Goldman Sachs laid out three oil-price scenarios for 2027, analysts flagged challenges for Ecopetrol's stock, Texas investors weighed in on Vaca Muerta, and Ecuador's government threatened to intervene in 20 companies over grid disconnection failures during blackouts. Bloomberg Línea also reported that regional M&A is cooling, with a rare-earths transaction providing relief.

Mastercard🇺🇸 United States

Mastercard and BVNK launched the Mastercard Global Money Platform, a single API for fiat and stablecoin accounts, conversion, stablecoin-linked cards and local payouts.

It is the first joint product since Mastercard acquired BVNK in August; payouts run on Mastercard Move, with Nuvei, Marqeta, Ontop, Beem and Almond FinTech among the first integrators.

For LatAm fintechs, stablecoin rails are becoming a scheme-level product rather than a crypto-native workaround.

BNY said Citadel Securities borrowed cash overnight against a tokenised US Treasury, the first such trade on a major triparty repo platform.

The two-year note was bought on Tradeweb, tokenised on BNY's private ledger and settled in minutes rather than T+1; BNY plans to add digital cash and tokenised deposits next.

Rain🇺🇸 United States

Rain put a wallet at the centre of its stablecoin card platform, eight days after filing with the OCC for a national trust bank charter.

The wallet holds USDC, USDT and other assets across 12 chains, pairs with a Rain-issued card and offers payouts to more than 80 countries; the read is that Rain is becoming an alternative card-issuing model built on TradFi licences with just enough stablecoin capability.

CirclePolicy🇪🇺 Europe🇺🇸 United States

Circle's USDC became the first e-money token classed as "significant" under MiCA, moving its supervision to the European Banking Authority from 12 November.

The EBA takes over capital, reserve and redemption oversight from France's ACPR. Citi's CEO meanwhile called tokenised deposits, now live in seven markets, the bank's most exciting area, while Wells Fargo called US stablecoin use cases unclear.

Polymarket🇺🇸 United States

Polymarket is weighing an IPO against launching its own token after a US$21bn valuation round, with Kalshi reportedly raising at US$40bn.

Polymarket's US exchange overtook its international venue in September, with US notional volume rising from US$87.9m in December 2025 to US$8.75bn, and recent hires of a former Amazon CFO and a former Goldman partner point towards public-market readiness.

RampRound🇺🇸 United States

Ramp raised US$1.85bn at a US$60bn valuation, led by Dragoneer Investment Group.

Thrive Capital, Founders Fund, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, D1, Greenoaks, Iconiq, GIC, General Catalyst, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed and Coatue were among the participants, underscoring how growth capital is concentrating in a few category leaders.

AnthropicMarkets🇺🇸 United States

Anthropic told prospective investors that Q3 revenue reached US$16.8bn, up 45% sequentially, and that it is profitable on an adjusted basis.

StrictlyVC reports some investors and prospective IPO buyers are now discussing a valuation around US$1.5tn, down from roughly US$2tn, because growth slowed sharply from the prior quarter.

CoreWeaveMarkets🇺🇸 United States

The AI stock rout accelerated as CoreWeave's bonds sold off to yields above 15% and derivatives priced a rising probability of default.

TSMC's upbeat forecast failed to lift sentiment and Treasuries rallied on haven demand; Russell Clark frames CoreWeave as a binary test between a deflationary tech spiral and an inflationary environment in which the bonds are a buy.

The debt financing of AI infrastructure is where stress is surfacing first.

Benchmark's partners acknowledged at TechCrunch Disrupt that the AI boom is straining venture's unwritten rule against backing direct rivals.

The comments follow the Factory and Cognition dispute, in which Khosla Ventures backs both companies; Benchmark said conflicts have become a matter of necessity as companies pivot, though exclusivity still matters at the earliest stage. Separately, Berkshire Hathaway invested US$330m in Bending Spoons, lifting its shares more than 41%.

Opaque SystemsM&A🇺🇸 United States

Anthropic acquired confidential-computing company Opaque Systems, and OpenAI is in early talks to buy security firm Trail of Bits.

Opaque, which lets AI run over sensitive data without exposing it, last raised a US$24m Series B at a US$300m valuation; terms were not disclosed. The read is that the security layer is shifting from vendor to owned asset for the leading labs.

Apple🇨🇳 China🇺🇸 United States

Apple is preparing to launch Apple Intelligence in mainland China in December as part of iOS 27.3, after a regulatory delay of more than a year.

The Chinese version incorporates Alibaba technology that works with the government to approve model updates; whether consumers adopt it remains open given the weak reception of Apple's AI features elsewhere.

Finance is entering its mod era.

Simon Taylor on why agents will remix financial products the way players modded Counter-Strike, and why know-your-agent will have to be linked to know-your-customer.

The blurry world of defence tech revenue.

Sifted's deep dive into bookings versus recognised revenue at Europe's hottest defence startups, and how VCs are parsing the hype.

How did Chime get US$31bn in savings?

A detailed look at the deposit paradox behind Chime's Stride Bank acquisition and the Durbin threshold.