O Itaú quer ser um ChatGPT financeiro. Este M&A é um passo importante

In October 2019, Itaú acquired the digital transformation startup Zup for R$ 500 million. Now, seven years later, the bank is repeating the same strategy, but with a larger check and a more significant challenge. This time, the target is NeoSpace, a Brazilian startup that develops foundational artificial intelligence models, for which Itaú paid nearly R$ 3 billion. The plan is to boost the bank's AI investments, aiming to transform Itaú into a kind of "financial ChatGPT," according to CIO Ricardo Guerra.

The two startups were both founded by the same entrepreneur, Bruno Pierobon, a self-taught programmer who began coding at 13 to help his father's internet provider, which was acquired by Algar. Pierobon founded NeoSpace in 2023 with Felipe Almeida and Gustavo Debs after working at Itaú for several years post-Zup's sale. When founding NeoSpace, Pierobon's motivation was not to work with prompts or engineering but to build a functional model and understand the mathematics behind it, according to Pierobon.

In January 2025, Itaú had already made a minority investment of US$ 15 million in NeoSpace at a valuation of around US$ 100 million. This valuation has now more than doubled, with the transaction occurring at a multiple of about 10 times revenue, based on NeoSpace's estimated R$ 300 million in annual revenue. The reasoning behind the investment is not based on the company's performance but rather on the strategic value of having an advanced AI model within Itaú and the potential to attract talent.

Guerra stated that as AI grows, people are increasingly using generalist models like ChatGPT and Gemini to chat about finances, ask investment questions, and manage their money better. "We believe Itaú could be this financial ChatGPT. Not on the scale of GPT, of course, but we have more information about people's financial habits than generic engines," he explained.

"We know what people buy, how they spend, invest, plan financially, and what they borrow. We have 100 years of knowledge about financial products' workings, which is far greater than the information fed into generic models."

The bank's plan is to use NeoSpace's technology to create increasingly better and more accurate interactions with its customers. "I think it won't be long before using a mobile app with a menu won't make sense anymore. People will want to interact by conversing with the bank, and we need a model that can deliver that," Guerra said.

In June, Itaú already launched ia.i, a chat-like interaction within the app that allows customers to ask questions about their money. However, this chat is still young and doesn't know all of the bank's products or client information, according to Guerra. "We're populating it with information, but this is challenging because much of the knowledge is in the heads of employees.

We need to interview people, compile their knowledge, and turn it into digital form. It will also learn from interactions with customers."

Pierobon joined Itaú as a client two years ago, but decided to buy the entire business "when we realized that mastering this technology will become core to our work." The bank had been working with NeoSpace for two years as a client but chose to purchase the entire operation "because mastering this technology will become core to our work," the CIO emphasized.

"If the scenario I described becomes reality, this could become the main way the bank interacts with its customers. So this has to be strategic knowledge for the company, which we must master. We can't rely on third parties." Before closing the deal with Itaú, NeoSpace was negotiating a US$ 250 million round with international funds at a significantly higher valuation than the current transaction.

Pierobon chose the sale route because he already knows Itaú well and because few companies in the world invest in frontier technology like the bank. "With Itaú, I understand we can lead AI research, impacting millions of people, and without the impact of international expansion on my personal life," Pierobon said. "I can do what I love to do in the environment I love to work in."

NeoSpace had four angel investors in its cap table: Martin Escobari from General Atlantic, Micky Malka from Ribbit Capital, Nigel Morris from QED, and Hans Morris from NYCA Partners.