Itaú Agrees to Buy AI Startup NeoSpace for R$2.925 Billion to Build Its Own Foundation Models

Itaú Unibanco, Latin America’s largest bank by assets, has signed an agreement to buy all of the shares of Brazilian artificial intelligence startup NeoSpace A.I. Technologies for R$2.925 billion, Reuters reported on October 26, citing a material fact notice from the bank. Part of the price will be paid at closing and the rest deferred over five years, subject to certain conditions. Completion requires prior approval from the antitrust regulator Cade and from the Central Bank.

Founded in 2023, NeoSpace develops large foundation models built on data, designed to identify complex patterns and relationships in very large datasets. It is no stranger to the bank: Itaú said NeoSpace has provided services for almost two years, training models that let it apply generative AI at scale in solutions for its businesses and clients, and Bloomberg Línea noted that Itaú led a US$18 million funding round in the startup in early 2025. The transaction is all cash, and NeoSpace will keep autonomous management and structure, with founder Bruno Pierobon staying on as chief executive.

Pierobon is a familiar name at Itaú. In 2019 the bank agreed to acquire Zup, another company he founded, which integrates newly built systems with legacy infrastructure. According to Bloomberg Línea, Itaú sees NeoSpace’s models as a way to personalise customer service, combining the startup’s technology with the bank’s know-how in financial services to develop models of its own.

What it means in practice

Buying a model builder outright is a different strategy from licensing tools or running pilots. Itaú has already used partnerships to test agents, as in the Batalha de Agentes it staged with Google, and rivals are moving too, from Banco do Brasil phasing in autonomy for its AI agents to the free Febraban finance assistant on WhatsApp. Owning the models gives Itaú control over the data it feeds them, which matters as the bank tries to analyse each customer’s risk with more information and keep single-product customers engaged in its unified app.

The next milestones are the reviews by Cade and the Central Bank and any detail on how much of the R$2.925 billion is paid upfront. For Brazil’s AI startup scene, the price sets a new benchmark for a local foundation-model company that is less than four years old.