In much of Latin America, public procurement is often associated with opacity, bureaucracy, and, too often, corruption. Drafting tender documents, evaluating proposals, awarding contracts, and auditing the process involve a complex chain of legal and administrative steps that, by their very nature, are difficult to supervise in real time. This is where ETHIX enters the picture — a startup that uses artificial intelligence to detect and prevent irregularities before they happen.

ETHIX’s journey began in 2023, when its founders — experts in public law, data analysis, and digital governance — were accepted into Berkeley SkyDeck, one of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious accelerators. Immersed in an ecosystem of deep tech innovation, they asked a question that would shape their entire vision: What if we could use language models and predictive intelligence to review thousands of legal documents and contracts, and automatically detect risk in real time?

That question became a product.

Today, ETHIX combines language models, risk detection algorithms, and public data analysis to assist governments and companies across the full lifecycle of procurement. From designing tender documents to selecting vendors, the platform identifies inconsistencies, unusual clauses, potential conflicts of interest, and structural biases — in seconds.

According to the company, ETHIX is already in use across more than 10 public institutions and several private organizations in Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico. Early results show promising improvements: up to 60% reduction in time required to draft legal documents, better traceability, and real-time alerts during critical decision points.

But what makes ETHIX stand out isn’t just automation. It’s the ability to compare current processes with historical case law, regulatory standards, and audit findings. The AI doesn’t just flag anomalies — it explains why they matter.

And perhaps most importantly, ETHIX is designed not to replace legal or technical teams, but to enhance and support them. All AI suggestions are explainable and auditable. The platform can be integrated with existing workflows, allowing institutions to gradually adopt it without disrupting their structure or compliance protocols.

ETHIX is also building a public-facing interface, allowing journalists, watchdog groups, and citizens to access summaries of active procurement processes — making transparency not just a buzzword, but a real-time function.

With backing from GovTech-focused investors and recognition in the 2025 Global Innovation Index, ETHIX has positioned itself as one of the most promising anti-corruption technologies to emerge from Latin America.

That said, challenges remain. Applying AI to public systems means confronting not only technical complexity, but also legal risk, political resistance, and cultural inertia. Building trust in AI-generated legal assessments is not just about accuracy — it’s about accountability, context, and public legitimacy.

From our perspective, ETHIX is not just a clever GovTech solution. It’s a political statement — in the best sense of the term. It’s about applying AI not to extract more value, but to restore integrity. Not to move faster, but to move cleaner. Not to replace people, but to give them better visibility into the systems they’re supposed to trust.

Because transparency isn’t a downloadable PDF. It’s the ability to see clearly, early. And ETHIX is building exactly that.

Source: Blog Venture Capital