Kartado lands R$3M debt facility to build AI for roads, energy, and sanitation

What's the deal? KartadoDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a Santa Catarina-based startup specialising in infrastructure data management, has raised R$3 million (about $574,504) in debt financing to develop AI tools for operators of roads, railways, sanitation, and energy. The funds came through FinepDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →'s Inovacred line, disbursed via SicoobDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.

What's the endgame? The company wants to turn operational data into decisions on maintenance, investment, and regulatory compliance. Planned features include predictive maintenance, virtual assistants, and dashboards with automated alerts.

Why now? The project runs an initial 18 months and could extend into 2027. It targets asset upkeep — pavements, road signage, and power transmission structures — using inspection histories to flag which assets face the highest degradation risk.

A core aim is to replace manual, paper-based processes still common in the sector. "It's a challenge we're overcoming: retiring the use of paper and pen," said Marcos Meyer Hollerweger, director of product and technology (translated from Portuguese). "Companies lose a lot of time writing data by hand," he added, noting such records often reach decision-makers already out of date.

Another feature would let managers "converse" with their assets through virtual assistants. "We want maintenance planning teams and managers to have virtual assistants," said chief executive officer Pedro Fornari, describing tools that "simulate scenarios, automate routine tasks, and create more practical, accurate, and intelligent plans."

The AI could analyse a concessionaire's database to pinpoint areas with the most incidents, tasks nearing deadline, and stretches likely to hold degraded assets. Data could be logged by voice and validated with images, cutting manual steps for field teams and reducing exposure to regulatory penalties.

Founded in 2017 out of a university final project in Santa Catarina, Kartado now serves more than 50 concessionaires.

The signal: Debt financing of this size sits at the small end of the funding spectrum, but it points to steady demand for digital tools in Brazil's infrastructure sector — where paper-based processes and low automation still dominate.

Read more: Economia SC

Image credit: Western Area Power Admin