Web Summit Rio 2026: Dalton Lab Wins the PITCH on a Record Stage
The 2026 edition was Web Summit Rio's biggest — 40,287 attendees, 1,572 startups, 688 investors. All three startups in the PITCH final on Center Stage were Brazilian. Dalton Lab, an UpNext founder, took the win. Here's the full cohort.
Web Summit Rio 2026 set a new attendance record — 40,287 people from over 100 countries filling Riocentro for four days in June, alongside 1,572 startups and 688 venture investors. The exhibition floor ran on enterprise AI: OpenAI, Google, AWS, Dell, IBM, and Replit all held ground, with conversations centering on AI sovereignty, enterprise automation architectures, and what it takes to deploy AI across the regulatory complexity of Latin American markets. The city of Rio de Janeiro formalized a commitment to host the event through 2030. On the main stage, all three PITCH finalists were Brazilian — and all three are in this cohort.
The PITCH Winner
Dalton Lab [AI / Enterprise] won the Web Summit Rio 2026 PITCH competition on Center Stage, drawn from 1,572 startups across the event. The São Paulo company builds enterprise AI agent platforms that map existing business workflows and deploy AI to handle the repetitive, rules-based work — giving human teams back the time for the decisions that actually require judgment. Founder Rodrigo Ramos made the case on stage that the right approach is to rearchitect work itself around what agents can reliably execute, rather than patching AI onto software built for a different era. The judges agreed.
The Finalists
Oncolife Care [Healthtech] reached the PITCH final with its B2B platform for oncology interoperability and clinical intelligence at hospitals. Cancer treatment in Brazil runs across fragmented systems that separate diagnosis, treatment protocols, and follow-up — Oncolife Care pulls that data into a coordination layer that helps clinical teams manage the whole picture. Founder Nayàra Mota Souza built the company alongside OncoCria, one of the largest cancer awareness events held in a Brazilian favela, and the Andorinha Community, which supports patients, caregivers, and clinicians through the realities of diagnosis and treatment.
Wedy [Consumer Tech] brought the third finalist slot with the digital infrastructure behind Brazilian celebrations — a single platform where couples manage their event site, gift list via Pix, and automated RSVPs over WhatsApp, alongside the vendors and event professionals who run their events. The company has reached 1M+ celebrations, 700K+ couples, and 25,000 professional partners. It runs profitably with a team of under 20 and has grown revenue more than 40% year on year.
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Standouts
Hemodoctor [Healthtech] — AI that reads blood tests and flags critical conditions before a physician sees the result. The core system was validated in a blinded multi-expert clinical study. In a live pilot at a healthcare company's laboratory, it processed over 4,300 complete blood counts and identified 852 cases with critical or high-priority findings ahead of specialist review. A prospective pilot is now active at the largest private hospital in Northeast Brazil, and a deployment in São José dos Campos covers up to 2 million cases. Hemodoctor is listed on InovaSuS Digital — the Brazilian Ministry of Health's innovation procurement platform — and has filed for ANVISA SaMD Class II notification.
Hub Médica [Healthtech] — a platform combining software, trained healthcare teams, and AI-powered workflows to help medical clinics convert, serve, retain, and reactivate patients. Thirty clinics are paying. Monthly recurring revenue sits at R$51,500, up 4.7x over the past 12 months. The platform has processed over 463,000 patient messages, served nearly 30,000 unique patients, and automatically confirmed more than 8,800 appointments.
Hovi [Cybersecurity] — identity infrastructure for the internet, enabling reusable digital trust across wallets for both humans and AI agents. Hovi has paying customers and is a sandbox partner in both the French and German national ID wallet initiatives, conformant in the ETSI EAA Plugtests 2026. The company is pursuing QEAA issuer qualification under eIDAS 2.0 with Finland's Traficom as its supervisory body, and is working with Brazil's largest EdTech platform (3 million users) and a Japanese enterprise with $11B in annual revenue.
Heyship [AI] — Brazil's first AI-powered business intelligence platform for foreign trade, classifying products, simulating landed costs, and wiring supplier payments from a single prompt. The platform is live in production with 12M+ import records classified by AI, 500+ importers on the free NCM Finder tool, and five customs brokerages in active pilot — each running over 100 importers as a distribution channel. Backed by Leonora Ventures and the OpenAI Startup Ecosystem.
TEAlliance [EdTech] — AI-generated inclusion strategies and personalized lesson plans for neurodivergent students. Five pilot schools are live, with 70 students served through 250+ individualized plans. Teachers report a 90% reduction in planning time. Seventy-five percent of students are on track for their expected literacy stage, and the AI suggestion acceptance rate sits at 60%, improving through ongoing teacher feedback.
Teia Studio [AI] — infrastructure for generative AI auditing, cognitive observability, and algorithmic governance, helping companies control how their brands and decisions are represented in large language models and automation systems.
WeBox.AI [AI / Enterprise] — builds complex AI virtual assistants and multi-agent workflows for large enterprises, integrated with corporate systems. Clients include insurance and logistics companies handling over 120,000 policies.
DEXCAP [Fintech / Blockchain] — tokenized real-world asset platform combining blockchain, regulatory structure, and legal-financial modeling to reduce cost and friction in asset tokenization. Selected by Ripple for the Fenasbac acceleration program. First deal: R$12M in real estate tokenized in Minas Gerais.
Plantah [Sustainability] — platform that converts marketing budgets into measurable environmental and social impact, tracked against the UN's 17 SDGs through gamification and its own exchange currency. Launched officially at Web Summit Rio 2025.
Realize Edtech [EdTech] — L&D platform that helps medium and large companies diagnose learning gaps, build training content, and deliver structured programs backed by data.
Copera [AI] — AI platform for business workflows and operations in the Brazilian market.
ESGscan [Sustainability] — ESG scanning and compliance reporting for Brazilian companies navigating environmental, social, and governance disclosure requirements.
MaximizaIA [AI] — AI solutions for business productivity and automation.
Kultua [Consumer Tech] — platform connecting people to cultural events and local creative experiences.
Buske.ai [AI] — AI-powered automation platform for Brazilian businesses.
NOVOTO App [Consumer Tech] — Brazilian consumer application platform.
ePropi [Proptech] — real estate technology for the Brazilian property market.
Good Casting [Media / Talent] — digital platform for casting and creative talent management.
fSense [Enterprise Software] — workforce analytics and productivity intelligence platform.
Sensify [AI] — AI-driven sensing and automation platform, based in Argentina.
SafeDot [Cybersecurity] — digital safety and compliance platform.
Tia Bete [EdTech] — educational technology platform for Brazilian students.
Mastera [EdTech] — platform for online teachers and content creators to build and monetize courses.
ConnectLoop [AI] — AI-powered platform for connecting businesses and professionals.
Also in the cohort: MEDTREK, ResultPay, Move Compliance, Neurafy, Dinda, Levers, Rocket Med, and OrthoCopilot.
Why It Matters for the UpNext Network
Web Summit Rio 2026 was a credibility moment for Latin American tech, and the cohort on the ground made the argument without needing to explain itself. Three Brazilian founders reached the PITCH final on Center Stage. One won. With Web Summit committed to Rio through 2030, capital flowing into the region, and a founder base reporting revenue, enterprise pilots, and government approvals — not projections — the moment for LatAm enterprise tech has arrived. This cohort represents what it looks like on the ground.
