Pax, a Brazilian company that builds artificial intelligence software for public safety, raised a $40m seed round, reported on 28 and 29 May 2026. Greenoaks and Benchmark, both Silicon Valley investors, led the round. Forbes Brasil put the amount at R$200m, and Baguete at about R$202m. Pax says it is the largest seed round ever recorded by a startup in Brazil.
No valuation was disclosed. Brazil Journal reported that angel investors include founders and co-founders of Coinbase, Instacart, Plaid and Airwallex, as well as Nubank co-founder Edward Wible. Brazil Journal also said Benchmark and Greenoaks put in the money a little over a year earlier, when Pax was still its founder and three other people, so the announcement came after the funds were committed.
What Pax does
Pax builds a platform that connects cameras, police records and criminal databases to produce real-time intelligence for state and municipal security forces. Baguete said it can turn vague descriptions from witnesses and victims into precise searches, and trace the routes of suspect vehicles.
According to Brazil Journal, computer vision models turn camera footage into searchable data, identifying plates and faces as well as traits such as a distinctive sticker on a vehicle. The platform then cross-checks that with police databases and finds links between people, vehicles, places and events. It combines commercial and open-source language models with its own models, and officers can ask questions in plain language. Brazil Journal said investigators have nicknamed the company the ChatGPT of the police.
Startupi reported that the company says every query and access in the system is logged for traceability and auditing. Pax's chief executive David Peixoto said officers decide and the platform strengthens their ability.
Results and reach
Pax says its first large-scale operation, in Luziânia in Goiás, was associated with a 27% fall in violent crime over six months. Baguete said that project installed more than 100 cameras. Forbes Brasil added that the company reports police efficiency doubled over the period and that residents' sense of safety rose 59%, based on a survey by the institute Real Time Big Data. These are company figures.
The company says police using its platform helped clear more than 2,000 criminal cases in the past year, including homicides, armed robberies and vehicle thefts. Forbes Brasil and Startupi both said it operates in more than 30 cities. Brazil Journal later reported more than 200 cities, mainly in Goiás and Paraná, so the count has been changing quickly. Baguete reported 60 employees and Brazil Journal about 70.
Founder and investors
Baguete said Pax was founded in São Paulo in April 2025 by Peixoto, a former chief financial officer and vice president of business development at Arco Educação, who also co-founded the education finance platform Isaac. Forbes Brasil said he helped take Arco public on Nasdaq.
Andrew Cohen, a partner at Greenoaks, said Brazilians would name violence as the problem they most want solved, and that robberies of vehicles have fallen sharply in the first state where Pax operates.
Forbes Brasil cited the Sou da Paz institute as saying that fewer than 40% of homicides are solved in Brazil, against a world average of 63%.
What the money is for
Startupi reported that Pax will use the funds to expand its platform in Brazil and other Latin American countries.
Company website: pax.ai