--- url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/latam-pre-seed-weekly-funding-roundup-week-3-march-2026' title: 'LatAm Pre-Seed Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 14-21, 2026): $2.3M Raised Across 2 Deals' author: name: Sagar Agrawal url: 'https://qubit.capital/blog/author/sagar' date: '2026-03-21T06:19:42+05:30' modified: '2026-03-21T18:54:43+05:30' type: post summary: Two Brazilian pre-seed deals raised $2.3M this week — Huna's AI cancer detection from routine blood tests and Guarda's parametric climate insurance for agribusiness. categories: - Weekly Funding Roundup image: 'https://qubit.capital/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/featured-latam-pre-seed-64454.webp' published: true --- # LatAm Pre-Seed Weekly Funding Roundup (Mar 14-21, 2026): $2.3M Raised Across 2 Deals Latin America’s pre-seed landscape this week centers on Brazil, where two startups raised a combined $2.3M tackling problems that define the region’s most pressing needs — healthcare access and climate-resilient agriculture. Both deals reflect a maturing LatAm venture ecosystem increasingly comfortable backing deep-tech solutions with clear paths to population-scale impact. The common thread is unmistakable: founders are building technology that works within existing infrastructure rather than demanding new behavior. A routine blood test becomes a cancer screening tool. A satellite weather index replaces a field inspector. In a region where 80% of women skip mammograms and 80% of farmland goes uninsured, these aren’t incremental improvements — they’re structural unlocks. Weekly Funding Roundup MAR 14-21, 2026 $6M TOTAL RAISED 2DEALS CLOSED 100%PRE-SEED $3MAVG DEAL SIZE LATAMTOP REGION BY STAGE Pre-Seed$6M100% BY SECTOR GuardaFintech / Insurtech / Agtech$4.5M HunaHealthtech — AI-powered cancer diagnostics$1.5M Table of Contents - [1. Huna Raises $1.5M For AI Cancer Detection From Routine Blood Tests](#1-huna-raises-$1-5m-for-ai-cancer-detection-from-routine-blood-tests) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision) - [Market Context](#market-context) - [2. Guarda Raises $806K For Parametric Climate Insurance In Agriculture](#2-guarda-raises-$806k-for-parametric-climate-insurance-in-agriculture) [Deal Overview](#deal-overview-1) - [Investor Profile](#investor-profile-1) - [Company and Leadership](#company-and-leadership-1) - [Problem and Opportunity](#problem-and-opportunity-1) - [Product and Technology](#product-and-technology-1) - [Use of Proceeds and Vision](#use-of-proceeds-and-vision-1) - [Market Context](#market-context-1) - [Lessons For Founders](#lessons-for-founders) ## 1. Huna Raises $1.5M For AI Cancer Detection From Routine Blood Tests ### Deal Overview - **Stage:** Pre-Seed - **Sector:** Healthtech — AI-powered cancer diagnostics - **Geography:** Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - **Round Size:** $1.5M - **Total Funding:** ~$2.35–2.5M across multiple rounds ### Investor Profile The round was backed by Kortex Ventures, big_bets, Niu Ventures, and New Ventures Capital. This investor mix brings a blend of LatAm healthtech domain expertise and early-stage capital suited to the company’s research-intensive trajectory. The backing signals confidence in Huna’s scientific foundation at a stage where most diagnostics startups struggle to attract institutional interest. ### Company and Leadership [Huna](https://www.huna.health) was founded in 2022 by Vinicius Ribeiro, Daniella Castro, and Marco Kohara. The founding team’s scientific credibility is unusually strong for a pre-seed company — a study co-authored by Huna’s founders was published in Nature in May 2024 and ranked among the journal’s top 100 most-read articles. The company is a Google for Startups alumnus and MIT Solve challenge selectee. ### Problem and Opportunity In Brazil, 80% of women of screening age skip mammograms. Across Latin America, cancer is often detected at advanced stages because existing screening methods — imaging, biopsies, genomic tests — are expensive, inaccessible, or require patients to seek them out proactively. The result is millions of preventable deaths in populations that already interact with healthcare systems through basic bloodwork but never receive the diagnostic signal that could save their lives. ### Product and Technology Huna uses AI to analyze routine Complete Blood Count (CBC) tests — the most common and lowest-cost blood exam in the world — to assess cancer risk and enable early detection. The platform identifies patterns in standard blood results that are predictive of cancer, requiring no expensive genomics or imaging. Initially focused on breast cancer, where it identified up to 2x more cases in a cohort of approximately 400,000 patients, Huna has expanded to cervical and colorectal cancers. The company’s proprietary dataset of over 5 million unique patient records spanning nearly two decades of clinical history represents one of the largest cancer-linked CBC datasets in Latin America. A pilot with Brazil’s Northeast public health system is deploying Huna’s technology to 100,000 patients, and the company is building a multi-cancer diagnostics platform for simultaneous screening from a single routine blood draw. ### Use of Proceeds and Vision Funds will go toward expanding existing products and accelerating the research portfolio, with a focus on the multi-cancer diagnostics platform covering breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. Huna’s vision is to make cancer early detection accessible at population scale, particularly in markets with low screening rates and limited healthcare infrastructure — using a test already embedded in the healthcare workflow to eliminate the access barrier entirely. ### Market Context The global