Startup World by Vera Moraes.
2020 has barely started, and we already have the first Brazilian unicorn: Loft has already caught U$ 175 million in operation with Vulcan Capital e Andreessen Horowitz, on the third investment round.
Now there are 11 unicorns in Brazil, such as Nubank, PagSeguro, Arco Educação, Gympass, 99 Taxi, Wildlife, Ebanx, Movile (iFood), Stone and now Loggi. The expectations have increased this year, and everybody asks themselves: what will be the next Brazilian unicorn?
The Brazilian ecosystem has developed in the last years, the entrepreneurs are more experienced, but there are some critical issues to solve to allow the startups to grow. A critical one is a labour force; the startups are receiving investments, but cannot find people to execute essential roles.
Foreigner funds have invested in Brazil since 2011, almost US$ 3 billion (R$ 13 billion) on startups. Last year, these funds spent US$ 1,3 billion (R$ 5,6 billion): 51% higher than in 2017, according to data from Association Latin-American of Private Equity and Venture Capital - LAVCA, representing 65% of the total investments in Latin-America.
The market has a lot to grow in Brazil. The news about funds of venture capital and private equity intend to invest in startups and companies in several fields can be seen as a positive indicator. Brazil is today the leader in venture capital investments in Latin-America.
This movement is pushing traditional companies to invest in innovation areas and open the market to startups even more. The big corporations are still beginning to deal with the cultural obstacles of the market to establish successful innovation strategies.
Despite the barriers to innovation, the scenario is improving in Brazil. Several companies are concerned about innovating, investing in new ideas and taking risks. The economy signalizes positively for these markets. For sure, there will be great news this year.
I guess that some startups will stand out. Pay attention to Semantix, Creditas, Resultados Digitais, Docket, Cargo X, Goepik, Quinto Andar, Marketup and Grow. What companies do you think will be the next Brazilian unicorns?
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official view of the FCBB.
Vera Moraes is a Marketing Consultant at the company Inventtando, head of the innovation environment of theNós Innovators (Inovabra Habitat Bradesco), and columnist of the Clube Sebrae, a consultant at Sebrae Innovation, Design and Marketing in Brazil. She writes about entrepreneurship and innovation.
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