Rio Web Summit showcases Brazil's tech boom with record startups and $550M data center expansion

Rio de Janeiro is betting big that it can become one of the world's technology capitals, and this week's Web Summit is the stage where that ambition is on full display. The city announced a $550 million expansion of its data center infrastructure, part of a larger vision called Rio AI City that could eventually draw up to $65 billion in total investment. The project, anchored in the Barra neighborhood, is already operational at 1.5 gigawatts of power capacity and is expected to more than double to over 3 gigawatts by 2032. Behind the expansion is I Square Capital, an American investment firm that acquired the local company Elea and committed $10 billion to scaling its operations across Brazil.

The Web Summit itself has become a measure of how fast Brazil's technology ecosystem is moving. This year's event drew a record 1,572 startups—12 percent more than the previous year—and organizers expect over 40,000 people to pass through the Riocentro venue by the time it closes. What stands out is not just the volume but the composition: 43 percent of the participating startups were founded by women, a signal that growth in the sector is reaching beyond the usual networks. Artur Pereira, who runs the event in Brazil, framed the moment plainly. The technology ecosystem is exploding, he said. The speed at which Brazil and Latin America adopt and scale new systems is striking. New deals are being signed with partners worldwide, including record funding flowing in from China and agreements with the European Union that place Brazil at the center.

But beneath the celebration of growth, harder questions are surfacing. Luana Lopes Lara, a Brazilian founder who built Kalshi into a giant of the predictive markets industry, took the stage to defend her business model against recent Brazilian government action. In late April, federal authorities banned prediction market platforms in Brazil, classifying them as illegal gambling. Lara, who is 28 and the world's youngest self-made female billionaire, argued there is a fundamental difference between betting and prediction markets. In sports betting or casinos, the house profits when users lose. In prediction markets, the mechanics are inverted: the platform makes money on transaction fees and benefits when participants continue to bring accurate information to the market. She has already navigated regulatory skepticism in the United States and managed to expand her operation there. Now she is hoping to do the same in Brazil, through dialogue with authorities.

The question of how to govern artificial intelligence is threading through the summit as well. Actor Lázaro Ramos participated in a conversation titled "Who Owns My Face?" with journalist Natuza Nery, exploring the regulatory gaps around AI. Ramos pushed for mechanisms to protect copyright, employment, and the mental health of users as AI systems become more powerful and more embedded in daily life. These are not abstract concerns. They are practical questions about who benefits from new technology and who bears the cost.

The Web Summit will run through the end of the week, and the city has committed to hosting it through 2030. What emerges from this gathering will shape not just Rio's future but Brazil's position in a global technology landscape that is being remade in real time. The infrastructure is being built. The capital is flowing in. The startups are arriving. But the rules that will govern how all of this operates remain unsettled.