From ready-to-eat meals to a complete ecosystem: Liv Up raises BRL 50 million from Globo Ventures to expand product portfolio

The new funding by Globo Ventures, Grupo Globo's investment arm, is an extension of the Series D round announced in June

Fabiane Ziolla Menezes

21.Sep.2021 16:39 BRT
UPDATED 22.Sep.2021 15:05 BRT

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The Brazilian food tech startup Liv Up has just announced the extension of its Series D round, with a new contribution of BRL 50 million ($ 9.4 million) from Globo Ventures, the investment arm of the largest media company in Latin America, Grupo Globo. With that, the startup closes the round, announced in June this year and led by Lofoten Capital, vehicle of Marcos Amino (ex-Discovery Capital) with the support of Luiz Otavio Campos (former partner of Onyx Equity Management), in BRL 230 million (around $43 million).

The new funding is vital to expanding the startup‘s network of partner suppliers, products, and cities that makeup what is now Liv Up’s healthy food ecosystem. “Certainly, the extension of this round with Globo Ventures in this round, in addition to the funding, is also a strategic step that will support us to communicate, not only the brand but everything that we have evolved in recent years. Especially for this complete online market performance, which since last year has gained more momentum and reinforced our purpose of connecting people with really good food, in addition to delivering a complete solution for those who want to eat well and live better,” explained Victor Santos, the CEO and founder of Liv Up.

Victor Santos, founder and CEO at Liv Up. Photo: Courtesy/Liv Up.

Known for its ready-to-eat ultra-frozen meals, Liv Up has been offering a series of new products in recent months, covering categories such as produce, grocery, dairy, butcher, and fish. In January, the company offered 200 items; now, there are more than 500 options, with plans to reach more than 1,000 by the end of the year.

The greater offer and frequency of purchases also made Liv Up’s consumers change their behavior: those who used to buy monthly now make purchases every week, allowing the company to bet heavily on the relationship with them. “Our app and website allow for a very close relationship with the customer. In recent months, we have gone even deeper to understand the new demands and needs that are urgent for this new model. It was based on this that we developed a logistical structure that makes it possible same-day market delivery. We also launched our loyalty program, FideLivUp, which gives cashback and free shipping on purchases starting at BRL 99 for recurrent customers,” said Santos.

Currently, Liv Up offers frozen meals to customers in more than 50 metropolitan regions across Brazil. The other categories of products (from fresh vegetables to meat), available today in São Paulo, will also arrive in Rio de Janeiro in October. “Next month, we are going to take the entire operation of the online market to Rio de Janeiro, with the sale of fresh products, meat, dairy products, and groceries. For 2022, we are still going to focus on taking this operation to places where we already operate with frozen meals and then expand to other areas where we do not operate yet,” said Santos.

For this, Liv Up will have to expand its number of partner farmers (today there are 40 families) in each region it reaches. The arrival in Rio, for example, should increase this number by 25% to 30%. Every month, the food-tech startup buys 100 tons of organic food and sells 400,000 meals.