Bloomberg Línea — The Private Equity and Venture Capital industry in Brazil saw significant activity between July and August of this year, totaling $738.5 million across 46 transactions during this period. These numbers reflect a trend of recovery in investments. The data, collected by TTR Data, was announced this week by ABVCAP (Brazilian Association of Venture Capital and Private Equity).
One notable investment during this period was made in the once unicorn Daki, which received $50 million in a Series D round – a stage that had been heavily affected by capital constraints in recent months - by Convivialité Ventures to accelerate growth towards profitability. The breakeven had already been mentioned as a goal by Jokr, Daki’s parent company, since last year.
Daki, which is an on-demand marketplace app similar to Instacart, received this investment from the investment arm of Pernod Ricard, one of the world’s largest wine and spirits groups. The funding round also had the support of Lombard Odier as a new investor, as well as existing investors such as G-Squared, GGV, Balderton Capital, Greycroft, Tiger Global, and Monashees.
Instacart, an American platform with a similar business model to Daki, went public this week, and its shares rose by as much as 43% during its market debut on Tuesday before experiencing fluctuations throughout the week. This may signal caution among investors regarding the company’s business model and the broader market’s performance, according to Bloomberg News. The company ended trading on Thursday at $30.65, 2.2% above its listing price of $30.
Daki
Daki was founded in January 2021 in Brazil by Alex Bretzner, Rafael Vasto, and Rodrigo Maroja, operating a model of dark stores, closed-to-the-public retail locations with a limited delivery radius of a few miles and their inventory. Their product range includes groceries, fresh produce, meats and frozen items, bakery goods, beverages, household and cleaning supplies, personal care products, baby items, and even products for pets. Daki serves multiple locations in Brazil, including São Paulo, Santos, Campinas, ABC Paulista’s region, Osasco, Guarulhos, Rio de Janeiro, Niterói, and Belo Horizonte, and employs more than 900 people.
In June 2021, the startup merged with Jokr, which received an investment in December of the same year, valuing it at $1.2 billion. Earlier this year, Jokr, whose brand in Brazil is Daki, raised a Series C round worth $10.21 million, increasing its valuation by $100 million to a total of $1.3 billion, according to CEO Ralf Wenzel in an interview with Bloomberg Línea earlier in the year.
In the Series C round, existing investors such as GGV, G Squared, Tiger Global, and HV participated, alongside Pernod Ricard, the French alcoholic beverages conglomerate. The Series C round had a strong focus on Brazil, as the company announced its exit from Mexico at the time. Jokr eventually withdrew from all Hispanic markets and the United States to concentrate solely on Daki’s business in Brazil.
At that time, Wenzel stated that Jokr allocated the majority of the funds received over the past two years to the Brazilian market, which provided the best return on investment. He mentioned that nearly 70% of all funds raised were invested in Brazil, resulting in higher scale and efficiency compared to other countries. Both the Series C and D rounds had higher values than the $260 million raised in the Series B in November 2021.
Daki’s CEO, Rafael Vasto, did not respond to Bloomberg Línea’s requests for comment but stated through a press release that the company expects to finish the year with revenues twice as high as those in 2022.
Blind Creator
Blind Creator, a Mexican platform for managing and promoting influencers and content creators, received an investment of $582,000 in a pre-seed round of 10 million pesos. This investment, made by Brian Requarth, former VivaReal executive and current Latitud executive, and Alejandra Ríos, CEO of Ambrosía, alongside other angel investors, will facilitate the expansion of the company’s solutions and technology development. By the end of 2024, Blind Creator plans to support the growth of more than 30,000 Spanish-speaking influencers and generate $5 million in revenue.
The funding round also included Amador Holdings, a Panamanian-origin venture capital fund investing in Latin American Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, and Kuiper, a Mexico-based venture capital firm specializing in technology companies in Spanish-speaking markets. Sixteen other angel investors are also involved in the project.
Founded in Mexico in 2022, Blind Creator is an integrated SaaS platform focused on digital content creators, aiming to streamline relationships with brands, influencers, and their representatives.
Mission Brasil
The Brazilian platform Mission Brasil received an investment of $1.38 million from DOMO and Headline XP Venture Capital. The startup operates an on-demand services platform, connecting professionals with clients on-demand.
With this funding round, the startup expects to triple its monthly revenue, reaching an annual base of $3.65 million and developing new products. To date, the startup, with 440,000 customers, has raised $2.13 million in investments and aims to expand its customer base to 2 million within a year.
Mission Brasil stated its intention to increase its commercial operation by 60%, invest in other strategic areas such as technology and marketing, open dozens of job positions, and double the size of its team in 2023, which will operate in a new office in the Berrini region of São Paulo.
Starbem
Brazilian healthtech company Starbem received over $1.02 million in a seed funding round from Brazilian angel investors. These funds will be allocated to expanding the team, enhancing technology and marketing efforts, and driving the company’s national and international expansion.
Through a mobile app, Starbem offers video call consultations with more than 15 medical specialties, psychology, and nutrition. The company also features StarCheck, which measures health data for users who download the app. Starbem anticipates reaching $2.04 million in revenue by the end of 2023. Founded in 2020, Starbem has raised approximately $2.03 million to date and boasts over 230,000 active users and 96 corporate clients in Brazil. The company has partnered with Gympass, TotalPass, A+, Dasa, Labi Exames, Sabin, Hermes Pardini, Drogasil, and Droga Raia pharmacies.
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