multi-cancer early detection (MCED) market was valued at $1.12B in 2024, projected to reach $2.86B by 2030 at a 17% CAGR. Competitors include Grail (Galleri test), Exact Sciences, and Guardant Health — but these rely on expensive genomic sequencing that limits deployment to wealthy markets. Huna’s CBC-based approach is orders of magnitude cheaper and uniquely suited to emerging economies where routine blood tests are already part of the healthcare workflow. The Nature publication provides a scientific validation moat that few pre-seed diagnostics companies can claim. ## 2. Guarda Raises $806K For Parametric Climate Insurance In Agriculture ### Deal Overview - **Stage:** Pre-Seed - **Sector:** Fintech / Insurtech / Agtech - **Geography:** Brazil - **Round Size:** R$4.5M (~$806K) - **Valuation:** Undisclosed ### Investor Profile The round was led by Randon Ventures — the investment arm of Randoncorp, one of Brazil’s largest agricultural equipment and logistics conglomerates. Colligo participated alongside. Angel investors include the former CEO of Marubeni Grãos Brasil and the founder of Spin Pay, which was acquired by Nubank. Investors from IRB (Brazilian reinsurance) and Lockton bring reinsurance structuring expertise critical for scaling parametric products. Randon Ventures is a particularly strategic lead — it provides direct distribution access into agricultural cooperatives and agri-lenders, the exact channels Guarda needs to reach farmers at scale. ### Company and Leadership [Guarda](https://www.guarda.com.br) was founded by Paula Caldeira (CEO) and Luiz Fernando Guerreiro. Caldeira brings over 10 years of experience at BTG Pactual and Bank of America and previously co-founded Plugify. Guerreiro is a co-founder of Petlove, one of Brazil’s largest pet care platforms. The combination of institutional finance expertise and consumer-scale startup experience positions the team well for navigating both the regulatory complexity of insurance and the operational challenge of reaching Brazil’s fragmented agricultural sector. ### Problem and Opportunity Brazil is the world’s largest food exporter, yet only approximately 20% of its arable land is covered by insurance — despite being highly exposed to climate risk. Traditional crop insurance requires field inspections that are slow, expensive, and logistically impractical across Brazil’s 340 million hectares of agricultural land. Annual climate-related agricultural losses in Latin America exceed $20 billion, and the gap between economic exposure and insurance coverage represents one of the largest unprotected risk pools in global agriculture. ### Product and Technology Guarda offers parametric climate insurance for agricultural producers, covering extreme weather events like drought and excess rainfall. Unlike traditional crop insurance, contracts are tied exclusively to satellite-measured climate indices — no field inspections required. The technology stack combines satellite data, climate models, AI for automated risk pricing, and digital simulations. Payouts are delivered in up to 30 days, compared to the months-long claims processes typical of conventional rural insurance. Distribution is designed around the existing agricultural financial ecosystem, flowing through cooperatives and rural banks rather than requiring direct farmer acquisition. Automated underwriting eliminates the inspection bottleneck that has historically kept insurance penetration low in Brazilian agriculture. ### Use of Proceeds and Vision Funds will be directed toward proof-of-concept validation with cooperatives and rural banks, with a target of covering 5,000 to 10,000 hectares within the first six months of 2026. Guarda positions itself as the digital infrastructure layer for climate risk protection in Brazilian agribusiness — democratizing access to fast, satellite-based climate protection at scale. ### Market Context The global agricultural parametric insurance market was valued at $5.9B in 2023, projected to reach $11.3B by 2033. Brazil’s combination of massive agricultural output, low insurance penetration, and increasing climate volatility creates an outsized opportunity. Competitors include Newe, which pioneered Brazilian parametric policies, and global reinsurers Munich Re, Swiss Re, and AXA XL. Guarda’s advantage lies in its satellite-native approach, automated underwriting, and strategic distribution through Randoncorp’s agribusiness network. ## Lessons For Founders - **Build on existing behavior, not new behavior.** Both Huna and Guarda succeed because they layer intelligence onto things people already do — routine blood tests and satellite weather data. In emerging markets, the fastest path to scale is often making existing infrastructure smarter rather than asking users to adopt something new. - **Strategic investors can be your distribution channel.** Guarda’s lead investor, Randon Ventures, isn’t just capital — it’s a direct pipeline into the cooperatives and agri-lenders where farmers already transact. At pre-seed, one investor who opens doors can be worth more than ten who only write checks. - **Scientific credibility accelerates trust in deep-tech.** Huna’s Nature publication and MIT Solve selection provide third-party validation that no pitch deck can replicate. For founders building in regulated or science-heavy sectors, investing in peer-reviewed research early creates a credibility moat that compounds over time. - **LatAm’s structural gaps are venture-scale opportunities.** Eighty percent of women skipping mammograms and 80% of farmland going uninsured aren’t just statistics — they’re market signals pointing to massive unmet demand. Founders who frame structural underservice as a market opportunity, not a charity case, attract the right kind of capital.